The first is Neural Execs, a known prompt injection attack that uses 'gibberish' inputs to trick the AI into executing arbitrary, attacker-defined tasks. These inputs act as universal triggers that do not need to be remade for different payloads.
Reliability is broadly defined by how often your car experiences unscheduled failures or malfunctions. A car that is more likely to experience failures is considered unreliable, whereas one that can go for 150,000 miles with nothing but regular maintenance would be considered reliable.
Microsoft is removing trust for kernel drivers that haven't been through the Windows Hardware Compatibility Program, targeting those signed by the long-deprecated cross-signed root program. This change will take effect with the April 2026 Windows Update.
As vehicles become platforms for software and subscriptions, their longevity is increasingly tied to the survival of the companies behind their code. When those companies fail, the consequences ripple far beyond a bad app update and into the basic question of whether a car still functions as a car. Over the years, automotive software has expanded from performing rudimentary engine management and onboard diagnostics to powering today's interconnected, software-defined vehicles.
Ransomware gangs, especially those with ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) programs, frequently produce new builds of their encryptors, and ensuring that each new build is reliably undetected can be time-consuming. More importantly, encryptors are inherently very noisy (as they inherently need to modify a large number of files in a short period); making such malware undetected is rather challenging.
According to CISA, Gardyn products were affected by two critical and two high-severity vulnerabilities. One of the critical flaws, tracked as CVE-2025-29631, is a command injection issue that can be exploited to execute arbitrary OS commands on the targeted device. The second critical vulnerability, CVE-2025-1242, is related to the exposure of hardcoded admin credentials that can be used to gain full control of the Gardyn IoT Hub.
Welcome to Day One of Pwn2Own Automotive 2026! Today, 30 entries are taking the Pwn2Own stage to target the latest automotive systems, as the world's top security researchers push technology to its limits. Exploits, surprises, and breakthrough discoveries are already unfolding - follow along here for updates throughout the day as the competition continues. Stay up to date by following us on Twitter, Mastodon, LinkedIn, and Bluesky, and join the conversation using #Pwn2Own Automotive and #P2OAuto for continuous coverage.
infosec in brief T'was a dark few days for automotive software systems last week, as the third annual Pwn2Own Automotive competition uncovered 76 unique zero-day vulnerabilities in targets ranging from Tesla infotainment to EV chargers. A record 73 entries were included in this year's competition at Automotive World in Tokyo, and, while not all were successful, Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative still ended up paying out more than $1 million to successful competitors. For those unfamiliar with the structure of a Pwn2Own competition, ethical hackers and security experts enter with plans to perform a certain exploit, which they must do in a limited time.
Siemens has published eight new advisories. The company has released patches and mitigations for high-severity issues in Desigo CC, Sentron Powermanager, Simcenter Femap and Nastran, NX, Sinec NMS, Solid Edge, and Polarion products. A medium-severity flaw has been found in Siveillance Video Management Servers. Exploitation of the vulnerabilities can lead to unauthorized access, XSS, DoS, code execution, and privilege escalation.
Vulnerabilities discovered by researchers in Dormakaba physical access control systems could have allowed hackers to remotely open doors at major organizations. The security holes were discovered by experts at SEC Consult, a cybersecurity consulting firm under Atos-owned Eviden, in Dormakaba's Exos central management software, a hardware access manager, and registration units that enable entry via a keypad, fingerprint reader, or chip card.
When we talk about installation, we're usually referring to Windows 2000 turning up on a ticket machine, Windows 7 showing its face where it isn't welcome, or even Windows 10 having a moment on an information display. Today's bork, however, is a bit different. Spied by an eagle-eyed Register reader, this installation is all about the hardware: a router connected to an ATM to provide connectivity.
"A floor manager responsible for production asked me to fix his PC, which was so slow he could literally make a coffee in the time between double-clicking an icon and having the program open," Parker told On Call. The manager's PC was only a year old and ran Windows XP, a combo that at the time of this tale should have made for decent performance.