Galaxy S10's in-display sensor was fooled by a 3D printed fingerprint

The Galaxy S10 is the first Samsung phone with an in-display fingerprint sensor, and unlike the optical modules we've seen before, Samsung went with Qualcomm's ultrasonic sensor. In theory, the ultrasonic sensor is meant to be faster and more secure than an optical module as it relies on ultrasonic waves to create a 3D map of your fingerprint, but that has proved otherwise. An Imgur user was able to spoof the Galaxy S10 sensor by using a 3D printed fingerprint.

I attempted to fool the new Samsung Galaxy S10's ultrasonic fingerprint scanner by using 3d printing. I succeeded.

As Darkshark notes in the Imgur post, he started by taking a photo of his fingerprint on a wine glass, and then used Photoshop to boost contrast and create an alpha mask. He then switched over to 3ds Max to create a 3D model of the fingerprint, and sent that information to a 3D printer to print his fingerprint. He says it took three tries to get the right ridge height, but as you can see in the video above, he was able to unlock the Galaxy S10 with the 3D printed fingerprint.

Although the ultrasonic sensor wasn't infallible, it is better than optical sensors that can be fooled by a regular printout or photo of a fingerprint.