Can you get root with only a cigarette lighter? (2024) • Hacker News Board

Re: Can you get root with only a cigarette lighter? (2024)

#21

Post by nom » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 1:04 PM UTC

pfff, root, back in my day we hacked a vending machine with a lighter and got free coke.

No idea who discovered it, but the machine back at my school had an infrared interface for servicing, and you could trigger an interrupt with the flash of the flintstone of a lighter. Because it's just some 90s microcontroller, it would simply reset after failing to receive a valid command and forget what it was doing previously.

All you had to do was order a coke, and right when it drops out, before it subtracts the amount, you flash the lighter in front of the IR port like a magician, say the magic words and bam - free coke!

Re: Can you get root with only a cigarette lighter? (2024)

#22

Post by b00ty4breakfast » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 4:02 PM UTC

4gotunameagain wrote: post #18

b00ty4breakfast wrote: post #3

my prediction before reading is that they're using the piezo sparker to beat the DUT over the head with a big EMF spike Edit: Nailed it!

Yeah but the devil is in the details ;) It's not like you can randomly spike stuff and achieve an exploit

but of course

Re: Can you get root with only a cigarette lighter? (2024)

#23

Post by limit35 » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 4:02 PM UTC

nom wrote: post #21

pfff, root, back in my day we hacked a vending machine with a lighter and got free coke. No idea who discovered it, but the machine back at my school had an infrared interface for servicing, and you could trigger an interrupt with the flash of the flintstone of a lighter. Because it's just some 90s microcontroller, it would simply reset after failing to receive a valid command and forget what it was doing previously.…

I used a saline glitch trick in the 90s. I cannot remember the exact sequence of events, but one injected saline into the coin or bill receptacle, which made the sensor believe money was being continuously inserted into the machine. This method had the benefit of clearing the machine of change after purchase since it registered the candy bar was bought with a substantial amount of money.

Re: Can you get root with only a cigarette lighter? (2024)

#24

Post by chrisBob » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 4:09 PM UTC

nom wrote: post #21

pfff, root, back in my day we hacked a vending machine with a lighter and got free coke. No idea who discovered it, but the machine back at my school had an infrared interface for servicing, and you could trigger an interrupt with the flash of the flintstone of a lighter. Because it's just some 90s microcontroller, it would simply reset after failing to receive a valid command and forget what it was doing previously.…

We just unplugged our vending machine with similar timing.

Re: Can you get root with only a cigarette lighter? (2024)

#25

Post by thatguy0900 » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 4:10 PM UTC

limit35 wrote: post #23

nom wrote: post #21

pfff, root, back in my day we hacked a vending machine with a lighter and got free coke. No idea who discovered it, but the machine back at my school had an infrared interface for servicing, and you could trigger an interrupt with the flash of the flintstone of a lighter. Because it's just some 90s microcontroller, it would simply reset after failing to receive a valid command and forget what it was doing previously.…

I used a saline glitch trick in the 90s. I cannot remember the exact sequence of events, but one injected saline into the coin or bill receptacle, which made the sensor believe money was being continuously inserted into the machine. This method had the benefit of clearing the machine of change after purchase since it registered the candy bar was bought with a substantial amount of money.

Clearing the machine of money it already had sounds way more likely to get you into trouble than getting a free coke, I'm not so sure that's a benifit

Re: Can you get root with only a cigarette lighter? (2024)

#26

Post by kjkjadksj » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 4:12 PM UTC

nom wrote: post #21

pfff, root, back in my day we hacked a vending machine with a lighter and got free coke. No idea who discovered it, but the machine back at my school had an infrared interface for servicing, and you could trigger an interrupt with the flash of the flintstone of a lighter. Because it's just some 90s microcontroller, it would simply reset after failing to receive a valid command and forget what it was doing previously.…

Wow. We were like cave men in comparison shaking the machine with 2-3 people to knock a can out of the racking.

Re: Can you get root with only a cigarette lighter? (2024)

#27

Post by kjkjadksj » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 4:15 PM UTC

RugnirViking wrote: post #20

slj wrote: post #6

Yes. We do this in Australia, around the bars and pubs getting a root with only a cigarette lighter is a classic move.

I had an australian colleague who found it endlessly funny that we pronounced "router" as "rooter" instead of their "rowter". statements like "If that happens the system will root the packets via the rooter first" was met with much giggling

We americans call it rowter too. Well, really raoter.

Re: Can you get root with only a cigarette lighter? (2024)

#28

Post by jibal » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 4:37 PM UTC

nom wrote: post #21

pfff, root, back in my day we hacked a vending machine with a lighter and got free coke. No idea who discovered it, but the machine back at my school had an infrared interface for servicing, and you could trigger an interrupt with the flash of the flintstone of a lighter. Because it's just some 90s microcontroller, it would simply reset after failing to receive a valid command and forget what it was doing previously.…

We used to get free phone calls in phone booths by sticking an unwound paper clip into the earpiece and touching the other end to the coin box.

Re: Can you get root with only a cigarette lighter? (2024)

#29

Post by LoganDark » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 4:45 PM UTC

hi-im-buggy wrote: post #15

LoganDark wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ol' Black MacBook Cooktop...

In combination with a weighing scale ( https://github.com/KrishKrosh/TrackWeight ), you have everything you could ask for in a portable food processor.

I would love a black MacBook with Force Touch.

Re: Can you get root with only a cigarette lighter? (2024)

#30

Post by devmor » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 4:47 PM UTC

jibal wrote: post #28

nom wrote: post #21

pfff, root, back in my day we hacked a vending machine with a lighter and got free coke. No idea who discovered it, but the machine back at my school had an infrared interface for servicing, and you could trigger an interrupt with the flash of the flintstone of a lighter. Because it's just some 90s microcontroller, it would simply reset after failing to receive a valid command and forget what it was doing previously.…

We used to get free phone calls in phone booths by sticking an unwound paper clip into the earpiece and touching the other end to the coin box.

You could do the same by wearing wool socks and shuffling around for a minute before touching the coin slot!