8 ms·

BMW fixes lock security flaw

51 points by jackgavigan 12y ago

acd 12y ago
There have been active exploitation of this bug, basically they have been stealing BMW key less with some kind of hacking tool / laptop like the real version of the movie gone in 60 seconds
- easytiger 12y ago
  A spate of Range Rover thefts in London in Kensington has been a problem of late: http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/oct/27/thieves-range-rover-keyless-locking http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/oct/27/thieves-range-r...
- johngd 12y ago
  There was also this one[1] from a couple of years ago (that you may be referring to?) where with a inexpensive kit, a thief could intercept the drivers key fob transmissions to open the car, and then a ODB programmer to pair the car with a key blank. [1] https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/09/18/bmw-stolen-hacking-kit/ https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/09/18/bmw-stolen-hacki...
  - coob 12y ago
    I heard of another variant where a jammer was used to stop the car from locking in the first place, whereby goods could be stolen. With the ODB programmer and the key blank the car could then also be stolen.
  - kw71 12y ago
    I have heard that the cars without real ignition keys (in other words, those rfid fobs without a mechanical ignition lock) that it could be possible to authorize a new key by communicating on the OBD2 connector. You do not need access to a working key if this is true, but it is my impression based on some things that I have heard that the private part of some asymmetrical cryptographic material must be known. Whether it varies from car to car, I'm not sure. (This system is called CAS by BMW) However, in the cars with real ignition locks, the immobilizer is not as easy to defeat as the "nakedsecurity" piece implies. Since 1994 or so (with the introduction of the EWS2 system) the ignition key contains an RFID tag with a permanent shared secret and a password which is updated every time the key is used. It has always been possible to get close to such a key and read it, then write the information into a new key. Since the password is updated when the key is turned to the 'run' position, as soon as either of the "identical" keys are used, the other will stop working. To authorize a new key on the EWS2 or EWS3 systems using the diagnosis connector, the new key must contain a shared secret already known by the EWS brain. The factory programmed ten such secrets into each EWS brain during manufacture, and four keys were delivered with the new car when it was sold. When a new key is requested through the parts department, that key is delivered with one of the known shared secrets. Then it can be authorized with a diagnosis request. To change the shared secret information in the EWS brain to arbitrary information, or to discover the shared secrets known by the EWS brain, it must be removed from the car, physically opened and bootloaded. (It's one of the 68hc11 processors, and there are test points on the board for the mode select pins, manipulating these can place the hc11 in a mode to run a bootloader delivered over the serial line.) (One difference between the EWS2 and EWS3 systems is that the EWS2 brain sent another, static shared secret to the engine control to signal permission to start - a simple 32 bit word. In EWS3, this communication involves some cryptography.) It is possible that the database of shared secrets became available when the "Heartbleed" flaw became known. I have heard that their VPN was attacked. If this material were stolen, probably the bitting information required to cut a mechanical key were stolen along with it. The keyless entry remote of these BMWs is more like the ones used in every car, even though it is part of the same ignition key with RFID tag for immobilizer: the key has a seed and does some transformation every time a remote button is pressed.
    - johngd 12y ago
      Indeed. You can do this using the BMW manufacturer software (which is comically not hard to find), at least for the E9* series of BMW's. Not sure about the newer F3* series, but I wouldn't be surprised.
      - kw71 12y ago
        I think they really did not count on tools like NFS to find their way into the de facto 'public domain.' However when CAS was designed, they knew (or should have known) that somehow all the manufacturing-side tools were getting out. Also some of the regional technical people who support the dealers carry them around on their laptops. A couple of beers can earn you a lot of secrets sometimes.
rdeboo 12y ago
This is a real problem. Someone took two laptops from the Mercedes of a colleague recently. They just hacked into the car, no physical damage. According to the garage this is a known problem and not much was done about it. On the one hand, I trust old fashioned locks more. On the other hand, breaking into a car is easy anyhow (just smash a window). At least, there's no physical damage done to the car in this way (which often exceeds the costs of the lost goods). So perhaps it's not so bad. Just never leave valuables in your car.
- jsaxton86 12y ago
  3D printing will make old locks obsolete.
  - hawkice 12y ago
    I lost my apartment keys and picked my way into my apartment for about 7 months. I don't see 3D printing having a lot to do with that. Even if I had a printer I'd need some fancy scanning equipment to figure out how to make the key.
    - Ntrails 12y ago
      I believe that by carrying lock picks you were breaking the law right? Unless it is your trade of course.
      - teraflop 12y ago
        In the US, the details vary by state but in general you don't need any kind of license to possess or use lockpicks (except in Tennessee): http://toool.us/laws.html http://toool.us/laws.html
    - teraflop 12y ago
      Random tangent: I recently had two copies of a key made, and noticed that the guy at the duplicating machine was able to remove the original after "scanning" it to make the first copy. Seems obvious in retrospect, but I hadn't realized that nowadays those machines had memory like photocopiers, instead of just being purely mechanical. With that in mind, seems like it should be possible for someone to scan a key, save the pattern, and be able to use it later on to cut new keys on-demand. Does a service like this exist?
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
72deluxe 12y ago
Does anyone know if this is a widespread problem across the industry? Does it affect VWs / Audis too?
- CheckHook 12y ago
  Yes it affects many higher end cars but BMW's have suffered for a long time. Their excuse for a "fix" prevents the windows from being wound down by the key. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19562487 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19562487
  - 72deluxe 12y ago
    That's a pity. That is useful in some circumstances. I once accidentally did that somehow and came out the next morning to find my windows down and completely soaked inside thanks to the torrential rain all night long. Took a while to dry the Golf out....... amazingly nobody had pinched anything from inside it (rubbish CDs I expect). I am still convinced to this day that it was my cat that pushed the button.
harel 12y ago
I shouldn't be amazed by this in 2015, but a car that updates its software over the air IS just amazing. I wonder if it can update while driving. Or be on the receiving end of a DDOS attack.
oomkiller 12y ago
I wonder if they are using key pinning and have mitigated SSLStrip and other SSL attacks. Also, they say that it wasn't vulnerable to attacks on braking and steering. If firmware updates are possible over the air, you could theoretically capture and disassemble one and modify it to suit your purposes. The device the software runs on most likely sits on the CAN bus with everything else and could be used to feed false data in that could at least confuse other systems on the car. Similar attacks have been done before in experiments. Local (USB drive) system updates look to be cryptographically signed, but who knows about the OTA ones, and even then the key might be extractable.
CheckHook 12y ago
It's a shame that BMW isn't committed to fixing the key-reprogramming method of theft that affects many of their older cars. The previous "fix" that they issued only prevented the windows being wound down from they key, not the actual reprogramming. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19562487 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19562487
stygiansonic 12y ago
So, this update enables the use of HTTPS - but since it's delivered OTA, does that mean patches (including this one) were previously delivered over just HTTP, i.e. an unauthenticated, unencrypted channel?

