Our ICS-Themed Pwn2Own Contest Returns to Miami in 2022

UPDATE: The S4 Conference has been rescheduled to April 19 through April 21. Consequently, the Pwn2Own Miami competition is also moving to these days. The new deadline for registration is April 14, 2022. We have also clarified the rules around participation as an individual, team, or company and expanded available security policies in the OPC UA Server category. For full details, see the rules.

¡Bienvenidos de nuevo a Miami!

Our inaugural Pwn2Own Miami was held back in January 2020 at the S4 Conference, and we had a fantastic time as we awarded over $280,000 USD in cash and prizes for 24 unique 0-day vulnerabilities. At the time, we couldn’t wait to get back to South Beach for the next contest. Of course, the rest of 2020 happened, so those plans were put on hold. Today, we are excited to announce Pwn2Own Miami returns in person to S4 on January 25-27, 2022 April 19-21, 2022. As of now, we are planning on running the contest in Miami and hope to have contestants in the room with us. However, we know not everyone is ready to hit the road again, so we will also still allow remote participation.

This will be our first “hybrid” event with contestants participating locally (hopefully) and remotely. Even though we will be at the Fillmore, we realize not everyone can be there with us. If you have either travel restrictions or travel safety concerns, you can opt to compete remotely. You will still need to register before the contest registration deadline (January 21, 2022 April 14, 2022) and submit a detailed whitepaper completely explaining your exploit chain and instructions on how to run the entry. A member of the ZDI staff in Miami will run your exploit for you. All attempts will be filmed and available for viewing by the contestant and the vendor. As in the past, we will work with remote contestants to monitor the attempt in real-time via a phone call or video chat. Please note that since you are not in person, changes to exploits/scripts/etc. will not be possible, which could lower your chance of winning should something unexpected occur. Otherwise, the contest will run as we have in the past. We will have a random drawing to determine the schedule of attempts on the first day of the contest, and we will proceed from there.

This contest is not possible without the participation and help from our partners within the ICS community, and we would like to especially thank Schneider Electric, OPC Foundation, Inductive Automation, and Triangle Microworks for their expertise and guidance. Their cooperation is essential in ensuring we have the right categories and targets to create a meaningful test of the security of these products and protocols. Pwn2Own Miami seeks to harden these platforms by revealing vulnerabilities and providing that research to the vendors. The goal is always to get these bugs fixed before they’re actively exploited by attackers. These vendors have been instrumental in making that goal a reality.

The 2022 edition of Pwn2Own Miami has four categories:

- Control Server
- OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) Server
- Data Gateway
- Human Machine Interface (HMI)

Control Server Category

The Control Server category covers server solutions that provide connectivity, monitoring, and control across disparate Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) and other field systems. An attacker who took over a control server could alter the process in any way they wanted and would only be limited by their engineering and automation skills. The targets in this category include the control servers from Iconics and Inductive Automation.

An attempt in this category must be launched against the target’s exposed network services from the contestant’s laptop within the contest network or by opening a file within the target on the contest laptop. The files that are eligible to be opened must be file types that are handled by default by the target application.  A successful entry in the category must result in arbitrary code execution.

OPC UA Server Category

The OPC Unified Architecture (UA) is a platform-independent, service-oriented architecture that integrates all the functionality of the individual OPC Classic specifications into one extensible framework. OPC UA serves as the universal translator protocol in the ICS world. It is used by almost all ICS products to send data between disparate vendor systems. OPC UA was designed to be more secure than the previously used DCOM and is gaining in popularity. This category has four products: the Unified Automation C++ Demo Server, the OPC Foundation OPC UA .NET Standard, the Prosys OPC US SDK for Java, and the Softing Secure Integration Server.

A successful entry in the category must result either in a denial-of-service condition, arbitrary code execution or in a bypass of the trusted application check that occurs after the creation of a secure channel. These types of devices usually restrict who can connect, so bypassing the application check becomes a prime target for attackers.

Data Gateway Category

This category focuses on devices that connect other devices of varying protocols. There are two products in this category. The first is the Triangle Microworks SCADA Data Gateway product. Triangle Microworks makes the most widely used DNP3 protocol stack.  The other is the Kepware KEPServerEx server. KEPServerEX is an industry-leading connectivity platform that provides a single source of industrial automation data to multiple applications. 

A successful entry in the category must result in arbitrary code execution.

Human Machine Interface (HMI)

If you’re familiar with ICS at all, you’ve likely heard of the Human Machine Interface (HMI) system. The HMI connects the operator of an ICS to the various hardware components of the ICS. Attackers that take over the HMI can also prevent the operator from seeing process issues in the ICS until it is too late. Our HMI category consists of the AVEVA Edge and the Schneider Electric EcoStruxure Operator Terminal Expert. 

A successful entry in this category must result in arbitrary code execution.

Master of Pwn

No Pwn2Own contest would be complete without crowning a Master of Pwn, and Pwn2Own Miami is no exception. Earning the title results in a slick trophy and brings with it an additional 65,000 ZDI reward points (instant Platinum status in 2023, which includes a one-time bonus estimated at $25,000).

For those not familiar with how it works, points are accumulated for each successful attempt. While only the first demonstration in a category wins the full cash award, each successful entry claims the full number of Master of Pwn points. Since the order of attempts is determined by a random draw, those who receive later slots can still claim the Master of Pwn title – even if they earn a lower cash payout.

As with previous contests, there are penalties for withdrawing from an attempt once you register for it. If a contestant decides to withdraw from the registered attempt before the actual attempt, the Master of Pwn points for that attempt will be divided by 2 and deducted from the contestant's point total for the contest. Since Pwn2Own is now often a team competition, along with the initial deduction of points, the same number of Master of Pwn points will also be deducted from all contestant teams from the same company.

The Complete Details

The full set of rules for Pwn2Own Miami 2022 are available here. They may be changed at any time without notice. We encourage entrants to read the rules thoroughly and completely should they choose to participate.

Registration is required to ensure we have sufficient resources on hand at the event. Please contact ZDI at zdi@trendmicro.com to begin the registration process. (Email only, please; queries via Twitter, blog post, or other means will not be acknowledged or answered.) If we receive more than one registration for any category, we’ll hold a random drawing to determine the contestant order. Again, this random drawing will not impact awards. Contest registration closes at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 21st, 2022 April 14, 2022.

The Results

We’ll be live blogging and tweeting results throughout the competition. Be sure to keep an eye on the blog for the latest results. Follow us on Twitter at @thezdi and @trendmicro, and keep an eye on the #P2OMiami hashtag for continuing coverage.

We look forward to seeing everyone again in Miami, and we look forward to seeing what new exploits and attack techniques they bring with them.