Unciphered Found Vulnerability in Trezor Model T Hardware Wallet

Article Reading Time:
2 minutes.

Information security company Unciphered reported that it was able to hack the popular Trezor Model T hardware wallet and obtain the private key.

In the demo video, Unciphered exploits a "hardware vulnerability" in the Model T wallet.The video shows how to extract a mnemonic phrase for access, while hacking requires physical access to the wallet.

The startup's team researched and developed a method to exploit the "intrinsic vulnerability" of the wallet.This vulnerability made it possible to extract the device's firmware, and then, with the help of specialized software and the power of video accelerators, they managed to crack the device's PIN code.

"We uploaded the resulting firmware to our high-performance computing clusters for hacking.We have about 10 GPUs working on this task, and after a while, we got the keys," said Erik Michaud, co-founder of Unciphered.

Michaud also noted that this vulnerability in the Trezor Model T cannot be fixed by software methods.The manufacturer will have to recall all sold hardware wallets to fix the vulnerability.

Trezor representatives said that they are aware of this vulnerability and it is called Read Protection Downgrade (RDP).It was discovered back in 2020, but its use requires physical access to the device, and "extremely deep technological knowledge, as well as sophisticated equipment."

"Even with such knowledge and equipment, it is possible to establish a complex passphrase that will allow you toadd an extra layer of protection and make the RDP attack useless," said the CTOTrezor Tomas Susanka.

In April, it was reported that the Trezor Model T hardware wallet will receiveTransaction anonymization features.