Trezor CEO Matej Žák and semiconductor firm Tropic Square announced on June 3, 2026, that a hardware-level vulnerability has been discovered in the TROPIC01 Secure Element chip used in the Trezor Safe 7 hardware wallet. The flaw, identified by the Ledger Donjon research team, involves a sophisticated laser fault injection attack that can bypass certain security protocols. Despite the exposure of the chip’s internal mechanisms, Trezor officials confirmed that all customer funds remain secure and no immediate action is required by device owners.
The security breach centers on the TROPIC01 chip, which was launched in early 2025 as a primary security component for the Trezor Safe 7. Researchers from Ledger Donjon, the white-hat division of competitor Ledger, first alerted Tropic Square to the issue in January 2026. The technical exploit requires physical possession of the device, manual disassembly, and the use of high-end laboratory equipment, specifically a 1064 nm laser to manipulate the chip’s signature verification during boot-up.
The vulnerability essentially allows an attacker to load unauthorized firmware and potentially extract secrets linked to the device PIN. While this sounds alarming for the long-term security of self-custody assets, Trezor argues that its multi-layered architecture prevents any singular chip failure from compromising the entire wallet. The Trezor Safe 7 utilizes three independent security layers, and this exploit only impacts one of those barriers.
Security architecture preserves funds despite chip exploit
The Trezor Safe 7 was engineered to move away from single points of failure. By combining the TROPIC01 Secure Element with an OPTIGA Trust M chip and an STM32U5 microcontroller, the manufacturer created a “defense in depth” strategy. CEO Matej Žák emphasized that the wallet backup, PIN data, and private keys are never stored on a single chip, ensuring that even a successful laser attack cannot gain full control of the assets.
Tropic Square’s further investigation revealed a secondary method using the same weakness to target PIN-related functions. However, the complexity of the attack remains a significant barrier for would-be thieves. These types of laboratory exploits are far removed from common digital threats, requiring local physical access and expensive equipment that few individuals possess. This differs from the broader scams and fraudulent schemes that typically target crypto users through social engineering or software malware.
This disclosure follows a similar incident in March 2025 where Trezor addressed a vulnerability in its older Safe 3 model. In that instance, the issue was also discovered by Ledger researchers and involved physical access through microcontrollers. The recurring cooperation between these two rivals highlights an industry-standard “responsible disclosure” model, where competitors test each others’ hardware to harden the entire ecosystem against sophisticated state-level or industrial actors.
Firmware mitigation and hardware revision timeline
While the flaw is rooted in the physical silicon of the chip and cannot be fully erased via software, Trezor has released an immediate firmware-based mitigation. This update disables the “MAINTENANCE” mode on the TROPIC01 chip, which was identified as the primary entry point for the laser fault injection. By closing this gate, the company forces any potential attacker into a far more complex, multi-step process that current research suggests is even more difficult to execute.
For users concerned about the long-term viability of their hardware, Tropic Square is already working on a permanent fix. A hardened silicon revision of the TROPIC01 chip is scheduled for production in late 2026. This revised hardware will likely be integrated into future batches of the Trezor Safe 7 and subsequent models to prevent this specific class of laser-based attacks from occurring again.
The transparency surrounding the vulnerability reflects a shift in how hardware manufacturers handle security flaws. Rather than downplaying the risk, Trezor and Tropic Square have opted to share the methodology of the attack. Full technical details of the Ledger Donjon research are expected to be made public in the spring of 2027, giving the community ample time to implement safeguards. As wallet adoption trends continue to rise, the focus on physical tamper-resistance has become as critical as protecting against digital hacks.
What Trezor Safe 7 users should do now
Trezor has been explicit in its guidance: users do not need to replace their devices or move their funds to new wallets. Because the attack requires the physical destruction of the casing and highly specialized laser equipment, the risk to the average consumer is considered negligible. The company maintains that the current protection remains “best-in-class” due to the two remaining security layers that remain uncompromised by the Ledger findings.
Owners are encouraged to keep their device firmware updated to the latest version to benefit from the maintenance-mode lockout. This software patch effectively raises the cost and technical difficulty of an attack beyond the reach of almost all criminal entities. Moving forward, the industry will likely see a greater emphasis on “open silicon” designs, which Trezor and Tropic Square champion as a way to identify these vulnerabilities before they can be exploited in the wild.
