Automotive hacking

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Automotive hacking is the exploitation of vulnerabilities within the software, hardware, and communication systems of automobiles.

Contents

Overview

Modern automobiles contain hundreds of on-board computers processing everything from vehicle controls to the infotainment system. These computers, called Electronic control units (ECU), communicate with each other through multiple networks and communication protocols including the Controller Area Network (CAN) for vehicle component communication such as connections between engine and brake control; Local Interconnect Network (LIN) for cheaper vehicle component communication such as between door locks and interior lights; Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST) for infotainment systems such as modern touchscreen and telematics connections; and FlexRay for high-speed vehicle component communications such as active suspension and active cruise control data synchronization. [1]

Additional consumer communication systems are also integrated into automobile architectures including Bluetooth for wireless device connections, 4G Internet hotspots, and vehicle Wi-Fi. [2]

The integration of these various communications and software systems leaves automobiles vulnerable to attack. Security researchers have begun demonstrating the multitude of potential attack vectors in modern vehicles, and some real-world exploits have resulted in manufacturers issuing vehicle recalls and software updates to mobile applications.

Manufacturers, such as John Deere, have used computer systems and Digital Rights Management to prevent repairs by the vehicle owners, or by third parties, or the use of aftermarket parts. [3] Such limitations have prompted efforts to circumvent these systems, and increased interest in measures such as Motor Vehicle Owners' Right to Repair Act.

Research

In 2010, security researchers demonstrated how they could create physical effects and undermine system controls by hacking the ECU. The researchers needed physical access to the ECU and were able to gain full control over any safety or automotive system including disabling the brakes and stopping the engine. [4]

In a follow-up research paper published in 2011, researchers demonstrated that physical access is not even necessary. The researchers showed that “remote exploitation is feasible via...mechanics tools, CD players, Bluetooth, cellular radio...and wireless communication channels allow long distance vehicle control, location tracking, in-cabin audio exfiltration and theft”. [5] This means that a hacker could gain access to a vehicle's vital control systems through almost anything that interfaces with the automobile's systems.

Recent exploits

2015 Fiat Chrysler UConnect Hack

UConnect is Fiat Chrysler's Internet-connected feature which enables owners the ability to control the vehicle's infotainment/navigation system, sync media, and make phone calls. It even integrates with the optional on-board WiFi. [6]

However, vulnerabilities in Fiat Chrysler's UConnect system, available on over 1.4 million cars, allows hackers to scan for cars with the system, connect and embed malicious code, and ultimately, commandeer vital vehicle controls like steering and brakes. [7]

2015 Tesla Model S Hack

In 2015 at the DEF CON hacking conference Marc Rogers and Kevin Mahaffey demonstrated [8] [9] how a chain of exploits could be used to take complete control of the Model S. Marc Rogers and Kevin Mahaffey identified several remote and local vulnerabilities that could be used as entry points. They demonstrated that after exploitation the vehicle could be remotely controlled with an iPhone. [10] Finally, they also demonstrated that it was possible to install a backdoor that allowed persistent access and control of the vehicle in a similar fashion to exploit techniques more usually associated with traditional computer systems. Marc Rogers and Kevin Mahaffey worked with Tesla, Inc. to resolve the issues before disclosure. It was announced before the presentation that the entire global fleet of Model S cars had been patched overnight, the first proactive mass Over The Air (OTA) security update of vulnerable vehicles. [11] [12]

The OnStar RemoteLink app allows users the ability to utilize OnStar capabilities from their Android or iOS smartphones. The RemoteLink app can locate, lock and unlock, and even start your vehicle. [13]

The flaw in General Motors’ OnStar RemoteLink app, while not as extreme as UConnect, allows hackers to impersonate the victim in the eyes of the RemoteLink app. This means that the hackers can access all of the features of the RemoteLink app available to the victim including locating, locking and unlocking, and starting the engine. [14]

Keyless entry

The security researcher Samy Kamkar has demonstrated a device that intercepts signals from keyless-entry fobs and would allow an attacker to unlock doors and start a car's engine. [15]

"USB" entry

Kia back windows can be broken without setting off an alarm, and Hyundai are similar. [16] Since 2021, [17] [18] [19] on social media, [20] [21] [22] videos show stealing of post-2010 Kia vehicles and post-2014 Hyundai vehicles, without engine immobilizers, with a USB 1.1 A plug cable, or pliers. [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] Kia started installing immobilizers in 2022. [19] [31]

2022 CAN injection: keyless car theft

Using a fake device sold on the dark web, thieves were able to steal vehicles by forcing the headlamps open and accessing the CAN bus, and then once on the bus, to simulate the signals to start the vehicle. The exploit requires enough time and privacy for thieves to remove vehicle hardware, sometimes bumpers, in order to open the headlights. [32] Possibly the only way to prevent this kind of event by determined and knowledgeable thieves would be for car designers to encrypt traffic on the CAN bus.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyundai Motor Company</span> South Korean multinational automaker

