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Hackers manage to unlock Tesla software-locked features

electrek.co

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Re: Hackers manage to unlock Tesla software-locked features

#191

Post by asdff »

johnl1479 wrote: post #7

I'm torn. On one hand, I absolutely think that a capability available in the vehicle/device when you purchased it should be available for you to use, and not behind a software lock (heated seats, etc). On the other hand, an "upgrade" or 100% new software delivered via OTA (self driving, etc) seems a little more like it should be a separate thing.

That's kind of just how cars work in general even outside of software. I put in the oem fog lights in my old car. All I had to do was basically screw through a plastic bracket in the grill that was installed at the factory specifically for the lights, plug in the lights into one end of the harness that was already in the car, pop out the preinstalled plastic cap in the dash and pop back in the fog light switch after connecting it with the other end of this harness that's already there near the button, routed through the firewall for me. The fuse was even already there in the fuse box for the fogs.

Basically everyone with this car is paying for 95% the actual hard work of what you need for the fog lights already. Very few owners end up going for the fog lights but everyone subsidizes their installation.

Re: Hackers manage to unlock Tesla software-locked features

#193

Post by bumby »

vorticalbox wrote: post #158
capableweb wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More relevant quotes from the article: > The group of hackers claims that their “Tesla Jailbreak” is “unpatchable” and allows to run “arbitrary software on the infotainment.” And the full quote of what you put: > Electrek’s Take > Generally, these exploits are shared with Tesla, and it helps the automaker secure its systems. > In this case, the hackers said that despite the exploit, they believe Tesla’s security is b…

That's likely because it's a hardware issue, nothing really for tesla to do.

Apologize for my ignorance, but isn't it up to Tesla to define what hardware they want to integrate? Or is there no design alternative?

Re: Hackers manage to unlock Tesla software-locked features

#194

Post by Workaccount2 »

DistractionRect wrote: post #186
kramerger wrote: post #145

Wait a minute... heated seats are software locked on Teslas? WTF guys?

I kinda get it. Rather than maintaining a supply of multiple parts which complicates your supply chain and install/repair procedures, Tesla is making cars nearly 100% identical physically and differentiating in software.

And getting the suckers who pay up to cover the cost for all vehicles having it.

Re: Hackers manage to unlock Tesla software-locked features

#195

Post by retrocryptid »

fredoliveira wrote: post #134
retrocryptid wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's say you have a Tesla, but you didn't buy the "full" self driving package. You sell your Tesla to a third-party. Tesla (of course) resets the system to disable "full" self driving, but you have the tool to activate it so you turn it on for the new owner. Presumably you received money in exchange for the vehicle, as is traditional in our culture. You take some of that money and buy a 1958 Dodge D100 pickup truck…

Care to elaborate without this much analogy? I suspect you're trying to say the value of a Tesla ain't going to be there in 10 years, but I'm not quite sure that's true.

Step 1. Unlock the "full" self driving feature you did not purchase.

Step 2. Sell your tesla.

Step 3. Unlock the "full" self driving feature for the new owner.

Step 4. Take the money the new owner gave you and use it to purchase another vehicle.

Step 5. Profit

In this sequence of events, the value of the tesla in 10 years is of no consequence to you because you do not own it.

Re: Hackers manage to unlock Tesla software-locked features

#196

Post by mgiampapa »

vessenes wrote: post #47

Pretty sophisticated attack vector: low voltage attack on AMD secure execution environment during boot. I wonder how many tries you need to get whatever bits you need in the right place. Also, I imagine you only need to cut 12V wires to do this, but I admire the willingness to get in there direct on these systems. I'd be a little nervous to make those cuts personally. Buried in the article is the claim that this will…

Just like we used to have cable box guys willing to sell you an unlocked box for premium channels, we are eventually going to have feature unlock guys that you go do and for a small fee perform some slightly more technical hack to enable features that are already there.

Re: Hackers manage to unlock Tesla software-locked features

#198

Post by retrocryptid »

tamimio wrote: post #141
retrocryptid wrote: post #44

[flagged]

Who cares about upvotes/downvotes.. and I agree, Tesla is just meme hype, and for that reason I will never buy “smart” car that spies on me and my family, while these videos are shared as a joke among Tesla employees.

But it also has the great benefit that the data it collects doesn't belong to you. It belongs to tesla.

Re: Hackers manage to unlock Tesla software-locked features

#199

Post by striking »

jsheard wrote: post #168
striking wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder how many tries you need to get whatever bits you need in the right place. For the Xbox 360, the "Reset Glitch Hack" (which worked similarly) would just try over and over again until it got it right. A computer is happy to try tens or hundreds of times on your behalf.

However the next Xbox added active countermeasures against glitching attacks which force a reboot if the clocks, temperatures or voltages go outside of reasonable bounds, and that's never been defeated. Glitching attacks can be very powerful, but they have a limited shelf life if the hardware manufacturer cares to prevent them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7VwtOrwceo

Definitely. Not arguing that this can't be fixed, but rather outlining how a similar successful attack was made more reproducible.

Re: Hackers manage to unlock Tesla software-locked features

#200

Post by mrguyorama »

martin8412 wrote: post #139
huhtenberg wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I say Tesla should be free to sell whatever they want, but if the end user finds a way around it too bad. The same should go for DVDs, BluRays and streaming media and yet here we are looking at jail time for bypassing the DRM.

That certainly depends on the country. Breaking DRM to access something you've paid for is perfectly legal here.

"perfectly legal" largely hasn't stopped IP owners from finding ways to hassle people involved.
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