# Pwn2Own Ireland 2026: Google Pixel 10 Exploit Chains Earn $560,000

> Three teams demonstrated exploits against the Google Pixel 10 at Pwn2Own Ireland 2026 (Cork, organized by Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative), earning $560,000 in total. Ikotas Labs received a full $300,000 payout for chaining multiple bugs for remote compromise; two other teams received reduced payouts for exploits that involved a previously known vulnerability. No CVEs, patches or technical details have been published.

- **Published:** 2026-10-09T00:00:00Z
- **Last reviewed:** 2026-10-09T00:00:00Z
- **Canonical:** https://intel.threadlinqs.com/threat/TL-2026-3103
- **ID:** TL-2026-3103
- **Severity:** MEDIUM
- **Category:** VULNERABILITY
- **Status:** MONITORING
- **Detections:** 9 · **IOCs:** 9 (full data via the Threadlinqs MCP server — Purple tier)

## Description

Pwn2Own Ireland 2026, organized by Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative (ZDI), began on October 6, 2026 in Cork, Ireland. According to SecurityWeek (2026-10-09), three teams successfully demonstrated exploits against the Google Pixel 10, collectively earning $560,000. Ikotas Labs received the full $300,000 payout for chaining multiple bugs to achieve a remote device compromise. Tim Becker and Yves Bieri earned $150,000 for an exploit that involved a previously known flaw (a reduced payout), and Dimitrios Valsamaras and Ken Gannon earned $112,500 for chaining a zero-day with a known vulnerability. The per-team amounts listed ($300,000 + $150,000 + $112,500 = $562,500) do not sum to the $560,000 total stated by the source; the stated total is retained here.

No CVE identifiers, CVSS scores, affected Android/Pixel build numbers, vulnerable components or exploit mechanics have been disclosed. Under Pwn2Own rules, vendors receive 90 days to release security updates before ZDI publicly discloses the flaws, so technical details are expected only after a patch or the disclosure deadline. Separate day-one coverage (BleepingComputer) reports that White Noise Club (Mikhail Evdokimov, Polina Smirnova, Mate Zombor) also targeted the Pixel 10 but could not get their exploit to work within the allotted time. Secondary reporting indicates Ikotas Labs also compromised the Samsung Galaxy S26 with a four-vulnerability chain of which one bug was already known to Samsung, and speculates that a previously unknown flaw may also affect the Pixel 10; this is unconfirmed and no details are published.

This is competition-demonstrated research, not in-the-wild exploitation: no CISA KEV listing, public PoC, or threat-actor activity is reported. The entry is tracked in MONITORING status so that downstream phases can add CVEs, patch information and detection content when Google or ZDI publish details. The wider event reportedly totaled about $1.2 million across phones, printers, smart speakers, smart-home hubs, and AI infrastructure targets (Oracle Autonomous AI Database, OpenAI Codex, Nvidia Dynamo, LiteLLM, Philips Hue Bridge Pro, Samsung Galaxy S26, Sonos Era 300).

## MITRE ATT&CK

- T1587.004 Develop Capabilities: Exploits
- T1588.005 Obtain Capabilities: Exploits
- T1664 Exploitation for Initial Access
- T1658 Exploitation for Client Execution
- T1404 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

## Sources

- [Google Pixel 10 Exploits Earned Hackers $560,000 at Pwn2Own](https://www.securityweek.com/google-pixel-10-exploits-earned-hackers-560000-at-pwn2own/)
- [Hackers exploit 32 zero-days on first day of Pwn2Own Ireland](https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-exploit-32-zero-days-on-first-day-of-pwn2own-ireland/)
- [Hackers crack Samsung Galaxy S26 with single email in zero-day attack](https://cybernews.com/security/hackers-crack-samsung-galaxy-s26-zero-day-email-attack/)
- [Pwn2Own Ireland 2026 Day One: 32 Zero-Days, $388,500 in Payouts](https://dailysecurityreview.com/?p=44293)
- [Pwn2Own Ireland 2026 - zero days (SecNews)](https://www.secnews.gr/en/738454/pwn2own-2026-ireland-zero-days/)
- [Pwn2Own Ireland 2026 Samsung Galaxy S26 hacked three times on day one (IT-Connect)](https://www.it-connect.tech/pwn2own-ireland-2026-samsung-galaxy-s26-hacked-three-times-on-day-one/)
- [Zero Day Initiative blog - Pwn2Own](https://www.thezdi.com/blog/tag/Pwn2Own)

## Full data

Detection queries (Splunk SPL / Microsoft KQL / Sigma) and IOC values require the Threadlinqs MCP server (Purple tier): https://intel.threadlinqs.com/mcp

Canonical: https://intel.threadlinqs.com/threat/TL-2026-3103