The Hyundai Motor Company, often referred to as Hyundai Motors, and commonly known as Hyundai, is a South Korean multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, which was founded in 1967. Currently, the company owns 33.88 percent of Kia Corporation, and fully owns two marques including its luxury cars subsidiary, Genesis, and their electric vehicle brand Ioniq. The three brands altogether make up the Hyundai Motor Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kia</span> South Korean automobile manufacturer

Kia is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second largest automobile manufacturer, after its parent company, Hyundai Motor Company, with sales of over 2.8 million vehicles in 2019. As of 2015, Kia is owned by Hyundai, which holds a 33.88% stake valued at just over US$6 billion. Kia in turn is a minority owner of more than twenty Hyundai subsidiaries ranging from 4.9% up to 45.37%, totaling more than US$8.3 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motor vehicle theft</span> Theft of vehicles

Motor vehicle theft is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle. Nationwide in the United States in 2020, there were 810,400 vehicles reported stolen, up from 724,872 in 2019. Property losses due to motor vehicle theft in 2020 were estimated at $7.4 billion. There were 505,100 car thefts in the EU in 2019, a 43% decrease from 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Self-driving car</span> Vehicle operated with reduced human input

A self-driving car, also known as an autonomous car (AC), driverless car, or robotic car (robo-car), is a car that is capable of operating with reduced or no human input. Self-driving cars are responsible for all driving activities including perceiving the environment, monitoring important systems, and controlling the vehicle, including navigating from origin to destination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Remote keyless system</span> Electronic lock without a mechanical key

A remote keyless system (RKS), also known as remote keyless entry (RKE) or remote central locking, is an electronic lock that controls access to a building or vehicle by using an electronic remote control (activated by a handheld device or automatically by proximity). RKS largely and quickly superseded keyless entry, a budding technology that restrictively bound locking and locking functions to vehicle-mounted keypads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tesla, Inc.</span> American electric vehicle and clean energy company

Tesla, Inc. is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas, which designs, manufactures and sells electric vehicles, stationary battery energy storage devices from home to grid-scale, solar panels and solar shingles, and related products and services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immobiliser</span> Motor vehicle anti-theft device

An immobiliser or immobilizer is an electronic security device fitted to a motor vehicle that prevents the engine from being started unless the correct key is present. This prevents the vehicle from being "hot wired" after entry has been achieved and thus reduces motor vehicle theft. Research shows that the uniform application of immobilisers reduced the rate of car theft by 40%.

KeeLoq is a proprietary hardware-dedicated block cipher that uses a non-linear feedback shift register (NLFSR). The uni-directional command transfer protocol was designed by Frederick Bruwer of Nanoteq (Pty) Ltd., the cryptographic algorithm was created by Gideon Kuhn at the University of Pretoria, and the silicon implementation was by Willem Smit at Nanoteq Pty Ltd in the mid-1980s. KeeLoq was sold to Microchip Technology Inc in 1995 for $10 million. It is used in "code hopping" encoders and decoders such as NTQ105/106/115/125D/129D, HCS101/2XX/3XX/4XX/5XX and MCS31X2. KeeLoq is or was used in many remote keyless entry systems by such companies as Chrysler, Daewoo, Fiat, GM, Honda, Toyota, Volvo, Volkswagen Group, Clifford, Shurlok, and Jaguar.

In-car Internet refers to Internet service provided in a car. Internet access can be provided by tethering a mobile phone, or with a mobile hotspot, whether portable or built into the car. Built in systems have existed since 2008 and include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Automotive industry in South Korea</span> Overview of the automotive industry in South Korea

The automotive industry in South Korea is the fifth-largest in the world as measured by automobile unit production and also the sixth-largest by automobile export volume.

A connected car is a car that can communicate bidirectionally with other systems outside of the car. This connectivity can be used to provide services to passengers or to support or enhance self-driving functionality. For safety-critical applications, it is anticipated that cars will also be connected using dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) or cellular radios, operating in the FCC-granted 5.9 GHz band with very low latency.

Hyundai Blue Link is a vehicle system that uses a mobile app from Hyundai to allow the user to retrieve information about their vehicle and perform basic remote operations. Blue Link functionality varies based on the type of vehicle as well as the type of cell service modem the vehicle is equipped with. In the United States, the Blue Link system debuted on the 2012 Hyundai Veloster as standard equipment, and has become an available feature on most Hyundai models sold since then. The service currently costs $99 a year and can be used for roadside service, performance information, and remote start, stop, and lock/unlock features.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CarPlay</span> Protocol for connecting Apple hardware to car radios

CarPlay, or Apple CarPlay is an Apple standard that enables a car radio or head unit to be a display and controller for an iOS device. It is available on iPhone 5 and later models running iOS 7.1 or later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kia Niro</span> Compact crossover SUV

The Kia Niro is a compact crossover SUV (C-segment) manufactured by Kia since 2016. It is an electrification-focused vehicle, offering three versions: hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery electric variants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lane centering</span> Mechanism designed to keep a car centered in the lane

In road-transport terminology, lane centering, also known as auto steer or autosteer, is an advanced driver-assistance system that keeps a road vehicle centered in the lane, relieving the driver of the task of steering. Lane centering is similar to lane departure warning and lane keeping assist, but rather than warn the driver, or bouncing the car away from the lane edge, it keeps the car centered in the lane. Together with adaptive cruise control (ACC), this feature may allow unassisted driving for some length of time. It is also part of automated lane keeping systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compliance car</span>

