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I am hoping for a suggestion; some back story:

My ultimate goal is to learn the intricacies of the Bluetooth connection shared between a PS3 and a Sixaxis controller. I am fairly versed in Bluetooth, and I have the proper SW to sniff out the Bluetooth connection between the two devices. However to do so I require a "Link-access key" and the BT-addr/MAC of the Master device (PS3).

The pairing process between a Sixaxis and a PS3 happens when the USB cable is plugged into the PS3 directly. At the pairing stage, the Link-Key is exchanged between the two devices. My theory is that I could observe the exchange with a USB sniffing tool.

I am stuck with what the proper tool for this may be. Most of the USB sniffing tools I come across appear to only reveal information shared between the usb device and a computer host. I would like a tool that could help me form a "middle-man attack" on the USB exchange and act as a proxy between the PS3 and the Sixaxis.

What SW/inexpensive HW could someone recommend to me to carry this out?

Thank you all.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ What about a catc analyzer ebay.com/itm/… Maybe you could find one to borrow or get a used one. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Dec 17, 2012 at 20:06
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks for the suggestion! I'm surprised that my work doesn't have anything like this. Your suggestion lead me to the obvious terms "USB 2.0 protocol analyzer" which yields many hits. Maybe if I can find one for $100, I may invest. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Dec 17, 2012 at 20:23

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Wireshark can sniff USB, at least on Linux. Of course you can always check a Linux LiveCD if the Windows version doesn't support it. It is free as in free beer and free as in independent. Just make sure you download from original websites. http://www.wireshark.org/

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Perfect! I have used Wireshark for network analysis in the past and I also have a Linux machine at home. That's interesting that it will also analyze USB. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Dec 17, 2012 at 20:37
  • \$\begingroup\$ Yup, it does. I guess since a couple of years. \$\endgroup\$
    – jippie
    Commented Dec 17, 2012 at 20:41
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I've used VMWare Workstation for that.

If you add a line to your VM configuration, the VM will log all usb traffic to a file.

They also have a visualization tool that works with the produced logfile, though the file is pretty simple (it's an ASCII file with timestamped transactions, with the usb data in hexadecimal).

The nice thing is you can use a windows host for everything, though you loose some of the pretty stuff from the visualization tool.

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