Vending

Researcher finds way to hack older Nespresso vending machines

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February 5, 2021

A security researcher was able to hack older Nespresso coffee machine smart cards to get free servings, according to a report in The Daily Swig, a cybersecurity news site.

Polle Vanhoof, a Belgian security researcher, created a way to dump and modify the custom stored-value cards that come paired with some Nespresso machines.

Security shortcomings of the Mifare Classic smart card technology, that comes paired with some Nespresso coffee machines, allowed Vanhoof to crack the keys of prepaid cards. The researcher said in a technical report that a hacker can overwrite the stored value and set the loaded value to an arbitrary amount and get free coffee.

Shortcomings of Mifare Classic smart cards have been known since 2008 and have since been replaced by more secure Mifare Plus cards, according to the report.