↓ Skip to main content
Emanuel Mairoll

Emanuel Mairoll

Software Dev // Reverse Engineer // Human

Hello there! My name is Emanuel and I’m based in Zürich, Switzerland.

Currently I’m doing my MSc in Cyber Security at ETH Zürich, while working part-time as a research assistant at the ETH Network Security Group.

I’ve been writing code and hacking stuff for more than a decade. I am into CyberSec, Mobile Development, IoT, Electronics and all other related black magic. Here you can find all about me, and read about stuff I find worth sharing.

Feel free to take a look around!

Recent

HITCON 2025 – IMGC0NV
·2660 words·13 mins
Writeup CTF HITCON 2025 Web Security Python Pickle Polyglot
A writeup about exploiting an image converter service through path traversal and multiprocessing pickle deserialization. The solution required crafting a polyglot file that’s both a valid BMP image and a malicious pickle payload to achieve RCE.
EPFL CS412 CTF – HEAP-MEANU
·2696 words·13 mins
CTF EPFL CS412 Writeup PWN Heap House of Spirits
A writeup for EPFL CS412’s HEAP-MEANU challenge involving heap exploitation through one-byte overflow and constrained brute-force reading. Despite full protections and modern libc 2.39, achieved RCE using a House of Spirits like attack.
Heislberg: The Internet of Toilets
·3120 words·15 mins
IoT ESPHome MQTT Office Automation Toilets Questionable Life Choices
How I used an ESP, Magnets and Kubernetes and to solve the great toilet crisis of 2021. A tale of absolutely necessary workplace optimization.
The Internet of Entrance Doors
·2612 words·13 mins
IoT Home Assistant ESPHome BLE IOS Shortcuts Door Automation
How I taught my apartment’s entrance door to recognize me and open automatically. A surprisingly practical tale of BLE authentication, hidden ESPs, and the occasional accidental door opening while driving by.
The Internet of Roof Windows
·4046 words·19 mins
IoT ESPHome Shelly Uni Electronics UART Abuse Roof Windows VELUX
When your loft flat turns into a sauna every summer, the logical solution is obviously to reverse-engineer a decades-old proprietary bus protocol. A tale of digital archaeology, improvised level shifters, and ladder-based near-death experiences.
The Internet of Furniture
·1430 words·7 mins
IoT Home Assistant ESPHome Electronics
How I reverse-engineered my electric sofa to work with Home Assistant using an ESP32. After frying a transistor and some emergency soldering, I now have a voice-controlled couch.