Tesla Model 3 Modded To Run Ubuntu (cleantechnica.com)

140Mandak262Jamuna writes: CleanTechnica is reporting that someone hacked the infotainment system of a Tesla Model 3 and got root access and installed Linux distribution Ubuntu. Redditor trsohmers is able to show an Ubuntu command shell running alongside the Tesla OS. Since Tesla supports a browser that allows you to visit any site, could this be leveraged into remote hacks? It could also mean that if Tesla sells a long-range version of the Model 3, but limits it via software, people might try to remove the block. One could potentially get a 15-day trial of full self-driving for free and extend that 15-day window forever. At least he had some guts messing with $50,000 hardware that phones home all the time. Will Tesla brick his car to attempt to disprove the security issue?

Comments

Feature not bug

[Anonymous Coward]

Tesla's run Ubuntu in their cars. It is put in there in the factory. If you peel away the UI on the screen you are supposed to find Ubuntu.

This would be news if this guy found Windows 10 in there.

Next headline:
Bottle of Heineken contains beer, a guy says after opening it...

Re:Feature not bug

[DeBaas]

Next headline:
Bottle of Heineken contains beer, a guy says after opening it...

now that would be news!

Re:Feature not bug

[hawk]

>This would be news if this guy found Windows 10 in there.

We would have noticed the crashes by now . . .

hmm, gives new (and literal . . .) meaning to "blue screen of death"

hawk

Found the shorter

[Anonymous Coward]

> Will Tesla brick his car to attempt to disprove the security issue?

Tesla runs a bug bounty program. Recently there was an article where a guy accidentally social engineered his way to getting admin rights on the tesla forums, and instead of overreacting, they asked him to post on the bug bounty program to get it fixed.

On top of the web presence shit, their hardware hacking scopes are pretty neat as well. They accept submissions on car/infotainment/hardware flaws, and if you are a bona fide security researcher and ask nicely, they might even take steps to help you unbrick your hardware if you get stuck.

In my book, that's a decent way to run a bug bounty program.

limits with reasons

[Gravis Zero]

The reason for limiting the range has been pointed out previously, it causes more damage to the battery per charge cycle which makes the the warranty more likely to be invoked due to battery death. If you are voiding your warranty then hey, do whatever you like to your car, just don't expect them to honor the warranty.

I certainly hope they engineered the car to isolate it's entertainment console from the controls (and computer control systems) because if they didn't then there is a big security issue with that alone.

Separate computers

[skoskav]

It could also mean that if Tesla sells a long-range version of the Model 3, but limits it via software, people might try to remove the block. One could potentially get a 15-day trial of full self-driving for free and extend that 15-day window forever

I'm pretty sure that all cars are using separate computers for infotainment and motor control - one some consumer-based OS, and another a locked-down real-time OS. It would seem foolhardy to place much more than infotainment in the infotainment system.

Re: Separate computers

[drinkypoo]

"There's no way they're spending any extra money on a separate computer for security purposes when there's a strong case to be made that software can be made sufficiently secure."

You have that backwards, though. It would cost more to make one computer that could do all of those jobs, because integration isn't free. It's actually cheaper to break it up, not least because each piece can be built to different standards.

Re: Separate computers

[laird]

Exactly - it's cheaper and easier to build separate computers engineered for separate purposes. Making one computer that can support everything from realtime engine control to playing Atari games on the console, in a way that guarantees that nothing can interfere with the realtime operation of the car is a very hard (likely impossible) engineering problem, when everything is sharing one CPU and memory. For that pragmatic reason, there are many, many computers inside a Tesla, or any other modern car. There's one for running the infotainment system, which controls the UI and sound. There's a dedicated system that manages the batteries. There's the system running AutoPilot. There are dozens of little controllers for sensors and other devices. This allows each system to be engineered to its own needs, be powered on or off separately, replaced by systems from new suppliers, etc.

In particular, in the Tesla the infotainment system is separate from the system that drives the car. You can even "reboot the car" while driving, and not lose control of the car, because it's only rebooting the infotainment system, but the steering, brakes, etc., keep working.

Naaa Run KALI

[wolfheart111]

Take war driving to a whole knew level. :)

Re:Doom ?

[MrMr]

More to the point; it runs GTA under dosemu. Sure beats your standard navigation.

Finally, what every linux fanatic dreams of

[bobstreo]

The year of the Dashboard! /s

News for nerds! [Re:snap included]

[Geoffrey.landis]

/. is news for nerds! Hacking stuff that isn't designed to be hacked IS what nerds do.

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