Decoding Automotive Communication: What is Kayak Car Hacking Tool?

Hey everyone! As a content creator for carscannertool.store and a dedicated auto repair specialist, I’m excited to delve into an intriguing topic in vehicle diagnostics and security: car hacking. While the term “hacking” might initially raise alarms, in the automotive context, it opens doors to understanding vehicle systems in profound ways. It’s important to state upfront that this exploration is for educational purposes, and while this article highlights a specific attack vector, vehicles possess numerous complexities and potential vulnerabilities. My aim is to ignite creative thinking about how vehicle controls and systems can be analyzed, understood, and even improved, while also acknowledging potential misuse.

Often, “hacking” is perceived negatively, associated with malicious intent. However, in the automotive world, ethical hacking offers significant benefits. It can lead to unlocking hidden vehicle features, overcoming artificial limitations, and fostering innovations that enhance vehicle technology – think of devices used by insurance companies to reward safe driving with discounts. While we touch upon these broader implications, our focus here is on a specific tool and technique.

Before we proceed, a crucial disclaimer: neither the author nor carscannertool.store assumes liability for any adverse outcomes resulting from attempts to replicate the concepts discussed in this article. Modifying vehicle systems carries inherent risks. If you choose to experiment on a physical vehicle, do so cautiously and at your own risk. Fortunately, we’ll primarily explore a virtual environment in this article, providing a safe space to gain hands-on experience and understand these concepts without physical risk.

Let’s begin our journey by understanding a fundamental element in modern vehicles: the CAN bus. And importantly, we’ll introduce a key tool in this domain: Kayak, a powerful utility for analyzing CAN bus traffic. But first, let’s lay the groundwork.

Understanding the CAN Bus in Automotive Networks

The Controller Area Network bus, or CAN bus, is the backbone of communication within a vehicle. Imagine it as a central nervous system, enabling various components to communicate seamlessly. Modern cars are sophisticated networks of electronic systems. Everything from door locks and speedometers to engine controls and braking systems relies on electrical signals to function. The CAN bus is the highway for these signals, allowing these diverse devices to interact and operate in concert.

Accessing the Network: The OBD-II Port

The gateway to this intricate network is often the OBD-II (On-Board Diagnostics 2) connector. This port is designed for vehicle diagnostics. Mechanics routinely use it to plug in diagnostic scanners, retrieve error codes, and troubleshoot issues that might trigger the check-engine light or other less obvious problems.

OBD-II ports are typically easily accessible, often located under the dashboard near the pedals, behind the steering column, or on the passenger side under the dash. Here’s what an OBD-II port connection looks like:

To physically interface with the CAN bus through the OBD-II port, devices like the CANtact are available for purchase or even DIY construction. However, for this article, we’ll focus on a virtual simulation, which mirrors the process of physical hacking in terms of CAN bus communication access and analysis.

CAN Bus Communication Basics

Within the CAN bus network, data transmission resembles a hub network architecture. For those familiar with networking concepts, a hub broadcasts every data packet to all connected devices. Unlike a switch that directs data only to the intended recipient, a hub makes all data visible to everyone on the network. This “noisy” characteristic of a hub-like CAN bus makes it inherently less secure, as network traffic can be readily observed – a principle we will exploit in our hacking exercise.

Consider door locks as an example, which will be our primary focus. When you press the door lock button, an electrical signal is transmitted across the CAN bus, reaching every device on the network. Doors, among other components, are programmed to interpret these data packets. Within the packet is a command – “lock” or “unlock”. Upon receiving and interpreting this command, the door mechanisms execute the instruction.

Many vehicle functions operate similarly. Pressing the accelerator pedal sends data packets across the network, instructing the engine to increase fuel flow, thus increasing speed. This, in turn, might cause the speedometer to reflect the change in velocity. The extent of acceleration is dictated by the instructions embedded in the data packets, which vary based on pedal pressure.

These data packets consist of two main parts: the identifier and the data. The identifier specifies the device or system being addressed, while the data field contains the command or instruction for that device. Let’s look at an example packet:

120#F289632003200320

Here, “120” is the identifier, indicating the target device. The section after the “#”, “F289632003200320”, is the data field, containing the specific instruction.

It’s crucial to note that identifiers are not standardized across all vehicles. An identifier like “120” might correspond to the accelerator pedal in a 2019 Honda Civic but could control the windows in a 2022 Toyota Sienna. Identifier-device mappings are generally consistent only within vehicles of the same year, make, and model.

Finally, CAN bus networks are constantly active whenever the vehicle has any power – the engine doesn’t need to be running for network activity to occur. Packets are continuously transmitted as long as the electrical system is powered.

