We just bought a new refrigerator this weekend, replacing the $3500 2011 Bosch that came with the apartment.

The Bosch burned out the compressor’s ECU - a $350 part that with labor would have been an $800 repair.

We comparison shopped all the appliance stores in NYC and ended up with a $2k Samsung side by side (not my favorite brand, but it fit in our tight galley kitchen)

PC Richard had only a single model with a touchscreen on the floor (Samsung French door). Best Buy and Home Depot had maybe one more from LG.

So on one hand, the concern that every refrigerator will have a useless touchscreen seems unfounded.

But... I was reading through the manual and was surprised to find instructions for connecting the appliance to my wifi. (MAC address available two hex digits at a time flashed through the temperature gauges)

Ostensibly this is to provide a channel for electric demand response (they even documented the api). It also connects up with Samsung’s SmartHome ecosystem (why??)

I have no doubt there is a full Android stack hidden what appeared to be a normal “dumb appliance”.

These hidden smart appliances are going to be great attack surfaces. I’m sure soon enough they’ll automate the wifi connection by making a back channel the nearest lightbulb or something.

Of course who’s following CVEs on their mesh connected toaster?

You just answered your own question right there.