A compliance car is an alternative fuel vehicle that is explicitly designed to meet tightening government regulations for low-emission vehicle sales, while the automobile manufacturer restricts sales to specific jurisdictions to meet the rules, or limits production, or both.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kia Challenge</span> 2022 thefts of Kia and Hyundai vehicles

The Kia Challenge is a viral TikTok trend attributed to a series of motor vehicle thefts targeting Kia and Hyundai vehicles in the United States manufactured between 2011 and 2021. The trend, which began in October 2022, has led to eight fatalities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

References

  1. ↑ Petit, J., & Shladover, S. E. (2015). Potential cyberattacks on automated vehicles. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 16(2), 546-556. doi:10.1109/TITS.2014.2342271
  2. ↑ "Car renters beware: Bluetooth use can reveal your private data". USA Today. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  3. ↑ Automakers Say You Don’t Really Own Your Car on eff.org (April 2015)
  4. ↑ Koscher, K., Czeskis, A., Roesner, F., Patel, S., Kohno, T., Checkoway, S., ... & Savage, S. (2010, May). Experimental security analysis of a modern automobile. In Security and Privacy (SP), 2010 IEEE Symposium on (pp. 447-462). IEEE.
  5. ↑ Checkoway, S., McCoy, D., Kantor, B., Anderson, D., Shacham, H., Savage, S., ... & Kohno, T. (2011, August). Comprehensive Experimental Analyses of Automotive Attack Surfaces. In USENIX Security Symposium.
  6. ↑ "Autotrader - page unavailable". www.autotrader.com.
  7. ↑ Greenberg, A. (2015, July 21). Hackers Remotely Kill a Jeep on the Highway-With Me in It. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
  8. ↑ "DEF CON 23 - Marc Rogers and Kevin Mahaffey - How to Hack a Tesla Model S". YouTube.com.
  9. ↑ "Bloomberg:Tesla Model S Gets Hacked by Professionals". YouTube.com.
  10. ↑ "Security Experts Reveal How a Tesla Model S Was Hacked". hollywoodreporter.com.
  11. ↑ "Researchers Hacked a Model S, But Tesla's Already Released a Patch". wired.com.
  12. ↑ "Tesla Model S Can Be Hacked, And Fixed (Which Is The Real News)". npr.com.
  13. ↑ "Mobile App". www.onstar.com.
  14. ↑ Finkle, J., & Woodall, B. (2015, July 30). Researcher says can hack GM's OnStar app, open vehicle, start engine. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  15. ↑ "This 'Gray Hat' Hacker Breaks Into Your Car — To Prove A Point". NPR.org.
  16. ↑ "Milwaukee Might Sue Kia Because Of Excessive Thefts". CarBuzz. 11 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  17. ↑ "Hyundai, Kia Take Action after Cars Become Theft Targets in Milwaukee". Car and Driver . 11 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  18. ↑ "Milwaukee car thieves are crazy for Hyundais and Kias". Autoblog. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  19. 1 2 "Hyundai, Kia models at higher risk of theft, and of course it's on TikTok". Autoblog. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  20. ↑ Tommy G. "Kia Boys Documentary (A Story of Teenage Car Theft)". youtube. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  21. ↑ "Milwaukee Police Investigate 'Kia Boys' YouTube Documentary". Patch.com . Milwaukee, WI. 3 June 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  22. ↑ Jannene, Jeramey. "Interviewing The 'Kia Boyz'". Urban Milwaukee. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  23. ↑ Stumpf, Rob (2 August 2022). "How Thieves Are Stealing Hyundais and Kias With Just a USB Cable". The Drive. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  24. ↑ "TikTok 'Kia Challenge' fuels St. Pete spike in Kia and Hyundai auto thefts". Tampa Bay Times . Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  25. ↑ "3 Ways to Hotwire a Car". wikiHow. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  26. ↑ Anderson, Brad (October 11, 2022). "This Is How Easy It Is To Steal A Hyundai Or Kia With A USB Cable". Car Scoops. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  27. ↑ "Hyundais and Kias make up 68% of stolen cars this year in Milwaukee". WTMJ-TV . 23 September 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  28. ↑ Hughes, Elliot. "Worried about your Kia or Hyundai getting stolen? Milwaukee police are handing out steering wheel locks". Journal Sentinel . Milwaukee . Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  29. ↑ Schmidt, Rose (18 July 2022). "St. Paul PD: Kia thefts up 1,300%, Hyundai thefts up 584% in 2022". FOX 9. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  30. ↑ "Car thieves using old trick to steal Hyundais, Kias in Columbus". 10tv.com . January 11, 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  31. ↑ Jewett, Abraham (8 August 2022). "Kia class action alleges defect makes vehicles easy to steal". Top Class Actions. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  32. ↑ CAN injection: keyless car theft by Dr. Ken Tindell, CTO of Canis Automotive Labs, 4-3-2023.
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