Attackers can get access to cars from as far as five yards away. Most of the vulnerable vehicles were bought at Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Ford, and Jeep dealerships in Southern California from 2017 to today, said , computer scientists at the University of California San Diego.
However, because these vehicles end up resold on the second-hand market, several hundred thousand vulnerable vehicles are throughout the United States, Canada and even as far as Japan. Vulnerable cars display a sticker with the word “KARR” or “SWDS” on the driver’s-side window.
The device, installed underneath the bottom of the dashboard on the driver’s side, connects vehicle and app via Bluetooth. The app makes the device perform functions similar to a key fob: lock and unlock doors as well as honk a horn and flash headlights as a warning. In addition, the device can prevent the car from starting as long as the car isn’t already running.
Same Key
All KARR-SWDS devices rely on the same secure key – meaning once the researchers cracked that key, they had access to all the cars equipped with these devices. It’s a bit like setting all passwords for a line of devices to 1234 and making it impossible to change the password.
When a dealership sells a vehicle, they market the device and app as a paid upgrade – an anti-theft tool as well as a tool to control the car via an app. Even if the buyer declines the upgrade, the device remains active, still leaving the vehicle vulnerable to an attacker in certain situations.
The company manufacturing these devices, Acrisure, released a patch to fix the vulnerability on July 20. The fix requires downloading an app. “Many car owners don’t even know that their vehicle is vulnerable. So we wanted to make sure they were aware by publishing this study,” said Aaron Schulman, a professor in the UC San Diego Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and one of the study’s senior authors.
The vulnerability could allow thieves to steal cars more easily.
This sticker, found on cars sold after 2017 on the driver’s side window, indicates the vehicle likely has a vulnerable system installed.
Source: David Baillot/University of California San Diego
“Instead of smashing a window to get access to a vehicle, thieves could simply connect remotely via Bluetooth to the device inside the vehicle, and make it unlock car doors,” said Jerry Yu, a computer science Ph.D. student in Schulman’s research group at UC San Diego and the paper’s co-first author. Once the attacker unlocks the car, it is possible to use a variety of tools to start the car and drive away.
Vulnerable Vehicles
In the study, researchers identified at least 1.4 million vulnerable vehicles, but further analysis by the UC San Diego researchers increased that number to 2.2 million – at least.
In addition to Acrisure, Rockledge, a car security and insurance company, makes similar devices. The researchers found these devices may also be vulnerable, but are more difficult to attack.
An attacker would need to be there when a driver uses these systems to intercept and record their digital interactions, and then play those interactions back to get access to the user’s vehicle. Researchers were unable to validate these findings with Rockledge as the company had not yet responded to the researchers’ disclosure as of this writing.
The research team is careful not to disclose the details of how they reverse-engineered the systems so attackers can replicate their work. Researchers also disclosed the vulnerabilities to all relevant manufacturers and vendors as well as to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“Removing the devices is not trivial. You have to open up the dashboard and cut and reconnect the wires deeply intertwined with the car’s computers and ignition system,” said Yibo Wei, who is also a computer science Ph.D. student in Schulman’s group at UC San Diego and the paper’s co-first author.
To fix the vulnerability non-invasively, the device firmware – the software that controls the hardware – needs an update. On July 20, KARR-SWDS maker Acrisure released a firmware update to fix the issue. The update needs to be made by the vehicle owner via the KARR app. Click here for more information on that update.
https://www.karrsecurity.com
Future Changes
To make sure similar vulnerabilities do not occur in the future, researchers suggest physical interaction – like pressing a button inside a car – be a requirement when a new smartphone connects with these Bluetooth-based security systems.
Research on the issue started in 2018 when scientists led by former UC San Diego computer science Ph.D. student Nishant Baskar found Bluetooth fingerprints they didn’t recognize while hunting for credit card skimmers, which end up install on gas pumps to steal credit and debit card data.
After a fair bit of research, they were able to connect the Bluetooth fingerprints to the devices manufactured by Acrisure and Rockledge. They then set out to test whether the devices were secure, as part of a broader research effort to understand cybersecurity in Bluetooth devices.
Researchers also found public databases store location information about vehicles equipped with these devices. This in turn, would allow attackers to track specific vehicles they want to break into.