A group of “researchers” managed to unlock paid features in the Tesla Model 3.

In many cases, the brands themselves (not necessarily just cars) have hired a group of computer security experts so that they can close certain vulnerabilities in their system. However, in this case, it was the group of researchers in this matter who completed the work at their own expense and will present it at a public competition on August 9, 2023. But what exactly did they find?

Tesla runs programs like additional to the individual price of the car. Among all its possibilities, the well-known “full autonomous driving” system for which the customer has to pay 7,500 euros to buy an electric car. But what if this and other software options could be obtained for free?

A group of four people specializing in computer hacking called “White Hat” interviewed the media. TechCrunchand claimed to have found a way to hack various software elements in the Tesla Model 3.

One of the interlocutors stated in his interview that, contrary to what many might expect, in order to implement this jail break Physical access to the vehicle itself is required, rather than remote access via the network, as was the case in other cases. However, this is exactly what they wanted, because they assure that it will be so. ideal for the owner who is not willing to pay more for upgrades or new features in their electric vehicle.

For this demo, members of Sombrero Blanco used one of the first Tesla Model 3 units, which required an extra charge at the time, to unlock the heated rear seats, which were physically equipped but not activated (i.e. the current one brings it as standard). And this is what they were able to unlock for free.

With these unlocks “we are the owners of the car. And we don’t want to pay that $300 for heated rear seats,” he said. Christian Werling in his speech. To do this, they used the so-called “power-down” method, by which they “tinkered” with the electrical system of the AMD processor that runs the car’s infotainment system.

“If we do it at the right time, we can get the processor to do something else. He gets into trouble, skips the instruction, and accepts our rigged code. Simply put, this is basically what we do,” Werling said.

Using the same technique, computer scientists were able to access other key elements of the car system, such as user data, phone contacts, call logs, calendar, car locations, Wi-Fi passwords. etc. But one of the most striking discoveries was its autonomous driving system, although they say they will give more information at their conference on August 9, which will be held in Las Vegas.

For Tesla, being aware of these types of vulnerabilities is a positive thing as they can begin work on fixing them as soon as possible. However, this also opens the door for possible hacks from outside. friends of others. The IT team itself claims that in this way the brand will be able to protect itself in the event of a software attack.