Researchers Uncover Multiple OS X and Safari Exploits at Pwn2Own 2016

The sixteenth annual CanSecWest security conference is underway in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, and researchers participating in the Pwn2Own computer hacking contest have already discovered multiple vulnerabilities in OS X and the Safari web browser on the desktop.

On day one of the event, independent security researcher JungHoon Lee earned $60,000 after exploiting both OS X and Safari. Lee uncovered four vulnerabilities in total, including one exploit in Safari and three other vulnerabilities within the OS X operating system, according to security firm Trend Micro.

JungHoon Lee (lokihardt): Demonstrated a successful code execution attack against Apple Safari to gain root privileges. The attack consisted of four new vulnerabilities: a use-after-free vulnerability in Safari and three additional vulnerabilities, including a heap overflow to escalate to root. This demonstration earned 10 Master of Pwn points and US$60,000.

Meanwhile, the report claims that the Tencent Security Team Shield group successfully executed code that enabled them to gain root privileges to Safari using "two use-after-free vulnerabilities," including one in Safari and the other in a "privileged process." The researchers were awarded $40,000 in prize money.

The five participating teams earned a total of $282,500 in prizes on day one, including a leading $132,500 earned by the 360Vulcan Team, according to the report. Other web browsers and plugins that were successfully targeted include Adobe Flash, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Edge on Windows.