
Choose your character!
Brightway (Brightway Innovation Intelligent Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd.) produces scooters for the NAVEE and Xiaomi brand. The latest additions to the Xiaomi portfolio are the Electric Scooter 3 Lite, 4, 4 Pro and 4 Ultra. With exception of the 4 Pro, all are produced by Brightway.
The cheapest Xiaomi/Brightway model is the 3 Lite. It costs almost the same as the Xiaomi/Ninebot Mi 1S, but has somewhat weaker specs, such as a 5200mAh instead of a 7650mAh battery. So what’s the point of buying this seemingly inferior scooter? Well… it’s security research! By studying the inner workings of the 3 Lite, both from a hardware and a software standpoint, we can shed a light onto how serious Brightway takes security in their scooters.
In this blog post, I will be dismantling my newly bought 3 Lite scooter. First, I’m giving insights into the pairing and activation procedure, after which I describe the available registers, the command and message format and the structure of the serial numbers. It follows a detailed description of all the hardware and respective SOC memory layouts, after which I look at the UART and BLE protocols. Lastly, I will talk about the obvious security flaws discovered in the 3 Lite and how this relates to all other new Xiaomi scooter models.
Pairing process
Xiaomi started rolling out a stronger bonding mechanism with the 3 Lite and 4 Pro models. For connecting with the scooter, you have to download the Xiaomi Mi Home app. After scanning for scooters and selecting your 3 Lite scooter, the app asks for the camera permission. Now you scan a QR code that’s printed on top of a sticker that covers the dashboard. After scanning the QR code and its verification, you’re connected. A button press is no longer required.
The QR code is stored in the app and can be viewed while being connected to the scooter. The app tells you to take a screenshot of the QR code in case you lose the original one.
Every time you remove the scooter from the app and re-add it, you have to scan the QR code. However, the verification fails unless you do a BLE hard-reset first (throttle + 5x button press).
Activation
When you first turn on the 3 Lite it will constantly beep and be speed-limited to 10 km/h. Just like with previous (Xiaomi/Ninebot) models, you have to activate it. The activation button becomes available after watching the usual introduction video in the Mi Home app.
I’m greeted by a firmware update dialog immediately after connecting to the scooter. This update is not mandatory and the dialog can be dismissed.

