Windows 10’s security was thwarted yet again, this time by SteelSeries peripherals

Recently, a white hat hacker discovered an odd exploit which allows you to give yourself full admin rights on a Windows 10 PC just by plugging in a Razer mouse and installing Razer Synapse. It turns out it’s not just Razer products that can do this, though.  

Twitter user @zux0x3a discovered a similar exploit with SteelSeries headsets, mice, and keyboards. Like with the Razer products, the problem lies with the hardware’s proprietary software that gives itself system-wide privileges without asking for the system administrator’s permission. Theoretically, someone could go to your workplace PC when you’re not around and plug in the dongle for a wireless Razer or SteelSeries mouse, install Synapse or SteelSeriesGG, and gain full system privileges, which could wreak havoc on a corporate network if they mean to do harm.