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Getting root access on a Tesla Model S

su-tesla.space

21–30 of 38 posts

Re: Getting root access on a Tesla Model S

#21
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like... um.... what, exactly? People could take control of their own vehicles and exercise the privileges that ought to come with ownership? The ability to jailbreak a Tesla is the only thing that might make me interested in owning one.

Wonder given Elon's position on patents if they've even thought about open sourcing the software; guessing they have, but never know.

His position on patents is that if you patent something you make it public and the Chinese steal it regardless of the patent. By not patenting something they keep it secret. He is not anti patent he just understands that some people DGAF about a US granted patent and will steal your ideas anyway. As such I can't imagine they have ever thought of open sourcing the software behind their vehicles.

Re: Getting root access on a Tesla Model S

#22
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like... um.... what, exactly? People could take control of their own vehicles and exercise the privileges that ought to come with ownership? The ability to jailbreak a Tesla is the only thing that might make me interested in owning one.

Wonder given Elon's position on patents if they've even thought about open sourcing the software; guessing they have, but never know.

[deleted]

Re: Getting root access on a Tesla Model S

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like... um.... what, exactly? People could take control of their own vehicles and exercise the privileges that ought to come with ownership? The ability to jailbreak a Tesla is the only thing that might make me interested in owning one.

It seems like the new car that you just created should have to be checked out and approved as street legal. How do you know that the changes you have made still meet safety regulations and the like?

There are lots of things you can do to make a car not street legal. And people have access to them. And it's their responsibility to make sure they only drive a street legal car on the street.

Re: Getting root access on a Tesla Model S

#24
post #18

There was something about this recently where someone connected in to their Tesla. Then their phone rang and it was Tesla engineers telling them to stop. Did you get a phone call?

I'm not sure that actually happened. Recently Jason Hughes (wk057) released some info he found in firmware (P100D) and Tesla engineers rolled back his firmware remotely, but no one called him AFAIK.

And Tesla said they didn't do it or it was not done in retaliation but rather to resolve an issue with the firmware version wk057 was running. I think it eventually got reverted but can't be sure of that.

Re: Getting root access on a Tesla Model S

#25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure that wasn't disclosed as lots of dangerous things could be done in the wrong hands.

Like... um.... what, exactly? People could take control of their own vehicles and exercise the privileges that ought to come with ownership? The ability to jailbreak a Tesla is the only thing that might make me interested in owning one.

Teslas are exposed to the internet via the wlan/gsm connection built into the car. It would be very bad if this were exploited.

Re: Getting root access on a Tesla Model S

#27

If he's talking about getting root on that big screen in the middle, it's been done before: https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/let-the-hacking-begi... However, the guy who did it before told everyone exactly how he did it, without any "secret script sorry :^)".

wk57 got direct access to the CID by unsoldering the ROM from a salvaged screen. I honestly wouldn't have the guts to do that.

Re: Getting root access on a Tesla Model S

#28

"This goes through a secret process that eventually gets me connected to the CID (touchscreen) with root privileges." give me back my 2 mins, please.

Additionally,

> "This allowed me to make a special REST call to the CID to enable factory mode."

> "So, I plugged in my laptop and ran a script I had pre-written: obtain_root".

Then, an image of the a script that spouts gibberish to the console.

Props to the author for the significant effort they put in the hack. But it does seem like the author is intentionally glossing over some parts of the hack (actually spelling these things out would have been a lot easier).

Everyone (including Tesla) would like to know what you did in the script, not what you called it or what newfangled quotes it is printing out.

Re: Getting root access on a Tesla Model S

#29

"This goes through a secret process that eventually gets me connected to the CID (touchscreen) with root privileges." give me back my 2 mins, please.

It can be patched by Tesla. They have so far said they won't fix it, but if it becomes a trend I have no doubt they'll disable it. I know it sucks but it's a decision that I have made.
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