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Researchers Show USB Attack on MediaTek Android Phones Can Steal PINs and Crypto Keys in Seconds

MediaTek has shipped firmware fixes to phone makers, leaving users dependent on vendor updates to close a hardware-level boot flaw.

Overview

  • Ledger’s Donjon detailed a pre‑boot vulnerability in MediaTek processors and Trustonic’s TEE that allows USB extraction of root keys, automatic PIN recovery, and full‑disk decryption in roughly 45 seconds.
  • A Nothing CMF Phone 1 was compromised in a live demo, with seed phrases pulled from popular mobile wallets including Trust Wallet, Base, Kraken Wallet, Rabby, Tangem, and Phantom.
  • MediaTek provided patches to device manufacturers in January and published an incident report in March (case 2026-20435), yet specific affected handset models beyond the CMF Phone 1 remain unconfirmed.
  • The flaw could expose messages, photos, financial information, and account credentials on unpatched devices, though exploitation requires physical access via a USB connection.
  • Donjon separately demonstrated electromagnetic fault injection on Dimensity 7300 (MT6878) to disrupt the boot process and bypass security checks at the highest privilege level.