vehicles

EEatonZ about 5 hours ago 19 commentsRead Article on eaton-works.com

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Discussion (19 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

darknavi•about 3 hours ago

> November 3, 2025: Reported.

> November 10, 2025: No response, followed up.

> November 17, 2025: No response, followed up and copied some additional people on the thread.

> November 20, 2025: It was no longer possible to access any of the internal APIs. The primary vulnerability was now fixed.

> July 27, 2026: Published

Quite the generous timeline on this person's behalf.

greyface-•20 minutes ago

And terrible (non-)response from VECV, if they have any interest in receiving timely disclosure from future researchers.

Xeoncross•about 2 hours ago

There is security that protects users and then there is security theater that provides litigation protection for the company.

Sometimes overlapping, but they are not the same thing.

pixel_popping•about 2 hours ago

Both are important actually, the security theater often deter from trying because it could be too annoying, it's generally "free to do", along with additional obfuscation, it's useful too but does not replace proper security, but from experience, theater+obfuscation+security is greater security than just security.

spockz•about 2 hours ago

This is my primary concern with modern cars. You are at the complete merci of the security and correctness of the cloud management software for the correctly functioning of the car.

Wouldn’t it be better if your phone/devices would pair directly with the car, exchange keys, and have the company cloud only function as a proxy.

On holiday a guests BMW didn’t want to “start” anymore because it couldn’t phone home because of lack of phone reception. They had to contact the dealer at home and move heaven and earth to get some dealer code to allow the car to start again for a while. Why is this even allowed?

jjice•about 1 hour ago

Agreed that it's absurd. Consumers continue to purchase cars that do this though. BMW doing this, having proprietary bolt heads, and the subscription heated seats fiasco from nearly a decade ago have made it clear that BMW is a make that will try to screw you at every turn, yet people continue to purchase them.

It's a shame. I will continue to purchase vehicles with as internet connected and touch screen features as possible. My 2025 Toyota has knobs and a physical key still. Terrified what will be left on the market when I have to get a new vehicle in (hopefully over) 15 years.

gruez•about 1 hour ago

>On holiday a guests BMW didn’t want to “start” anymore because it couldn’t phone home because of lack of phone reception. They had to contact the dealer at home and move heaven and earth to get some dealer code to allow the car to start again for a while. Why is this even allowed?

Surely there's more to this story? AFAIK last time I heard about something like this, it was because the guy's car was parked 5 stories underground, and didn't carry his car keys, because he was using his phone to unlock all the time.

xp84•about 1 hour ago

> last time I heard about something like this, it was because the guy's car was parked 5 stories underground, and didn't carry his car keys, because he was using his phone to unlock all the time

I hope you aren't suggesting that set of details makes this okay. I should be able to park in a faraday cage 2 miles underground and still start it the same as I can on the surface. Including with my phone, if it's equipped with phone-as-key.

The phone-as-key shouldn't only work when online and shouldn't require the car to be online, either. And this is a problem trivially solved with proper use of cryptography.

The reason for this is that if the car gives people the ability to start a trip with a phone, it's dangerous to assume they'll always carry a keyfob as a backup. Just like I don't carry two car keys.

gruez•44 minutes ago

>The reason for this is that if the car gives people the ability to start a trip with a phone, it's dangerous to assume they'll always carry a keyfob as a backup.

How's this any different than say, not bringing your wallet with you, because 95% of the time apple pay works, and then getting mad at the shop/credit card company/apple when the payment terminal randomly decides to not accept apple pay? Not to mention there are plenty of other ways a phone can fail. It can fall into a toilet, you can drop it and the screen cracks, etc. By not carrying the keys, you're rolling the dice every time.

>Just like I don't carry two car keys.

That all depends on your risk appetite. I normally wouldn't carry money in my socks, but if I'm in a foreign country I very well might. Likewise if I'm going on a road trip where I might be days away from home, I very well might bring a second key, in case i accidentally lock one in the car or whatever.

bri3d•about 1 hour ago

It doesn't; BMW use the CCC Digital Key standard for "Digital Key Plus" and there's no Internet required post provisioning. This story really reeks of misunderstanding or "needs more information" as for BMW especially, I don't see any scenario where this could have happened, regardless of physical or phone key use.

motbus3•about 2 hours ago

How they will be able to block you from using your car when they deem that you should by a new one? Or how would they be able to make something a paid feature after you bought it? You need to support these poor fellas

knowaveragejoe•39 minutes ago

I just want the most basic, no-frills EV truck. I'd even pay a premium over what such a thing _should_ cost. I want no cloud connectivity _at all_ unless I add it myself in some way.

xoxxala•26 minutes ago

You might want to check out Slate:

https://www.slate.auto/en

No embeded modem.

superloika•about 2 hours ago

I feel obligated to post this very cool FSF Car right-to-repair video https://www.fsf.org/videos/fight-to-repair/

nhance•about 3 hours ago

I love this sort of content on HN. I am very curious what the impact of powerful AI has on these type of things

EatonZ•about 2 hours ago

In this case, AI wasn't used for anything.