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Safari running under macOS Sierra hacked at PWNFEST, giving root access

Security conference organizer Vangelis has tweeted that a joint team of Pangu and JH hackers have successfully claimed the maximum $100,000 prize on offer at the PWNFEST event for finding a Safari exploit that gave them root access on macOS Sierra …

Pangu is the Chinese hacking team behind several of the most recent iOS jailbreaks.

No details have yet been reported, but the team successfully claimed both the basic ($80k) and extra ($20k) rewards on offer in an exploit that took 20 seconds to run. There is no report yet of anyone successfully claiming the $180k available for an iOS 10/iPhone 7 Plus exploit.

Safari wasn’t the only browser to fall victim at the PWNFEST conference: Microsoft Edge running under Windows 10 was also hacked, and Google saw its latest Pixel fall to a team which was able to achieve remote code execution to win a $120k prize.

All systems hacked were running the latest versions. Details of all the exploits will be passed to the companies concerned to enable the software to be patched to prevent black-hat hackers using them for nefarious purposes.

Photo: The Register

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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