Title: The Four-Fold Cyber Attack Saga on Tesla: What You Should Understand
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Tesla's Hacking Woes: Four Successful Attacks at Pwn2Own 2023
In the realm of cybersecurity, we're often bombarded with tales of password breaches, smartphone hacking, and router vulnerabilities. But let's not forget about another potentially dangerous target: your car. Recent reports have brought Mercedes-Benz and now, Tesla, into the limelight, highlighting 13 vulnerabilities and four successful hacks, respectively.
Pwn2Own 2023: Tesla's Turn in the Hot Seat
With a rich history dating back to 2007, Pwn2Own has become synonymous with top-notch ethical hackers and cybersecurity researchers. This year, the event, organized by Trend Micro Zero-Day Initiative, took a twist with its automotive-focused exclusive event. Last year, the event awarded an impressive $1,323,750 in rewards over three days. This year's event, held from Jan. 22 to Jan. 24 in Tokyo, saw Tesla as a co-sponsor, bringing the brand's wall charger into the hacking arena.
On day two, hackers targeted the Tesla wall charger, and the results were astounding. A total of $129,500 in zero-day bounties was awarded to successful teams.
The Four Tesla Hacks Unveiled
Although the technical specifics of the exploits and vulnerabilities won't be disclosed for 90 days, we can share what we know about the hacking events on day two of Pwn2Own Automotive:
- PHP Hooligans capitalized on a numeric range comparison without minimum check bug (CWE-839) for a $50,000 bounty.
- Synacktiv exploited a logic bug as part of an exploit chain to compromise the Tesla Wall Connector, earning a $45,000 bounty for "outstanding and inventive research."
- Radu Motspan, Polina Smirnova, and Mikhail Evdokimov, from the PC Automotive team, exploited the Tesla Wall Connector, earning a $22,500 bounty despite not utilizing a zero-day exploit.
- Sina Kheirkhah of the Summoning Team leveraged a two-vulnerability chain to exploit the Tesla Wall Connector, pocketing a $12,500 bounty.
As of now, Tesla has yet to comment on the events.
[1] Enrichment Data (Optional, 15% or less):
During Pwn2Own Automotive 2025, Rob Blakely and Andres Campuzano of Technical Debt Collectors hacked the Tesla wall charger, but their exploit was based on a previously known issue, reducing their prize to $12,500 and 2.5 points.
Here is a summary of the hacks and bounties awarded for each successful attack on Tesla and other automotive systems during Pwn2Own 2023:
- Tesla Wall Connector: $12,500 and 2.5 points for exploiting a previously known issue.
- Tesla IVI System: $10,000 and 2 points for exploiting an integer overflow vulnerability by Synacktiv.
- Kenwood DMX958XR: $10,000 and 2 points each for exploiting an OS command injection vulnerability by PHP Hooligans and Evan Grant.
- Alpine iLX-507 IVI System: $10,000 and 2 points each for exploiting a command injection bug by Sina Kheirkhah and a stack buffer overflow by Thanh Do.
The total payout for all 49 unique zero-day vulnerabilities discovered during Pwn2Own 2023 was $886,250.
- After Tesla became a co-sponsor at Pwn2Own 2023, hackers successfully targeted the Tesla wall charger during the event, leading to a total of $129,500 in zero-day bounties being awarded.
- One of the successful hacks at Pwn2Own 2023 involved PHP Hooligans exploiting a numeric range comparison without minimum check bug (CWE-839) in the Tesla wall charger, earning a $50,000 bounty.
- At Pwn2Own Automotive 2023, Synacktiv exploited a logic bug and used it as part of an exploit chain to compromise the Tesla Wall Connector, winning a $45,000 bounty for their innovative research.
- Tesla wall charger hacking continues as a concern, with Technical Debt Collectors exploiting a previously known issue during Pwn2Own Automotive 2025, earning a reduced $12,500 bounty.
- With Tesla's wall charger now being part of hacking competitions like Pwn2Own, concerns about Tesla charging security have become a major topic in the realm of cybersecurity and hacking.
