Firmware bug or malware behavior in headset

I connected a headset to my notebook in preparation for a videoconference. It works great and all, but I observed some strange behavior: After the notification “Device XZY is available” another one popped up with the message “Denied: qubes.InputKeyboard. Denied qubes.InputKeyboard from sys-usb to dom0”.

My paranoid mind goes to “Keylogger in the headphones trying to access keyboard” or “Malware in headphones attempting to behave like a keyboard”. There might be a simpler, non-malicious explanation for this, so I wanted to ask if any of you have come across this behavior and/or has that explanation.

Whatever the reason for the message is, things like this make me glad to be running Qubes: either I avoided being infected (since I have conferences in DVMs) or I have a chance to understand something new

It’s probably just the control buttons on the headset that functions as a keyboard.

1 Like