Pwn2Own: Samsung S22 Hacked

Pwn2Own Contest Samsung Galaxy S22 Hacked

Pwn2Own is a hacking competition held twice a year, starting in April 2007 in Vancouver. Its latest iteration was held in April 2021. In December 2022, the competition made headlines when the STAR Labs and Chim teams uncovered significant vulnerabilities in the Samsung Galaxy S22.

During the event, these teams successfully exploited two critical weaknesses in the Galaxy S22. On the first day of the contest, STAR Labs achieved complete access to the device.

The following day, Pentest Limited also demonstrated successful exploits, highlighting ongoing security concerns with the smartphone.

Tri Dang and Toan Pham from Qrious Secure attempted to bypass the smartphone’s security measures but did not succeed within their allotted time.

On the third day of Pwn2Own, contestants hacked the Samsung Galaxy S22 for and fourth time since the start of the competition they hacked the Samsung Galaxy S22 in just 55 seconds.

As per contest rules all four days the Samsung Galaxy S22 smartphone ran the latest version of Android OS version and this earned them $25,000, 50% of the total cash award.

The Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative awarded $253,500 for 14 distinct bugs across several categories on the third day of Pwn2Own Toronto.

Contestants showcased exploits aimed at zero-day vulnerabilities in network-attached storage (NAS) devices from several major brands, including Cisco, NETGEAR, HP, Canon, Ubiquiti, Sonos, Lexmark, Synology, and Western Digital.

These hackers demonstrate advanced hacking prowess. The intrusion, occurring in less than a minute, underscores the vulnerability of mobile phones.

Thus, it is imperative to emphasize the significance of routinely updating your device’s security to mitigate incidents such as the recent hacking of the Samsung S22 smartphone at Pwn2Own.