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Microsoft says “successful exploitation requires uncommon user interaction”, but it’s the innocent and accidental leakage of private data you should be concerned about.

An impressive array of hacks were demonstrated at the first day of the Pwn2Own conference in Vancouver:

On the first day of Pwn2Own Vancouver 2023, security researchers successfully demoed Tesla Model 3, Windows 11, and macOS zero-day exploits and exploit chains to win $375,000 and a Tesla Model 3.

The first to fall was Adobe Reader in the enterprise applications category after Haboob SA’s Abdul Aziz Hariri (@abdhariri) used an exploit chain targeting a 6-bug logic chain abusing multiple failed patches which escaped the sandbox and bypassed a banned API list on macOS to earn $50,000.

The STAR Labs team (@starlabs_sg) demoed a zero-day exploit chain targeting Microsoft’s SharePoint team collaboration platform that brought them a $100,000 reward and successfully hacked Ubuntu Desktop with a previously known exploit for $15,000.

Synacktiv (@Synacktiv) took home $100,000 and a Tesla Model 3 after successfully executing a TOCTOU (time-of-check to time-of-use) attack against the Tesla-Gateway in the Automotive category. They also used a TOCTOU zero-day vulnerability to escalate privileges on Apple macOS and earned $40,000.

Oracle VirtualBox was hacked using an OOB Read and a stacked-based buffer overflow exploit chain (worth $40,000) by Qrious Security’s Bien Pham (@bienpnn).

Last but not least, Marcin Wiązowski elevated privileges on Windows 11 using an improper input validation zero-day that came with a $30,000 prize.

The con’s second and third days were equally impressive.

His prediction was called a “Law”, though it was an exhortation to engineering excellence as much it was an estimate.

Provides businesses with early warnings to evict threat actors before they can encrypt data

The vulnerability could allow an unauthenticated attacker to gain admin privileges and take over a website

The move reportedly did not stem from a compromise of GitHub systems or customer information

Monster 500MB attachment hides a nasty surprise

Further blow for Chinese social media app

Business leaders still underestimate importance of security to growth

Admin-level holes in websites are always a bad thing… and for “bad”, read “worse” if it’s an e-commerce site.