Researchers reveal a hotel keycard hacking technique that can let a hacker almost instantly open RFID-based Saflok locks used in 3M doors across 13K properties
The company behind the Saflok-brand door locks is offering a fix, but it may take months or years to reach some hotels.
WiredAndy Greenberg
Context & Ripple Effects
This disclosure extends a recurring pattern in hospitality access control: earlier research found that Vingcard Vision locks could yield a master key from an old card and inexpensive reader. The new case matters because Saflok’s deployment spans a far larger installed base and its remedy must move through individual properties.
The coverage also documents how known lock weaknesses have been exploited in hotel theft, making the gap between vulnerability disclosure and on-property remediation operationally significant. Past misuse of a known hotel-lock bug illustrates why patch rollout—not only the technical fix—determines exposure.
First-order effects
Hotels using affected Saflok RFID locks must assess and deploy the vendor’s fix, while some properties remain exposed during a rollout that may take months or years.
Guests and hotel operators face an immediate physical-access security concern because the disclosed technique can open affected doors almost instantly.
Second-order effects
The slow remediation cycle makes inventory, access-control procedures, and coordination between the lock vendor and each property central to risk reduction—an example of an earlier hotel-lock master-key flaw whose impact also extended beyond a single site.
Competing lock providers and hotel buyers are likely to face closer scrutiny of how quickly they can identify affected installations and deliver security updates across deployed hardware.
Third-order effects
If repeated disclosures continue to expose long-lived access systems, physical-security purchasing will increasingly weigh lifecycle patchability and deployment support alongside lock features.
The broader issue is ecosystem cyber defense: a vendor fix does not resolve a fleet-wide vulnerability until thousands of independently operated properties can implement it.
The trend: Connected and RFID-based physical access systems are making security-update capacity a defining part of infrastructure resilience.
Forgot your hotel room keys/card? No problem. It's easy to hack them and get into any. It's cheap and easy! You only need a single card to any room to enter any other. Vulnerability is being fixed. https://unsaflok.com/
“Two quick taps and we open the door,” says Wouters, a researcher in the Computer Security and Industrial Cryptography group at the KU Leuven University in Belgium. “And that works on every door in the hotel.” — https://www.wired.com/... #hacking
“Now, more than a year and a half later, they're finally bringing to light the results of that work: a technique they discovered that would allow an intruder to open any of millions of hotel rooms worldwide in seconds, with just two taps.” https://www.wired.com/...
Hackers found a way to open any of 3 million hotel SafLok keycard locks in seconds using a valid keycard, 2 blank keycards and RFID read-write device like Flipper Zero https://www.wired.com/... [image]
#Cybersec researchers “taking a more cautious approach, while still warning the public about their technique, given that hundreds of properties will likely remain vulnerable to it even now that [the company] has offered its fix”: https://www.wired.com/... #ethics #business #tech
In 2022 we found vulnerabilities in dormakaba Saflok hotel locks. Reading one RFID card enables us to forge a pair of cards that open any door in that hotel! Dormakaba is currently working with its customers to fix the 3 million affected locks. https://www.wired.com/...
Hackers Found a Way to Open Any of 3 Million Hotel Keycard Locks in Seconds https://www.wired.com/... The company behind the Saflok-brand door locks is offering a fix, but it may take months or years to reach some hotels
Security researchers found flaws in Saflok hotel keycard locks, used on 3 million doors in 13,000 properties worldwide, that can be used to open them in seconds. The lockmaker Dormakaba has been working on a fix but told them only 36% of locks are updated. https://www.wired.com/.…