Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Burning, Trashing, Spacecraft Crashing: A Collection of Vulnerabilities That Will End Your Space Mission
The frequency of space missions has been increasing in recent years, raising concerns about security breaches and satellite cyber threats. Each space mission relies on highly specialized hardware and software components that communicate through dedicated protocols and standards developed for mission-specific purposes. Numerous potential failure points exist across both the space and ground segments, any of which could compromise mission integrity. Given the critical role that space-based infrastructure plays in modern society, every component involved in space missions should be recognized as part of critical infrastructure and afforded the highest level of security consideration.
This Briefing highlights a subset of vulnerabilities that we identified within the last couple of years across both ground-based systems and onboard spacecraft software. We will provide an in-depth analysis of our findings, demonstrating the impact of these vulnerabilities by showing our PoC exploits in action—including their potential to grant unauthorized control over targeted spacecraft. Additionally, we will show demonstrations of the exploitation process, illustrating the real-world implications of these security flaws.
By:
Andrzej Olchawa | Offensive Security Researcher, VisionSpace Technologies GmbH
Milenko Starcik | Head of Cyber Security, VisionSpace Technologies GmbH
Ricardo Fradique | Cybersecurity Engineer, VisionSpace Technologies GmbH
Ayman Boulaich | Cybersecurity Intern, VisionSpace Technologies GmbH
Presentation Materials Available at:
blackhat.com/us-25/briefings/schedule/?#burning-trashing-spacecraft-crashing-a-collection-of-vulnerabilities-that-will-end-your-space-mission-45005
Burning, Trashing, Spacecraft Crashing: A Collection of Vulnerabilities That Will End Your Space Mission
The frequency of space missions has been increasing in recent years, raising concerns about security breaches and satellite cyber threats. Each space mission relies on highly specialized hardware and software components that communicate through dedicated protocols and standards developed for mission-specific purposes. Numerous potential failure points exist across both the space and ground segments, any of which could compromise mission integrity. Given the critical role that space-based infrastructure plays in modern society, every component involved in space missions should be recognized as part of critical infrastructure and afforded the highest level of security consideration.
This Briefing highlights a subset of vulnerabilities that we identified within the last couple of years across both ground-based systems and onboard spacecraft software. We will provide an in-depth analysis of our findings, demonstrating the impact of these vulnerabilities by showing our PoC exploits in action—including their potential to grant unauthorized control over targeted spacecraft. Additionally, we will show demonstrations of the exploitation process, illustrating the real-world implications of these security flaws.
By:
Andrzej Olchawa | Offensive Security Researcher, VisionSpace Technologies GmbH
Milenko Starcik | Head of Cyber Security, VisionSpace Technologies GmbH
Ricardo Fradique | Cybersecurity Engineer, VisionSpace Technologies GmbH
Ayman Boulaich | Cybersecurity Intern, VisionSpace Technologies GmbH
Presentation Materials Available at:
blackhat.com/us-25/briefings/schedule/?#burning-trashing-spacecraft-crashing-a-collection-of-vulnerabilities-that-will-end-your-space-mission-45005
