A single malformed message let a South Korean security firm seize an EV charger’s software, and the group that maintains the charger protocol now wants to study the tool behind the attack. The Open Charge Alliance has agreed to review Fuzzer, a test harness built by KSign with backing from a South Korean government research program.
KSign ran the demonstration for two OCA officials on September 2 and described the reception as very excellent research. The company modified one message in the Open Charge Point Protocol and pushed it to a charger, which handed over control of its software. Timing mattered: the flaw only fired mid-session, and an idle charger ignored the attack. To make the takeover visible, KSign forced an arbitrary webpage onto the unit’s display, replaying a vulnerability first exploited in a commercial charger at the 2024 Pwn2Own Automotive contest.
Which parts of OCA’s own security guidance can be proven with simulated attacks? That question now sits with KSign, and its answers could decide whether Fuzzer becomes a compliance tool that charger makers use to demonstrate adherence to international standards. The group also passed along a draft of its revised security operations guide. Joint testing events, cooperation with South Korean certification bodies and future Pwn2Own Automotive participation were all on the table for discussion.
Fuzzer grew out of a core information security technology program run by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the IITP evaluation agency. The stakes are grid-sized, senior KSign researcher Kim Seok-hwi argued: every charger is a link into a regional power network, so attackers who compromise large numbers of units at once could trigger outages and physical damage.
