- We will briefly discuss the ISO / Protocol standards that our two automobiles used to communicate on the CAN bus, also providing a Python and C API that can be used to replicate our work. The API is pretty generic so it can easily be modified to work with other makes / models.
- The first type of CAN traffic we’ll discuss is diagnostic CAN messages. These types of message are usually used by mechanics to diagnose problems within the automotive network, sensors, and actuators. Although meant for maintenance, we’ll show how some of these messages can be used to physically control the automobile under certain conditions.
- The second type of CAN data we’ll talk about is normal CAN traffic that the car regularly produces. These types of CAN messages are much more abundant but more difficult to reverse engineer and categorize (i.e. proprietary messages). Although time consuming, we’ll show how these messages, when played on the CAN network, have control over the most safety critical features of the automobile.
- Finally we’ll talk about modifying the firmware and using the proprietary re-flashing processes used for each of our vehicles. Firmware modification is most likely necessary for any sort of persistence when attempting to permanently modify an automobile’s behavior. It will also show just how different this process is for each make/model, proving that ‘just ask the tuning community’ is not a viable option a majority of the time.
P.S. If you’re lucky, you too can completely brick your car!