51 points by jackgavigan 12y ago

acd 12y ago

There have been active exploitation of this bug, basically they have been stealing BMW key less with some kind of hacking tool / laptop like the real version of the movie gone in 60 seconds

easytiger 12y ago
A spate of Range Rover thefts in London in Kensington has been a problem of late: http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/oct/27/thieves-range-rover-keyless-locking http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/oct/27/thieves-range-r...
johngd 12y ago
There was also this one[1] from a couple of years ago (that you may be referring to?) where with a inexpensive kit, a thief could intercept the drivers key fob transmissions to open the car, and then a ODB programmer to pair the car with a key blank. [1] https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/09/18/bmw-stolen-hacking-kit/ https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/09/18/bmw-stolen-hacki...
- coob 12y ago
  I heard of another variant where a jammer was used to stop the car from locking in the first place, whereby goods could be stolen. With the ODB programmer and the key blank the car could then also be stolen.
- kw71 12y ago
  I have heard that the cars without real ignition keys (in other words, those rfid fobs without a mechanical ignition lock) that it could be possible to authorize a new key by communicating on the OBD2 connector. You do not need access to a working key if this is true, but it is my impression based on some things that I have heard that the private part of some asymmetrical cryptographic material must be known. Whether it varies from car to car, I'm not sure. (This system is called CAS by BMW) However, in the cars with real ignition locks, the immobilizer is not as easy to defeat as the "nakedsecurity" piece implies. Since 1994 or so (with the introduction of the EWS2 system) the ignition key contains an RFID tag with a permanent shared secret and a password which is updated every time the key is used. It has always been possible to get close to such a key and read it, then write the information into a new key. Since the password is updated when the key is turned to the 'run' position, as soon as either of the "identical" keys are used, the other will stop working. To authorize a new key on the EWS2 or EWS3 systems using the diagnosis connector, the new key must contain a shared secret already known by the EWS brain. The factory programmed ten such secrets into each EWS brain during manufacture, and four keys were delivered with the new car when it was sold. When a new key is requested through the parts department, that key is delivered with one of the known shared secrets. Then it can be authorized with a diagnosis request. To change the shared secret information in the EWS brain to arbitrary information, or to discover the shared secrets known by the EWS brain, it must be removed from the car, physically opened and bootloaded. (It's one of the 68hc11 processors, and there are test points on the board for the mode select pins, manipulating these can place the hc11 in a mode to run a bootloader delivered over the serial line.) (One difference between the EWS2 and EWS3 systems is that the EWS2 brain sent another, static shared secret to the engine control to signal permission to start - a simple 32 bit word. In EWS3, this communication involves some cryptography.) It is possible that the database of shared secrets became available when the "Heartbleed" flaw became known. I have heard that their VPN was attacked. If this material were stolen, probably the bitting information required to cut a mechanical key were stolen along with it. The keyless entry remote of these BMWs is more like the ones used in every car, even though it is part of the same ignition key with RFID tag for immobilizer: the key has a seed and does some transformation every time a remote button is pressed.
  - johngd 12y ago
    Indeed. You can do this using the BMW manufacturer software (which is comically not hard to find), at least for the E9* series of BMW's. Not sure about the newer F3* series, but I wouldn't be surprised.
    - kw71 12y ago
      I think they really did not count on tools like NFS to find their way into the de facto 'public domain.' However when CAS was designed, they knew (or should have known) that somehow all the manufacturing-side tools were getting out. Also some of the regional technical people who support the dealers carry them around on their laptops. A couple of beers can earn you a lot of secrets sometimes.

