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The $105,000 headline refers to all prizes awarded on the second and final day of Pwn2Own 2018—not just the Firefox and Safari wins. Richard Zhu earned $50,000 for exploiting Firefox, while MWR Labs earned $55,000 for a Safari sandbox escape. A separate Safari demonstration exceeded the contest’s attempt limit and did not count as a win.
What did the $105,000 represent?
At Pwn2Own 2018 in Vancouver, the Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) reported an additional $105,000 in awards on the event’s second and final day. That is the day’s aggregate, not a combined payout for two browser exploits. ZDI reported $267,000 awarded across the two-day contest. ZDI’s March 16, 2018 results list the individual outcomes and prizes.
Which Firefox and Safari exploits earned prizes?
| Target and team | Exploit scope described by ZDI | Contest outcome | Award |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firefox — Richard Zhu (fluorescence) | An out-of-bounds write in Firefox followed by an integer overflow in the Windows kernel | Successful on his first attempt | $50,000 and five Master of Pwn points |
| Safari — Alex Plaskett, Georgi Geshev, and Fabi Beterke of MWR Labs | A heap buffer underflow in Safari plus an uninitialized stack variable in macOS, used to escape the browser sandbox and gain code execution | Counted win | $55,000 and five Master of Pwn points |
| Safari — Markus Gaasedelen, Nick Burnett, and Patrick Biernat of Ret2 Systems | A macOS kernel privilege-escalation exploit | Demonstrated on attempt four; the rules allowed three attempts, so it was recorded as a failure | No counted prize for that attempt |
Why did the Safari demonstration fail to count?
The Ret2 Systems team did demonstrate its exploit, but only on its fourth attempt. Pwn2Own’s rules allowed three attempts, so the demonstration fell outside the permitted limit and was recorded as a failure. It is distinct from MWR Labs’ counted Safari sandbox escape; the two teams and outcomes should not be conflated. ZDI said the bugs were purchased and disclosed to the vendor through its normal process. ZDI’s event results describe the attempts and rule outcome.
What does “hacking a browser” mean for control of a computer?
A browser exploit does not automatically mean an attacker controls the whole computer. ZDI’s 2018 descriptions distinguish the Firefox bug from the additional Windows kernel escalation in Zhu’s chain, and describe MWR Labs’ Safari exploit as escaping the browser sandbox. Those added steps matter because browsers isolate web content to limit what a compromised page can do.
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For later context only, Mozilla wrote in May 2025 that two Firefox content-process exploits demonstrated at that year’s Pwn2Own did not escape Firefox’s sandbox, which Mozilla described as necessary to gain control beyond the tab. That 2025 account concerns different exploits and does not describe the 2018 chains. Mozilla’s 2025 security response covers those later events.
What happened after the bugs were reported?
ZDI said vendors had 90 days to produce patches for the reported bugs. Its 2018 results also reported five Apple bugs, four Microsoft bugs, two Oracle bugs, and one Mozilla bug. ZDI’s results post provides the event totals and disclosure-period details.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How did the researchers prepare?
In contemporaneous coverage, Zhu said, “I put a lot of work into each exploit,” and described buying the exact model of machine used at the contest; the report does not identify that model. CyberScoop also noted participants’ collegiate CTF backgrounds and described capture-the-flag competitions as useful training for exploit development. CyberScoop’s March 16, 2018 report provides that researcher context.
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