Xiaomi Stops Selling 65W GaN Charger Because It Can Be Hacked

Xiaomi released the Xiaomi Mi 10 flagship in mid-February this year. At the event, the Chinese company also introduced a new 65W rapid charging technology using Gallium Nitride (GaN) material. However, the charger has now been discontinued on many Chinese e-commerce sites, mostly because Xiaomi being worried about a potential security breach.

According to the report, Xiaomi has received a notice from a third-party security company claiming that its 65W GaN charger has a security vulnerability. The security team believes that the brand's 65W fast charger has security holes and could easily be exploited for wrong purposes.

Specifically, the product has an eFlash / MTP chip but isn’t just a read-only memory, but it also allows data to be written. It means that it can be used to update charging methods and troubleshoot issues if there is any in the future. However, the device’s firmware is completely unencrypted, meaning hackers can easily modify it.

In other words, hackers can easily modify the charger’s firmware to adjust the output voltage higher than allowed. That could cause a direct impact on the charging devices and even the users’ safety. As a result, Xiaomi had to stop selling the 65W GaN charger on multiple e-commerce sites, as well as offline stores.

However, even if the issue does happen, you won’t have to worry because smartphones come with overload protection. Therefore, if the voltage exceeds 20V, the overload protection feature will be activated to protect the hardware components inside the smartphone.

However, some accessories such as headsets could be damaged if it is charged at overly high output. Xiaomi is now working to fix this problem, and if you accidentally buy the 65W GaN charger from Xiaomi, you can contact the company’s customer care for more information.
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