Info registers
At this point, I will refer to the Mi Home scooter app as the „Brightway plugin“. The way Mi Home works is that it provides an API which vendors can use to integrate their hardware, as a plugin. Now, since the 3 Lite is produced by Brightway, their plugin looks and feels different from the Ninebot plugin we’re used to. Nonetheless, the provided functionality and available information is equivalent. By looking into the Brightway plugin script we can locate all register addresses with their respective functions (typos included [sic]).
Address | Function |
00 | BACTH_REPORT |
01 | DRIVE_MDOE |
02 | BATTERY_LEVEL |
03 | REMAINING_MILEAGE |
04 | FAULT |
05 | CURRENT_MILEAGE |
06 | AVERAGE_SPEED |
07 | LOCK |
08 | CRUISE_CONTROL |
09 | TAIL_LIGHT_ALWAYS_ON |
0A | ENERGY_RECOVERY_INTENSITY [Weak=1E, Middle=3C, Strong=5A] |
0B | TOTAL_MILEAGE |
0C | RUNNING_STATUS |
0D | RECENT_DRIVING_LOG |
0E | DRIVING_Duration |
0F | TOP_SPEED |
10 | BATTERY_STATUS |
11 | BATTERY_TEMPERATURE |
12 | BATTERY_DATE_OF_MANUFACTURE |
13 | BATTERY_SN |
14 | BMS_FIRMWARE_VERSION |
15 | SERIAL_NUMBER |
16 | FIRMWARE_VERSION |
17 | SCOOTER_TEMPERATURE |
18 | RESUME_TO_DEFAULT_SETTING |
19 | REMAINING_BATTERY |
1A | BATTERY_VOLTAGE |
1B | BATTERY_CURRENT |
1C | BATTERY_POWER |
1D | LOCK_WARNIING |
1E | MILEAGE_UNIT |
1F | ACTIVATION_DATE [4 bytes] |
20 | OOB_CODE |
21 | CHECK_TIRE_DATE |
Command and package format
The Brightway plugin script gives further insight into the command types and how a package is defined.
Type | Command |
01 | WRITE |
02 | COMMAND |
03 | READ |
11 | MCU_WRITE_RESPOND |
12 | MCU_COMMAND_RESPOND |
13 | MCU_READ_RESPOND |
14 | MCU_REPORT |
A package consists of DATA
plus the checksum of DATA
. A custom function is used to calculate the checksum. DATA
is defined as follows:DATA = TYPE + ADDRESS + REST + LEN + PAYLOAD
TYPE
is a command type (see table)ADDRESS
is a register address (see table)REST
is the number of packages remaining, in the case where multiple packages have to be sendLEN
is the length of thePAYLOAD
PAYLOAD
is the actual hex values to transmit
Serial numbers
Brightway scooters have a 20-character SN format:5-digit prefix + '/' + 14-character suffix.
The SN prefix is used to identify different regions. The following table shows all known prefixes for the 3 Lite (valid prefixes start with a ‚3‘) and their restrictions.
SN Prefix | Region | No BacklightOn | No CC | Speedlimit (20 km/h) |
37707 | DE | X | X | X |
37713 | ?? | X | X | X |
37708 | ?? | / | X | X |
37712 | ?? | / | X | X |
37701 | ?? | X | / | / |
37714 | ?? | X | / | / |
Others | Global | / | / | / |
SNs are stored on MCU (flash: 0x93FC, image: 0x23f14) and are read and processed by BLE.
Hardware
The following section identifies all ICs used by the manufacturer.
The dashboard has the label „P2185_Display_V2.0 211126“. It looks almost identical to the „P2223_Display_V1.0.1 20220111“ of the NAVEE S65. Both boards expose SWD ports! The P2223 has all SWD pins labeled, the P2185 has not; but, it’s easy to find out. Check the image below for the correct SWD pin assignment.


With the help of my microscope, I zoomed into one of the small ICs on the dashboard. It turned out the be the „MJA1“ secure chip!

Vendor | Part number | Function |
Xiaomi/Realtek | MHCB05P-IB module with RTL8762C chip | BLE Mesh |
Xiaomi | MJA1 HCIW | Secure chip |
??? | ??? (hidden underneath display) | 20-Pin Display driver IC |
For the ESC, the part numbers are difficult to read; the board is covered in some sort of „hot glue“. Nonetheless, I could identify all but one part with my microscope.
Vendor | Part Number | Function |
Linkosemi | LKS32MC081C8T8 | Motor control unit |
Thinkisemi | P55NF061 | N-channel power MOSET |
Silan (SL) | SD4931 | Current mode PWM controller |
Samwin | SW062R08E8T | 6x N-channel enhanced mode MOSFET |
??? | IDR??ID200??N428M7RV? | ??? |

