Chrome falls in first five minutes at Pwn2Own vulnerability contest

Separate from Google’s own Pwnium competition, which has seen a Russian security researcher net $60,000 by uncovering a security hole in Chrome, other vulnerability hunters have successfully exposed weaknesses in the popular browser.

The series of exploits have brought to an end Chrome’s boastful track record of fending off attacks in earlier contests.

Researchers at the French security outfit Vupen told ZDNet that they deliberately targeted Google’s browser at this week’s Pwn2Own competition at CanSecWest in Vancouver.

“We wanted to show that Chrome was not unbreakable. Last year, we saw a lot of headlines that no one could hack Chrome. We wanted to make sure it was the first to fall this year,” said VUPEN co-founder and head of research Chaouki…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or drop him an email.