On the first day of the Pwn2Own Ireland 2025 hacking contest organized by Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative (ZDI), participants earned a total of $522,500 for the exploits they demonstrated.
A total of 34 previously unknown vulnerabilities have been exploited to hack printers, network-attached storage (NAS) devices, routers, and smart home products.
The largest reward, $100,000, was awarded in the ‘SOHO Smashup’ category, which combines exploits targeting two different types of devices. Researchers chained exploits targeting the QNAP Qhora-322 router and the QNAP TS-453E NAS device.
Another significant reward, $50,000, was paid out for a Synology ActiveProtect Appliance DP320 exploit. The same amount was also earned for a Sonos Era 300 smart speaker hack.
Other NAS device exploits, targeting Synology and QNAP products, earned researchers $40,000 each.
ZDI rewarded vulnerabilities in the Home Assistant Green home automation device with $40,000, $20,000, and $12,500. Phillips Hue Bridge exploits earned participants $40,000 and $20,000.
Hacking Canon and HP printers earned researchers $20,000 and $10,000.
Pwn2Own Ireland 2025 will continue until Thursday, when a researcher is scheduled to demonstrate a zero-click remote code execution exploit against WhatsApp in hopes of winning $1 million.
A total of more than $1 million was awarded at Pwn2Own Ireland 2024 for camera, printer, NAS device, smart speaker and smartphone exploits.
Related: Over $3 Million in Prizes Offered at Pwn2Own Automotive 2026
Related: $4.5 Million Offered in New Cloud Hacking Competition
Related: VMware Flaws That Earned Hackers $340,000 at Pwn2Own Patched
