Hackers Secure $1.3 Million at Pwn2Own Berlin 2026 for Exploits on Major Platforms
The Pwn2Own Berlin 2026 event concluded with participants earning nearly $1.3 million for discovering and exploiting vulnerabilities in major software platforms. According to TrendAI’s Zero Day Initiative (ZDI), white hat hackers were awarded a total of $1,298,250 for identifying 47 unique vulnerabilities. The top two teams, Devcore and StarLabs SG, secured the majority of the prize money, with Devcore earning $200,000 for a remote code execution exploit on Microsoft Exchange and $175,000 for a Microsoft Edge sandbox escape. StarLabs SG received $200,000 for a VMware ESX exploit. The event also saw successful exploits in the AI product category, with participants earning rewards for hacking LiteLLM, OpenAI Codex, and LM Studio. Despite the successes, there were eight failed attempts targeting various platforms, including Oracle Autonomous AI Database and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. 
