Pwn2Own Berlin 2025 Day Two: Researcher Earns $150K Hacking VMware ESXi
TL;DR
On day two of Pwn2Own Berlin 2025, participants earned $435,000 by demonstrating zero-day exploits in various products, including VMware ESXi, Microsoft SharePoint, and Mozilla Firefox. Nguyen Hoang Thach of STARLabs SG earned $150,000 for hacking VMware ESXi.
Main Content
Participants Earn $435,000 on Day Two of Pwn2Own Berlin 2025
On day two of Pwn2Own Berlin 2025, bug hunters earned a total of $435,000, bringing the contest total to $695,000. This follows the $260,000 awarded on the first day of the competition. Participants demonstrated 20 unique zero-day vulnerabilities in products such as Microsoft SharePoint, VMware ESXi, Oracle VirtualBox, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and Mozilla Firefox.
Wrapping up Day Two of #Pwn2Own Berlin 2025. We’ve awarded $695,000 for 20 unique 0-days, with one more day to go! pic.twitter.com/x2oBfaSfKS
— Trend Zero Day Initiative (@thezdi) May 16, 2025
Notable Achievements
Nguyen Hoang Thach of STARLabs SG successfully exploited an integer overflow to hack VMware ESXi, earning $150,000 and 15 Master of Pwn points1.
Outstanding! Nguyen Hoang Thach (@hi_im_d4rkn3ss) of STARLabs SG used a single integer overflow to exploit #VMware ESXi – a first in #Pwn2Own history. He earns $150,000 and 15 Master of Pwn points. #P2OBerlin pic.twitter.com/QmfZng11nV
— Trend Zero Day Initiative (@thezdi) May 16, 2025
Dinh Ho Anh Khoa of Viettel Cyber Security earned $100,000 and 10 Master of Pwn points for exploiting Microsoft SharePoint using auth bypass and insecure deserialization.
Edouard Bochin and Tao Yan from Palo Alto Networks earned $50,000 and 5 Master of Pwn points for exploiting Mozilla Firefox via an Out-of-Bounds Write.
Comprehensive List of Day Two Hacking Attempts
The full list of hacking attempts made during day two is available here.
Event Highlights
This year’s Pwn2Own at the OffensiveCon conference marks the first time the competition includes an AI category.
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Pierluigi Paganini
( SecurityAffairs – hacking, Pwn2Own Berlin 2025)
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References
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Trend Zero Day Initiative (May 16, 2025). “Outstanding! Nguyen Hoang Thach (@hi_im_d4rkn3ss) of STARLabs SG used a single integer overflow to exploit #VMware ESXi – a first in #Pwn2Own history. He earns $150,000 and 15 Master of Pwn points. #P2OBerlin pic.twitter.com/QmfZng11nV”. Trend Zero Day Initiative. Retrieved May 16, 2025. ↩︎