Researchers from KU Leuven have managed to hack the key to the Tesla Model X. The researchers were able to bypass the security of the car, take control of the car and drive away with it. Tesla has now released a software update to prevent this from happening in the future.
Model X has keyless entry, which automatically unlocks the car when the key is nearby. This works via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Bluetooth signals that are received by the car. The signals are picked up by the Electronic Control Unit, which controls the Tesla’s safety mechanism. The research team managed to manipulate the software that connects to the ECU so that they could make the device believe they had the correct key. After that it only took a few minutes to steal the car.
It is not the first time that the Leuven researchers hacked a Tesla. This way they could copy the key from the Model S earlier. Tesla paid a fee to the ethical hackers and has since launched an update to its key software. In this way it should no longer be possible to manipulate the signals.
Four years ago, Techzle was allowed to watch with such ethical hackers how the interception and manipulation of keyless entry works. At the time, they succeeded, in front of us, to open both our Renault Talisman endurance tester and Ford S-Max endurance tester.