Google Warned Chromecast Owners Not to Hit Factory Reset

Google has issued an urgent advisory to owners of Chromecast 2nd Generation (2015) and Chromecast Audio devices, warning against factory resets as a global outage linked to an expired security certificate renders these devices inoperable. The company confirmed that it is developing a fix for the authentication failure caused by the March 9, 2025, expiration […] The post Google Warned Chromecast Owners Not to Hit Factory Reset appeared first on Cyber Security News.

Mar 12, 2025 - 09:16

Google Warned Chromecast Owners Not to Hit Factory Reset

Google has issued an urgent advisory to owners of Chromecast 2nd Generation (2015) and Chromecast Audio devices, warning against factory resets as a global outage linked to an expired security certificate renders these devices inoperable.

The company confirmed that it is developing a fix for the authentication failure caused by the March 9, 2025, expiration of the Chromecast ICA 3 intermediate certificate authority, critical for SSL/TLS device validation.

Technical Breakdown of the Outage

The disruption stems from a lapsed X.509v3 intermediate CA certificate (SHA-256 fingerprint: 42:D6:3C:83:4E:4E:83:36:F4:2D:80:12:18:B0:FA:64:ED:CB:91:DD) issued for device authentication.

This certificate, valid from March 12, 2015, to March 9, 2025, formed part of the chain-of-trust validation for Chromecast hardware.

When it expired, Google’s clients—including Chrome, Android’s Cast SDK, and the Google Home app—began rejecting connections, triggering sscr-s4010-2203-2280-g (“Untrusted device”) errors during setup or casting attempts.

Analysis by Reddit user tchebb revealed that Chromium-based clients now enforce expiration checks for certificate chains, unlike pre-2016 implementations that ignored validity periods.

While unofficial clients like VLC remain unaffected, Google’s enforcement of strict CASTV2 protocol authentication has bricked official integrations.

Impact and Google’s Response

Over 20 million units sold since 2015 are impacted, with users reporting failed setups, ghosted casting icons, and devices marked “Offline” in the Home app.

Google’s Nest team acknowledged the issue on its forums, stating, “We’re aware of an emerging issue… Do not factory reset your device”.

However, this warning came 20 hours after the outage began, leaving many users stranded post-reset.

Affected devices include:

Chromecast (2nd Gen) (model numbers H2A2, H2B2)
Chromecast Audio (model N0A6)

Newer Chromecast with Google TV and Ultra models remain unaffected due to updated certificate chains.

Workarounds and Risks

Users who performed factory resets can temporarily bypass the issue by:

Manually setting their phone/tablet date to March 7, 2025, completing setup via Google Home, then reverting to automatic time.
Bypassing device auth on Android via ADB/Activity Manager using com.google.android.gms.cast.settings.CastSettingsCollapsingDebugAction.
For Chrome users, launching the browser with –cast-developer-certificate-path=chromecast-ica-3.pem to force-trust the expired CA.

However, these methods disable certificate pinning, exposing devices to potential MITM attacks.

Google has not confirmed if these workarounds will conflict with its upcoming fix, expected to involve patching Play Services, Chrome, and Home app builds to whitelist the expired CA.

This incident highlights the risks of long-term certificate management in IoT ecosystems. Despite discontinuing Chromecast in August 2024, Google faces backlash for inadequate lifecycle planning.

As users migrate to alternatives like the $20 ONN 4K Streamer, the outage underscores the need for modular, user-replaceable authentication frameworks in connected devices.

Google has not provided a timeline for resolution but is likely prioritizing server-side updates to minimize dependency on OEM firmware patches.

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