This SOCs!
It took me quite some time to gather all relevant documents to have a clear understanding of the memory mapping and MCU functions. This section summarizes my findings.
Type | SOC | Family | Arch | RAM | ROM | Flash |
BLE | RTL8762C (MHCB05P) | Cortex-M4 | ARMv7-M | 128KB | 384KB | 512KB |
MCU | LKS32MC08x | Cortex-M0 | ARMv6-M | 8KB | 1KB | 64KB |
Area | Start address | End address | Size | Function |
ROM | 0x0 | 0x5 FFFF | 384KB | Bootloader, BT-Stack, Flash driver |
RAM (Data) | 0x20 0000 | 0x21 BFFF | 112KB | RAM code |
> ROM Data | 0x20 0000 | 0x20 2FFF | 12KB | Variables of ROM |
> Main Stack | 0x20 3000 | 0x20 37FF | 2KB | MSP |
> Patch RAM1 | 0x20 3800 | 0x20 7BFF | 17KB | Variables/RAM code of Patch |
> APP/Data RAM | 0x20 7C00 | 0x21 7FFF | 65KB | Variables/RAM code of APP + Data heap |
> Patch RAM2 | 0x21 8000 | 0x21 BFFF | 16KB | Optional, same as Patch RAM1 |
RAM (Cache) | 0x21 C000 | 0x21 FFFF | 12KB | Speed up SPI Flash R/W |
SPI Flash (Cached) | 0x80 0000 | 0x9F FFFF | 512KB | With cache (faster) |
> Reserved | 0x80 0000 | 0x80 0FFF | Reserved | |
> OEM Header | 0x80 1000 | 0x80 1FFF | Config: BT address, AES Key, flash layout | |
> OTA Bank 0 | – | – | Data and code | |
> OTA Bank 1 | – | – | Same as Bank 0 | |
> FTL | – | – | Access flash with logic address | |
> OTA Temp | – | – | OTA backup | |
> APP Defined | – | – | User defined |
Area | Start address | End address |
FLASH (NVR) | 0x0 | 0x3FF |
FLASH (MAIN) | 0x0 | 0xFFFF |
RAM | 0x2000 0000 | 0x2000 1FFF |
SYS CTRL | 0x4000 0000 | 0x4000 03FF |
FLASH CTRL | 0x4000 0400 | 0x4000 07FF |
UART
The UART bus between dashboard and controller is no longer realized by a single wire, but two wires: TX and RX. The MCU-UART is configured as such: baudrate = 19200, data len = 8 bit, stop bit len = 1 bit, LSB, even parity, check disabled, multidrop disabled.
My recordings do not contain messages, but pulses with three possible state values.
Value | Meaning |
20 | floating(F) |
30 | low(L) |
65 | high(H) |
A single pulse follows the pattern: F[H|L][H|L]
In reality, only two of the four possible combinations are used: FLL, FHL. We can conclude that FLL translates to „0“ and FHL translates to „1“. We can visualize sampled data using a tool called binocle. This helps us identify patterns.


At the time of conducting the experiments and recording the UART transmission, I didn’t know about the correct parameter stated in the first paragraph. For recording the data, I used a higher baudrate than specified by the MCU. Please leave a comment, if you can verify seeing similar values and patterns in your recording with the correct baudrate set.
If we assume these captures to be accurate, then it means that both the BLE and MCU have a buffer to store incoming packets and then translate them back to messages, as defined in the „Commands and message format“ section.
BLE Encryption / Decryption
The 3 Lite broadcasts the BLE device name „dreame.scooter.epro“. The naming choice isn’t surprising. In my last blog post I explained the relation between Brightway and Dreame.

