Security flaw in male chastity device could leave your pickle in a pickle

Updated October 8, 2020

Published October 8, 2020

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Smart chastity cage, Cellmate by Qiui, was recently found to have some pretty unfortunate security flaws.

The device is designed to lock a person’s penis inside it via the companion mobile app, with the idea that the wearer gives control to someone else. However, the flaws mean that anyone could lock all the devices remotely, preventing users from releasing themselves. We imagine that would be quite an alarming experience, and one that may very well require an angle grinder to fix.

As if that wasn’t enough, precise user location data and other personal information was also found to be exposed by the API.

The cybersecurity heroes saving your pickles

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Luckily, cyber security company, Pen Test Partners exposed this vulnerability before anyone made use of it in the wild.

Pen Test Partners is made up of white hat hackers, wanting to make sex toys more safe and secure. Sadly, Qiui is not the only adult sex toy guilty of not prioritizing peoples’ privacy and safety. The same company previously discovered vulnerabilities in an endoscopic dildo, meaning anyone could access the sensitive video content from the internal camera.

Pen Test Partners explaining flaws in Cellmate

The chastity device’s flaws were originally drawn to the attention of Qiui back in March. It responded stating the issues would be fixed by June 6. Nevertheless, after months of trying to engage, and even teaming up with another white hat hacker, the Internet of Dongs, the problems have still not been resolved – correct as of October 6, 2020.

Uh… I’m stuck

If you find yourself locked in this specific smart chastity device, Pen Test Partners offers some emergency workaround solutions, but it’s not something you’d normally want to undertake.

If you’re stuck beyond all help, PTP says that you can prise open the circuit board area where the front button light is; you then need to generate “3 volts (two AA batteries) applied to the white and yellow wires is enough to drive the unlock motor directly,” a technique known as spiking.

Pen Test Partners unlocking Cellmate

Pen Test Partners adds that “your local emergency department will probably have the right tools to cut though the metal safely though and would be your better first port of call” for getting out efficiently – save for the embarrassment.

Article by

Oli Lipski

Oli is a freelance sex tech researcher based in London. With an MA in Sexual Dissidence, researching sex tech, and a BA in History, researching gender and sexuality, she has a keen understanding of the past, present and future of sex. In addition to SEXTECHGUIDE, you can find Oli’s work on titles such as shado-mag, QueerMajority, UnicornZine and more.

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