Researchers behind the BREAKMEIFYOUCAN project demonstrated critical vulnerabilities in NFC technologies including MIFARE Ultralight C/AES and NTAG 223/224 DNA. By exploiting “partial key overwrite attacks,” they reduced 3DES keyspace from 2^112 to a laughably brute-forceable 2^28, enabling key recovery in days to weeks instead of centuries. The core issue stems from protocol design choices that allow unauthenticated memory writes after initial authentication (not from the underlying crypto itself), which is a fun reminder that you can have perfect locks and still leave the back door open. The research resources and Flipper Zero apps are publicly available following responsible disclosure coordinated with NXP since July 2025.