The 3 Lite provides a BLE GATT service for authentication and another service for TX/RX and broadcasting the button press.
- Service: 00000101-0065-6C62-2E74-6F696D2E696D
- TX/RX: 00000100-0065-6C62-2E74-6F696D2E696D
- Button: 00000102-0065-6C62-2E74-6F696D2E696D
For BLE authentication the Brightway plugin uses MIOT BLE SecurityLock: encryptMessage(
) and not encryptMessageWithToken()
. What’s the difference, you ask?
encryptMessage()
usesMIOTBluetooth.encryptMessageXiaoMiBLE()
->securityChipEncrypt()
[Same asStandardAuthEncrypt()
] -> ECDH with secp256r1 curve (we know this)encryptMessageWithToken()
usesMIOTBluetooth.miotBleEncrypt() -> miotBleEncrypt() -> BLECipher
(MixA, MixB, old crypto)
So, we already know the type of encryption/decryption scheme used. But, the key exchange steps are different in case of a secure chip, where a noticeable difference is the exchange of certificates. I will be looking into the BLE authentication process in detail in an upcoming blog post.
3 Lite: Security oversights
Both the dashboard and controller board expose debugging pins (SWD). These have been left active and allow connection via OpenOCD. I quickly discovered the first security oversight by Brightway: the manufacturer left the content of both SOCs unprotected! I was able to generate full dumps of both BLE and MCU firmware, without any special measures, following the memory mapping tables laid out above.
The second oversight is that the firmware update (OTA) files for both the BLE (called „EEC“) and MCU come unencrypted, meaning that they can be decompiled without further measures. Analysis of these files allowed me draw some of the conclusions in this blog post, e.g., about the UART configuration. I could further observe that the MCU firmware, being very limited in size, contains almost no logic and that its main purpose is motor control.
Last year, Xiaomi introduced firmware signing to secure the BLE firmware from tampering. The BLE/EEC firmware for 3 Lite is signed as well, in accordance to this new Xiaomi standard. However, the MCU firmware is not signed. What’s strange about the MCU firmware update file is that it’s almost three times larger than the MCU flash size. Next to the MCU flash/app content, this file contains one large code section of what seems to be executable DFU loader code and another section of what seems to be executable post-installation / setup code.
3 Lite: Custom firmware?
While the authentication process (pairing with QR code, secure key exchange) doesn’t seem to have any obvious flaws, Brightway has left room for debugging and possible modification of the scooter. It is a misunderstanding that authentication with a secure chip provides absolute security. It’s main safety mechanism is to prevent tampering with the device of someone else, because we don’t have the QR code (certificate) to pair with that (secure chip). The secure chip doesn’t prevent you from hacking your own scooter. This is how it should be.
The BLE Realtek module doesn’t allow writing bytes to the memory-mapped flash directly. The same is true for the MCU SOC. One point could not be fully verified, yet, and will be explored in an upcoming blog post: Should it prove to be true that both the dashboard and controller SOCs are not write-protected in general, it would allow modification of the existing MCU firmware and, after erasing the flash, write the modified firmware to it. If the BLE module is re-writable, it would allow writing and flashing a custom BLE firmware that completely bypasses the secure chip.
Next, since the MCU OTA file isn’t signed, it could allow passing own MCU firmware files to the BLE. This has the hard requirement of having the authentication and update procedure fully reverse-engineered.
Lastly, if it should prove to be correct that the MCU OTA file is packed with executable code that the BLE willingly executes, one could try injecting their own code. This has the potential to defeat every security measure mentioned so far, but also has serious implications for the scooter safety. Proving this requires, again, full knowledge of the authentication and update process.
What about other new Xiaomi models?
Thanks to internal FCC documents we can tell that the hardware of the Xiaomi/Brightway 3 Lite and the Xiaomi/Brightway 4 (non-Pro) model look similar. The MCU has the same amount of pins and we can make out exposed SWD pads. Overall, the board design, including caps and connectors, looks familiar. Chances are, that the 4 Ultra comes with the hardware described in this post.
The Xiaomi/Ninebot 4 Pro uses the same BLE module as the 3 Lite, as disclosed by a Bluetooth certification. This means that the 4 Pro uses the same BLE stack and Xiaomi core libraries for authentication. As for the controller, the 4 Pro uses a STM32 based board in the tradition of previous Ninebot scooters.


In a nutshell, the new Xiaomi models could be pwned as follows:
For 3 Lite + 4 + 4 Ultra, the easy way would be to modify the existing MCU firmware and flash it via SWD. The hard way would be developing and flashing a custom BLE firmware for the (Realtek) BLE module that bypasses the secure chip, with a custom MCU OTA flashing procedure.
For the 4 Pro, there is no easy way at this time. A possible way is to develop and flash a custom ESC firmware for the STM32 board. This firmware could be based, for example, on the OpenSource SmartESC firmware.
Summary
In this post, I had a first-look at the hardware, software and security implemented by Brightway, the new Xiaomi scooter supplier, by examining their 3 Lite scooter model.
At the time of writing, I could not discover any security exploits that would warrant a notification of the manufacturer. As for the security flaws, such as missing encryption and read-out protection of the firmware files, I assume that the manufacturer is well aware thereof.
In an upcoming blog posts I will be having a deeper look into the authentication process involving the „MJA1“ secure chip, as well as examining the potential of flashing custom firmware.