Reading NFC Passport Chips in Linux – Terence Eden’s Blog shkspr.mobi

The NFC chip in a passport is protected by a password. The password is printed on the inside of the physical passport. As well as needing to be physically close to the passport for NFC to work, you also need to be able to see the password. The password is printed in the "Machine Readable Zone" (MRZ) - which is why some border guards will swipe your passport through a reader before scanning the chip; they need the password and don't want to type it in.
Published: June 30, 2025
Tags: #security