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Freedom251 › Blog › AI security

Eilik robot maker Energize Lab left an estimated 62,000–68,000 robots exposed to remote takeover

By Freedom251 Team · · 5 min read

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Security researchers found multiple cloud, firmware and artificial-intelligence control flaws in EnergizeLab’s Eilik and Eiliko robots that could let unauthenticated attackers obtain device tokens, change AI configurations and manipulate robot behavior remotely. The reported exposure included children’s profiles and millions of stored conversations. The often-repeated “68,000 robots” figure is an estimate of the active fleet, not an inventory published by EnergizeLab, and no vendor-authenticated post-disclosure security bulletin had been identified by October 17, 2026.

What the security report found

AHA!’s advisory, published October 15, 2026, describes vulnerabilities discovered during research from June through September 2026, with retesting in September. The affected system was larger than the robot hardware: Eilik and Eiliko units operate as cloud-connected thin clients for AI chat, relying on hosted authentication, user profiling, conversation storage, AI models and firmware-update services. Weaknesses in those services could therefore be reached over the internet rather than only from a robot’s home network.

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The advisory groups the findings into cloud authentication and authorization failures, insecure AI configuration and memory controls, weaknesses in firmware-update trust, and legacy telemetry exposure. Three CVE records illustrate the most serious issues:

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CVE Reported weakness CVSS Potential consequence
CVE-2026-105032 Unauthenticated writes to AI skill files 9.1 An attacker could alter files that influence AI behavior without first proving ownership of a device.
CVE-2026-105034 Unauthenticated device-token issuance for arbitrary serial numbers 8.2 An attacker could request credentials associated with chosen robot serial numbers.
CVE-2026-105038 Unauthenticated AI model administration and runtime switching 9.8 An attacker could administer or switch AI models without normal authorization.

AHA! characterized the issues as independently exploitable and said that, together, they could bridge account access, cloud secrets, fleet-level AI and firmware control to compromise individual robots.

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What “68,000 robots” actually means

The fleet headline combines an observed count with an estimate. In an October 13, 2026 retest reported by Severity Daily, researcher Sammy Azdoufal counted robots that had contacted the cloud and used that result to estimate the active fleet. These measurements are not a fleet inventory released by EnergizeLab.

Measurement Reported result Qualification
Robots that had talked to the cloud 61,510 Observed by Azdoufal during the October 13 retest.
Estimated active fleet 62,000–68,000 robots Researcher’s estimate based on the retest, not a vendor-confirmed total.
User accounts 74,575 Researcher’s count at the retest.
Child profiles At least 32,228 Researcher’s count; the wording indicates a minimum.
Household IP addresses At least 103,956 across 129 countries Researcher’s count; the minimum qualifier applies.
Conversations stored in cleartext 9,124,055 Count reported from the October 13 retest by Severity Daily.

What information may have been exposed

Malwarebytes reported that the service analyzed conversations into profiles containing names, ages, birthdays, relationships, occupations and assessments of personality or emotional vulnerability. Those profiles were associated with email addresses, IP addresses and searchable conversation transcripts. The combination can identify a household, infer a child’s age and relationships, and reveal sensitive statements even when a family never intended the robot to function as a long-term archive.

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The same reporting said some photographs and short audio recordings were reachable at public web addresses, despite a stated policy that recordings are deleted after processing. The available evidence describes access to stored content and metadata; it does not establish that every account or every recording was viewed by an attacker.

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What remote manipulation was demonstrated

In a reported demonstration, the researcher changed a reporter’s robot memory and generated behavior. The robot produced invented personal details, claimed that Earth is flat, and generated abusive or sexually explicit dialogue. That shows that cloud-side controls could alter what a user’s robot said or remembered.

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The reporting does not establish that attackers could control every physical actuator on every robot. “Remote takeover” in this incident primarily refers to unauthorized access to cloud credentials, AI administration, firmware trust paths and individual robot sessions. Physical capabilities depend on the specific model and on which authenticated commands its service accepts.

Why home-network isolation is not a complete fix

Moving a robot to guest Wi-Fi can prevent some devices on a home network from directly reaching it, but it cannot repair a cloud authorization defect. If the robot still connects to the vendor’s services, an attacker abusing token issuance, account controls or AI administration can operate through that same legitimate outbound connection. Network isolation is therefore a containment measure, not a patch for the reported flaws.

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Disclosure timeline and unresolved remediation

Severity Daily reported that initial vendor notifications began in June 2026 through five channels, including email, an in-app ticket and a reporter inquiry. A final 72-hour deadline communicated on September 15 expired on September 18 without a substantive response.

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During the October 13 retest, 32 of 40 remotely testable findings reportedly remained open. The report also said no secret had been rotated during the four months after first contact. The sources available for this report did not include a vendor-authenticated remediation bulletin, so the current patch, credential-rotation and data-deletion status remains unresolved.

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What current owners should do

  1. Disconnect the robot from the internet. Remove its Wi-Fi credentials or block its outbound access at the router until EnergizeLab publishes a verifiable security notice covering the affected cloud services, applications, firmware and credentials.
  2. Do not treat a factory reset as proof of safety. A reset may remove local settings but cannot correct a cloud-side authorization flaw or delete copies already retained by the service.
  3. Change reused passwords. If the robot account used a password shared with email or another service, change that password there as well and enable multifactor authentication wherever it is offered.
  4. Review children’s and household data. Tell family members not to enter new personal, medical, school or location information into the robot while the service’s retention and access controls are uncertain.
  5. Watch for an authenticated vendor bulletin. Look for specific CVE coverage, corrected app or firmware versions, confirmation that cloud tokens and secrets were rotated, and a clear explanation of how stored conversations, images and audio are being handled.

Should you buy or reconnect an Eilik robot?

On the evidence available October 17, 2026, a cautious buyer should postpone purchase or setup until EnergizeLab publishes a verifiable security and privacy update. The unresolved status is not evidence that every unit is currently being controlled, but it does mean buyers cannot confirm that the underlying cloud authorization, AI administration, firmware-signing and retention problems have been fixed.

Anyone evaluating a connected companion robot should ask five questions before purchase:

  • Can the core functions work offline if the cloud account is disabled?
  • Are authentication and authorization tested separately for each device and account?
  • What data is collected, how long is it retained, and can a parent delete it?
  • Are firmware updates cryptographically signed and rejected when signatures fail?
  • Does the vendor publish timely security advisories and rotate exposed credentials?

Until those answers are documented for Eilik and Eiliko, disconnecting existing units and waiting for a vendor-confirmed remediation notice is the lower-risk choice.

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AI securitychild privacydata breachEilikEilikoEnergizeLabIoT securityrobot security

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