Bluetooth Core 6.2 Improves Performance, Protects Against Amplitude-Based Ranging Attacks
The last release of 2025 drops the connection interval minimum for improved responsiveness and adds Channel Sounding attack detection.
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has announced its second, and last, update to the Bluetooth Core specification of the year: Bluetooth Core 6.2, which aims to boost responsiveness, protect against a novel form of attack, and simplifies host-controller interface packet handling for better Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) audio.
“As part of the bi-annual release cadence, Bluetooth Core 6.2 has arrived,” says Bluetooth SIG’s Avi Negrin of the new specification. “This update introduces new features that enhance device responsiveness, strengthen security, and improve communication and testing capabilities. Together, these advancements reinforce the Bluetooth Special Interest Group’s (SIG) commitment to continuous innovation and provide developers with tools to meet evolving market demands.”
The new release comes six months after the launch of Bluetooth Core 6.1 — entirely unsurprisingly, as the Bluetooth SIG recently adopted a bi-annual schedule that sees its specifications updated twice a year, making Bluetooth Core 6.2 the last update of 2025. Where Bluetooth Core 6.1 came with tweaks designed to boost power efficiency and increase privacy, Bluetooth Core 6.2 has a longer list of new features — starting with the lowering of the minimal Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connection interval from 7.5ms to 375µs, which the Bluetooth SIG says will improve responsiveness for devices including mice, keyboards, game controllers, and “latency-sensitive sensors.”
Another feature of the new update is the introduction of a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) detection system for a novel attack against Bluetooth Channel Sounding-based ranging systems, which measure the distance between Bluetooth devices but have proven vulnerable to relay and spoofing attacks based on amplitude modification. Bluetooth 6.2 also introduces a bulk serialization mode for USB-based host-controller interface (HCI) systems, which the SIG says will streamline Bluetooth LE Audio integration, and improvements to the Bluetooth LE Test Mode including the adoption of a “future-proof control protocol” for physical layer tests and wireless Over-The-Air (OTA) update support.
Technical details of the new features are available on the Bluetooth SIG website; the standard itself is available for free download on a separate page.