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Car hacking is all the rage at the moment, but having done a lot of car hacking, I'm seeing a rather strange push towards trying to 'pwn' them using traditional means and methods that actually don't work with cars like people think they do.
Now sure, you can own the infotainment system using a complex chain of issues all carefully aligned, on a Saturday with the driver wearing a hat but for me, that's not car hacking (don't @ me).
What car hacking for me is taking original spec and modifying it to do other things
What car hacking for me is taking original spec and modifying it to do other things
Yes, finding vulns is important but so is exploring the various networks, how they are built, and what they can interact with and also, really importantly, sharing that knowledge with others.
To me that's hacking.
To me that's hacking.
There's a few who are really doing some epic R&D in this regard, so this thread is about showcasing who I feel is pushing the whole car hacking scene forward for others to enjoy and learn.
First up my brother from another Canadian mum, @ericevenchick who is just friggin' amazing. He's been making tooling for car exploration for years now and the latest is CANtact Pro, An open-source tool for talking to Controller Area Network (CAN) devices https://www.crowdsupply.com/linklayer-labs/cantact-pro
Next up @MacchinaCC who I love and respect. Another builder who is making the tools for others to be Indiana Jones in their cars.
I use them a lot and they are amazing guys who give a lot back to the community.
I use them a lot and they are amazing guys who give a lot back to the community.
Then you have @mintynet @carfucar who are both friends and ones I consider knowledgeable in what to do with such tools (they too build, you noticing a trend here?)
Ian's just made a more accessible PASTA (from Toyota Research) and I saw it the other week and was blown away
Ian's just made a more accessible PASTA (from Toyota Research) and I saw it the other week and was blown away
A newcomer is @rndashm who is putting most to shame in what he's doing. We've been chatting for a while and I'm impressed with what he's done.
Modifying a Mercedes W203 to use an Arduino head unit with full CAN support, very cool!!
Modifying a Mercedes W203 to use an Arduino head unit with full CAN support, very cool!!
Mercedes-Benz isn't known as being overly friendly when it comes to hacking their cars, so what he's done is very cool and gets a lot of respect from me
https://github.com/rnd-ash/MBUX-Port
https://github.com/rnd-ash/MBUX-Port
Then I couldn't include a thread without mentioning @collin80
Man is a friggin' genius and developed SavvyCAN, a Qt-based cross-platform CANbus tool
https://github.com/collin80/SavvyCAN
This is a tool I use a lot for decoding DBC messages. It can also fuzz all teh things (danger will!!)
Man is a friggin' genius and developed SavvyCAN, a Qt-based cross-platform CANbus tool
https://github.com/collin80/SavvyCAN
This is a tool I use a lot for decoding DBC messages. It can also fuzz all teh things (danger will!!)
So car hacking isn't just about popping a shell, it's a lot more complicated than that. You *need* to know how a car works, how the networks interact, what can be accessed and how and only then can you start to look for bugs, or make cool stuff like those in this thread.
The tools made by those above, and indeed others, are making car exploration more accessible than ever before. Gone are the days of needing Mercedes XENTRY to just read SAM messages, and at a cost of thousands a year, it's a good thing. #carhacking