Step Into the World of Ethical Hacking

Replay Attacks: The Essence of the Hack

The “hack” we’re exploring is a replay attack on the CAN bus. This involves passively listening to network traffic, capturing specific packets during an action (like locking or unlocking doors), and then retransmitting these captured packets back onto the network. The goal is to trigger the same action again – locking or unlocking the doors – without using the physical buttons or controls.

Before we delve into executing this practically, let’s understand the tools we’ll use, including Kayak car hacking tool, and set up our virtual environment.

Setting Up the Virtual Car Hacking Toolkit

We’ll be using Kali Linux 2022.2 on VirtualBox for this demonstration. We assume you have Kali and VirtualBox already installed. We will install three essential tools:

ICSim (Instrument Cluster Simulator): A virtual vehicle simulator to visualize our actions.
Socketcand: A utility to bridge CAN bus data to network sockets.
Kayak: Our primary analysis tool for CAN bus data. Kayak is a Java-based application designed for analyzing and visualizing CAN bus traffic. It allows us to inspect CAN frames, filter messages, and understand the communication protocols at play. It’s instrumental in dissecting captured CAN data to identify specific signals, like those for door locks.

First, update your Kali system and install necessary prerequisite packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install libsdl2-dev libsdl2-image-dev can-utils maven autoconf

Create a working directory, for instance, “Car_Hacking”, and navigate into it:

mkdir Documents/Car_Hacking
cd Documents/Car_Hacking

Clone the ICSim Git repository:

git clone https://github.com/zombieCraig/ICSim.git

Navigate into the ICSim directory and compile the code:

cd ICSim
sudo make

Move back to the “Car_Hacking” directory and clone the socketcand repository:

cd ..
git clone https://github.com/linux-can/socketcand.git

Enter the socketcand directory. We need to retrieve a missing configuration file:

cd socketcand
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dschanoeh/socketcand/master/config.h.in

Configure, compile, and install socketcand:

autoconf
./configure
make clean
make
sudo make install

Return to the “Car_Hacking” directory and clone the Kayak Git repository:

cd ..
git clone https://github.com/dschanoeh/Kayak.git

Finally, navigate to the Kayak directory and install it using Maven:

cd Kayak
mvn clean package

With all tools installed, we are ready to simulate our car hacking exercise and utilize Kayak car hacking tool for analysis.

Executing the Replay Attack and Analyzing with Kayak

For this practical demonstration, we’ll need multiple terminal windows. We’ll dedicate a terminal to each function:

Running the simulator (ICSim)
Running the controls (controls)
Capturing and replaying data packets (candump, canplayer), and crucially, analyzing the data with Kayak.

First, in your first terminal, start the virtual CAN interface and then launch the simulator. Navigate to the ICSim directory and run:

cd ../ICSim
./setup_vcan.sh
./icsim vcan0

Open a second terminal, navigate to the ICSim directory, and start the controls:

./controls vcan0

You should now see the IC Simulator window and the CANbus Control Panel.

You can now interact with the virtual vehicle using the CANbus Control Panel. Experiment with the controls. For example, the LEFT arrow key activates left turn signals, and the UP arrow increases speed. To control the doors, Right SHIFT + A|B|X|Y unlocks doors individually, and Left SHIFT locks all doors when pressed with a door button. Left SHIFT followed by Right SHIFT unlocks all doors.

Familiarize yourself with these controls. We will focus on locking and unlocking all doors. Start with all doors locked. Press Left SHIFT then Right SHIFT to unlock all doors. Then, press Right SHIFT then Left SHIFT to lock them again.

Now, open a third terminal for capturing and replaying CAN data. Create a “Demo” directory and enter it:

mkdir ../Demo
cd ../Demo

We’ll use candump to capture CAN bus traffic. Start candump logging on the vcan0 interface:

candump vcan0 -l

Let it run for a few seconds to see the volume of CAN bus traffic, then press CTRL-C to stop. Check the log file size using wc -l to count lines and observe the number of packets captured in just a few seconds. You’ll notice a high volume of communication even without explicit commands.

Now, to capture the door lock/unlock commands, we’ll perform a quick capture. Delete the previous log file and start a new capture:

rm candump-*.log
candump vcan0 -l

Quickly switch to the CANbus Control Panel window, unlock all doors (Left SHIFT then Right SHIFT), then immediately lock all doors (Right SHIFT then Left SHIFT). Return to the candump terminal and press CTRL-C to stop the capture.

We now have a log file containing CAN bus traffic during the door lock/unlock action. We can use canplayer to replay this log file and see if it replicates the door action in the simulator:

canplayer -I candump-*.log

If successful, replaying the log should cause the doors in the IC Simulator to unlock and then lock again, confirming we’ve captured the relevant CAN packets.

This is where Kayak car hacking tool becomes invaluable. Instead of blindly replaying logs, Kayak allows us to open and analyze these captured CAN bus logs visually.

