In an age where smartphones double as vaults for cryptocurrency fortunes and private lives, one microscopic weakness can collapse the entire fortress. Ledger’s elite Donjon security team recently exposed a devastating hardware vulnerability inside the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chipset, one that grants attackers total control over affected devices using nothing more than targeted electromagnetic pulses. This is not a software bug that can be patched; it is burned into the silicon itself and cannot be fixed without redesigning the chip from the ground up.
The Flaw: A Boot-Time Backdoor Etched in Silicon
The Dimensity 7300 is a 4 nm powerhouse found in dozens of popular mid-range Android phones. At its heart sits an immutable 1 MB boot ROM, the very first code that executes when the processor wakes up, running at the highest privilege level (EL3). Ledger’s researchers discovered that, during the earliest milliseconds of startup, a diagnostic interface meant only for factory testing can be hijacked.
Using Electro-Magnetic Fault Injection (EMFI), an attacker fires precise electromagnetic pulses at the chip while it boots. These pulses temporarily flip individual bits or skip critical instructions, turning a harmless “READ memory” command into a full dump of the boot ROM and RAM. In other cases, the pulse corrupts the stack return address, allowing Return-Oriented Programming (ROP) chains that disable memory protections and execute arbitrary code with god-mode privileges. The entire takeover can be completed in minutes, often without the victim ever noticing.
Because the vulnerability lives in read-only silicon, no OTA update, no firmware flash, no factory reset can eliminate it. MediaTek itself has acknowledged that the Dimensity 7300, like most consumer-grade SoCs, was never designed to withstand physical fault-injection attacks of this kind.
Devices at Risk
The Dimensity 7300 powers a long list of everyday phones from major brands, including:
- Realme 13/14 series and Narzo models;
- Oppo Reno12, F-series, and A-series;
- Xiaomi/Redmi Note 14 Pro, Redmi Turbo, POCO X7;
- Vivo T4x, iQOO Z-series;
- Tecno Camon 40, Pova 7;
- Infinix Note 50, Hot 50;
- Nothing CMF Phone 1;
- Motorola Edge 60 Fusion.
Collectively, these devices represent tens of millions of units sold worldwide, especially in price-sensitive markets where hardware wallets remain rare.
The Real-World Danger for Crypto Holders
For anyone storing private keys or seed phrases on an affected phone (MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Ledger Live mobile, etc.), the consequences are catastrophic. A few minutes of physical access is all an attacker needs to extract secrets, sign fraudulent transactions, or drain wallets. Evil-maid attacks at repair shops, border crossings, or even lost-and-found scenarios suddenly become viable.
MediaTek’s Response and the Hard Truth
MediaTek has stated plainly that consumer chips are not engineered to resist advanced physical attacks. They recommend that applications requiring true hardware security (such as cryptocurrency custody) use dedicated secure elements instead of general-purpose smartphone processors. In other words: your everyday phone was never meant to be a vault.
What You Can Do Right Now
1. Move private keys off any Dimensity 7300 phone immediately. Use a dedicated hardware wallet with a certified secure element (EAL5+ or higher).
2. Never leave seed phrases or unencrypted keys on a smartphone, no matter how convenient.
3. Treat any mid-range Android as potentially compromised if it falls into the wrong hands for even a short time.
This discovery is a sobering reminder that, in the world of self-custody, true security is measured in nanometers of silicon, not lines of code. When the chip itself can be tricked with an invisible pulse, the only reliable defense is hardware designed from day one to resist exactly that kind of assault.
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Author: Slava Vasipenok
Founder and CEO of QUASA (quasa.io) - Daily insights on Web3, AI, Crypto, and Freelance. Stay updated on finance, technology trends, and creator tools - with sources and real value.
Innovative entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in IT, fintech, and blockchain. Specializes in decentralized solutions for freelancing, helping to overcome the barriers of traditional finance, especially in developing regions.
