ESP32 DevKit V1 and NodeMCU ESP-12E Reboot When Running brute Command in cc1101-tool

[BatrakovSV]

Hi,
I'm facing an issue with the brute command in cc1101-tool on both an ESP32 DevKit V1 and a NodeMCU ESP-12E. When I run the brute command, the boards immediately reboot instead of completing the operation.
Here’s the output I get when connecting to the device via nc (telnet) at 192.168.1.100:23:

init
CC1101 initialized
echo 0
brute 200 4

Starting Brute Forcing press any key to stop...

Right after this message, the board reboots, and the process stops. Occasionally, I see Brute forcing complete after a delay, but the reboot happens consistently.
Setup details:
Hardware: ESP32 DevKit V1 and NodeMCU ESP-12E with CC1101 module

Connection: SPI pins configured correctly (MOSI, MISO, SCK, CS)

Power: Powered via USB with high-quality cables and stable 3.3V supply

Command tested: brute 200 4 (also tried other small values like brute 500 6)

Environment: Arduino IDE with the latest ESP32 and ESP8266 board libraries

Steps to reproduce:
Connect to the device via nc 192.168.1.100 23

Run init (confirms CC1101 initialized)

Run brute 200 4

The board outputs "Starting Brute Forcing press any key to stop..." and immediately reboots.

Additional info:
Other commands like scan or recraw or playraw work fine with the CC1101 module.

I’ve verified SPI connections and ensured a stable power supply (3.3V, >500mA).

The reboot occurs even with minimal bit counts (e.g., 4 bits), suggesting it’s not related to high computational load.

I suspect the issue might be related to SPI handling, buffer issues, or interrupts, as mentioned in similar issues.

Could you help identify why the boards reboot when running the brute command? Is this a known issue with SPI or interrupt handling on ESP32/ESP8266? Any suggestions for debugging or workarounds would be greatly appreciated. I can provide additional logs or test specific configurations if needed.
Thanks for your help!

[mcore1976]

Yes I know about the issue, it looks like bitbanging commands (bitRead) for C libraries are having some flaws and leading to memory leak. Frankly speaking no one was using this "brute force" cracking before therefore no one was complaining .

https://forum.arduino.cc/t/bitread-and-bitwrite-for-numbers-bigger-than-a-byte/1160471/2

    for (brute = 0; brute < poweroftwo ; brute++)  
       { 
       for(int k = 0; k <  5; k++)  // sending 5 times each code
         {
         for(int j = (setting2 - 1); j > -1; j--)  // j bits in a value brute
           {
             digitalWrite(gdo0, bitRead(brute, j)); // Set GDO0 according to actual brute force value
             delayMicroseconds(setting);            // delay for selected sampling interval
           }; // end of J loop
           // watchdog
           yield(); 
           // feed the watchdog in ESP8266
           ESP.wdtFeed();                    
         };  // end of K loop
         // checking if key pressed
         if (Serial.available()) break;
       };   

The macro bitRead apparently has some flaws and it is not able to function properly in this environment

#define bitRead(value, bit) (((value) >> (bit)) & 0x01)
#define bitSet(value, bit) ((value) |= (1UL << (bit)))
#define bitClear(value, bit) ((value) &= ~(1UL << (bit)))
#define bitToggle(value, bit) ((value) ^= (1UL << (bit)))
#define bitWrite(value, bit, bitvalue) ((bitvalue) ? bitSet(value, bit) : bitClear(value, bit))