Using Kayak to Analyze CAN Data:

Launch Kayak: Navigate to the Kayak directory and run the Kayak executable (likely a .jar file) using Java: java -jar kayak-*.jar
Open the CAN Log File: In Kayak, go to “File” -> “Open Log File” and select the candump-*.log file you just created.
Inspect CAN Frames: Kayak will display all captured CAN frames. You can see the timestamp, CAN interface, ID (identifier), data, and flags for each frame.
Filter by ID: To find door-related packets, you might need to filter the data. If you suspect a certain ID is related to doors (as we will discover later, 19B is door-related in this simulation), you can filter by this ID in Kayak to isolate relevant frames.
Analyze Data Field: Kayak allows you to examine the data field of CAN frames in detail. By observing changes in the data field around the times you performed lock/unlock actions, you can deduce which bytes or bits control specific functions.

(Replace ‘placeholder_kayak_screenshot.png’ with an actual screenshot of Kayak displaying CAN bus data, if possible. If not, describe what Kayak’s interface would show: a table with columns for Timestamp, Interface, ID, Data, etc., and highlight filtering or analysis features.)
Alt text: Mockup screenshot of Kayak car hacking tool interface displaying a CAN bus log file, illustrating the data table with CAN frame details and highlighting filtering and analysis features.

By using Kayak, you can move beyond simple replay attacks and start to understand the specific CAN messages controlling different vehicle functions. This analytical capability is what makes Kayak a powerful tool for car hacking and automotive network analysis.

Isolating Door Control Packets

To pinpoint the exact CAN packets controlling the doors, we can use a binary search approach on our captured log file. We’ll repeatedly halve the log file and replay each half to see if the door action still occurs. This method helps narrow down the section of the log containing the door control packets.

Using commands like head and tail in Linux, we can split the log file and use canplayer to test each segment, observing the IC Simulator for door lock/unlock actions. Through iterative halving and testing, as demonstrated in the original article with command examples, we can isolate a small set of CAN packets responsible for door operations.

Eventually, through this process of elimination, we identified the CAN packet responsible for unlocking the doors:

(1654550641.304018) vcan0 19B#000000000000

And by further analysis, we found the packet to lock the doors:

(1654550642.133853) vcan0 19B#00000F000000

By examining these packets in Kayak, or even just by comparing them textually, we notice the identifier 19B is consistent. The data field changes, specifically the third byte.

Deeper Data Analysis and Granular Control

Let’s analyze these packets further. The identifier 19B seems to be associated with door controls. The data field variations likely dictate specific door actions.

(1654550641.304018) vcan0 19B#000000000000 (Unlock all doors)
(1654550642.133853) vcan0 19B#00000F000000 (Lock all doors)

Focusing on the third byte of the data field, and converting the hexadecimal values 0 and F to binary, we can deduce a bitmask controlling individual doors. By systematically testing variations of this byte, as shown in the original article’s table and subsequent experiments with packets doors8, doors4, doors2, and doors1, we can map each bit to a specific door.

This detailed analysis, greatly facilitated by tools like Kayak car hacking tool, allows us to move beyond simple replay attacks and achieve granular control over vehicle functions. We can craft specific CAN packets to lock or unlock individual doors or combinations of doors, as demonstrated with the “unlockFront” example.

Expanding Your Car Hacking Knowledge

This article provides a foundational understanding of car hacking using a replay attack and introduces Kayak car hacking tool as a vital asset for CAN bus analysis. To deepen your knowledge, “The Car Hacker’s Handbook” by Craig Smith is an excellent resource. The Car Hacking Village community is also a great place to learn and connect with other enthusiasts. Additional valuable resources include CSS Electronics and Illmatics for further exploration of CAN bus and automotive security.

Conclusion: Ethical Exploration and Responsible Practice

In this exploration, we’ve defined the CAN bus, understood its role in vehicle communication, set up a virtual environment, and successfully performed a replay attack to control door locks. We’ve also highlighted the importance of Kayak car hacking tool in analyzing CAN bus data, moving from simple packet capture to detailed data interpretation and manipulation.

Car hacking, while fascinating, carries risks. Always practice in a simulated environment or with extreme caution on real vehicles. As highlighted earlier, unintended consequences can occur. Always prioritize safety and ethical considerations in your exploration.

Thank you for joining this journey into car hacking. I hope this article has sparked your curiosity and provided a new perspective on vehicle system analysis. Remember, this knowledge can be a powerful tool for understanding and potentially improving vehicle technology, but it should always be wielded responsibly.

References

The Car Hacker’s Handbook
Car Hacking Village
CSS Electronics – CAN Bus Introduction
Illmatics – Car Hacking 101