Researchers demonstrate remote hack of ABB IRB140 industrial robot causing unsafe physical movement
S2 · ~May 2017 · ABB
Record
| Company | ABB |
| Industry | Machinery OEM |
| Type(s) | cyber |
| Date | ~May 2017 (month precision) |
| Time of day | not documented |
| Location | no physical site (recall / fleet-wide / aggregate record) |
| Severity | (minor injury or single-unit damage) |
| Scale | 1 robot (research demonstration) |
| Confidence | high |
| Verified flag | Cited source on file; not independently re-verified |
Summary
Politecnico di Milano and Trend Micro researchers demonstrated exploiting vulnerabilities in an ABB IRB140 robot (IRC5 controller, Windows CE FlexPendant) to alter control parameters and cause unexpected/inaccurate movements, showing the attack could damage the robot, degrade manufactured parts, or injure nearby workers; a lab demonstration, not an in-the-wild exploit. ABB developed a mitigation plan in response.
Primary source
Publisher: Help Net Security · Retrieved: 2026-09-16
Supporting source rows (1)
| Date | Supporting source row | Publisher | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| ~May 2017 | Researchers demonstrate remote hack of ABB IRB140 industrial robot causing unsafe physical movement | Help Net Security | Help Net Security |
Machinery OEM context
cyber context
ABB industry position
Related incidents
Other ABB entries
- None on file.
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