rdeboo 12y ago

This is a real problem. Someone took two laptops from the Mercedes of a colleague recently. They just hacked into the car, no physical damage. According to the garage this is a known problem and not much was done about it. On the one hand, I trust old fashioned locks more. On the other hand, breaking into a car is easy anyhow (just smash a window). At least, there's no physical damage done to the car in this way (which often exceeds the costs of the lost goods). So perhaps it's not so bad. Just never leave valuables in your car.

jsaxton86 12y ago
3D printing will make old locks obsolete.
- hawkice 12y ago
  I lost my apartment keys and picked my way into my apartment for about 7 months. I don't see 3D printing having a lot to do with that. Even if I had a printer I'd need some fancy scanning equipment to figure out how to make the key.
  - Ntrails 12y ago
    I believe that by carrying lock picks you were breaking the law right? Unless it is your trade of course.
    - teraflop 12y ago
      In the US, the details vary by state but in general you don't need any kind of license to possess or use lockpicks (except in Tennessee): http://toool.us/laws.html http://toool.us/laws.html
  - teraflop 12y ago
    Random tangent: I recently had two copies of a key made, and noticed that the guy at the duplicating machine was able to remove the original after "scanning" it to make the first copy. Seems obvious in retrospect, but I hadn't realized that nowadays those machines had memory like photocopiers, instead of just being purely mechanical. With that in mind, seems like it should be possible for someone to scan a key, save the pattern, and be able to use it later on to cut new keys on-demand. Does a service like this exist?

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

72deluxe 12y ago

Does anyone know if this is a widespread problem across the industry? Does it affect VWs / Audis too?

CheckHook 12y ago
Yes it affects many higher end cars but BMW's have suffered for a long time. Their excuse for a "fix" prevents the windows from being wound down by the key. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19562487 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19562487
- 72deluxe 12y ago
  That's a pity. That is useful in some circumstances. I once accidentally did that somehow and came out the next morning to find my windows down and completely soaked inside thanks to the torrential rain all night long. Took a while to dry the Golf out....... amazingly nobody had pinched anything from inside it (rubbish CDs I expect). I am still convinced to this day that it was my cat that pushed the button.

harel 12y ago

I shouldn't be amazed by this in 2015, but a car that updates its software over the air IS just amazing. I wonder if it can update while driving. Or be on the receiving end of a DDOS attack.

oomkiller 12y ago

I wonder if they are using key pinning and have mitigated SSLStrip and other SSL attacks. Also, they say that it wasn't vulnerable to attacks on braking and steering. If firmware updates are possible over the air, you could theoretically capture and disassemble one and modify it to suit your purposes. The device the software runs on most likely sits on the CAN bus with everything else and could be used to feed false data in that could at least confuse other systems on the car. Similar attacks have been done before in experiments. Local (USB drive) system updates look to be cryptographically signed, but who knows about the OTA ones, and even then the key might be extractable.

CheckHook 12y ago

It's a shame that BMW isn't committed to fixing the key-reprogramming method of theft that affects many of their older cars. The previous "fix" that they issued only prevented the windows being wound down from they key, not the actual reprogramming. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19562487 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19562487

stygiansonic 12y ago

So, this update enables the use of HTTPS - but since it's delivered OTA, does that mean patches (including this one) were previously delivered over just HTTP, i.e. an unauthenticated, unencrypted channel?