Vulnerabilities in LG TVs: Audio Recording and Security Issues

The security of modern smart devices has once again come under the spotlight of experts. A comprehensive investigation by Gamers Nexus and independent cybersecurity researchers has identified potentially dangerous features and vulnerabilities in the webOS operating system of LG TVs. According to the research results, it is possible to force the TV to record audio even when the screen is turned off using special exploit methods. This was reported by Ixbt.com reports .

It is worth noting that the experiments conducted do not prove that LG secretly and continuously records its users' conversations or transmits them to its servers. The audio recording capability discovered by experts is not a standard feature, but rather achieved by exploiting existing vulnerabilities in webOS. Nevertheless, the identified issues raise a number of questions regarding user privacy.

Research details and network activity

During the testing process, several LG devices were examined, including a 2025 OLED G5 generation TV. Analysis of the firmware and network traffic revealed that the device actively scans other gadgets on the local network, including internal IP and MAC addresses, device names, and signal characteristics. It was also noted that information about nearby Wi-Fi networks, their SSIDs, channels, and signal levels is collected.

Since the researchers were unable to fully decrypt all network traffic, they could not fully determine the exact content and purpose of every transmitted packet. Nevertheless, the volume of standard telemetry collected and the activity on the local network have rightly drawn the attention of security experts.

ACR technology and ad analytics

During the investigation, special attention was paid to Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology, which is designed to identify what the user is watching. This system creates digital fingerprints of audio and video content and compares them with a database. The obtained data can be used for analysis and personalized advertising.

According to the data, the ACR function can also work while watching content from external devices connected via HDMI. The collected telemetry data may be directed to the LG Ad Solutions advertising division. However, this mechanism should not be confused with the case of microphone recording via vulnerabilities.

Microphone security and expert recommendations

The most serious part of the research concerned webOS security flaws. During the experiment, experts managed to record audio from the connected microphone even when the screen was visually turned off. Even when the device was disconnected from the network, the recorded audio remained in its local storage, and access to this file was later gained using the discovered vulnerabilities.

Currently, researchers are following responsible disclosure procedures, giving the manufacturer time to fix the vulnerabilities, which is why some details are not yet being released. Gamers Nexus recommends that users who want to limit data collection as much as possible should disconnect their Smart TV from the internet and use a separate media player for streaming services.