back to article Oh Deere: Farm hardware jailbroken to run Doom

At DEF CON 30 on Saturday, an Australian who goes by the handle Sick Codes showed off a way to fully take control of some John Deere farming machine electronics to run first-person shooter Doom. With some rather-involved hardware hacking and the help of a New Zealand-based maker of Doom mods identified as Skelegant on Twitter …

  1. Falmari Silver badge

    Crysis

    But can it run Crysis? ;)

    1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

      Re: Crysis

      “ But can it run Crysis?”

      No, but it can create a crisis, if that’s any help?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      John Deere failed to comply with its GPL obligations

      Aren't there some ambulance chasers fine attorneys who can create a class action suit over Deere's code theft?

      1. Xalran

        Re: John Deere failed to comply with its GPL obligations

        There's probably a few gleefully sharpening their legal knives over it.

        Sadly JD is probably going to pour millions in a legal team to tie that up in court for years if not decades.

      2. Loyal Commenter Silver badge

        Re: John Deere failed to comply with its GPL obligations

        I just read the same article as you. Did you skip over the paragraph that said exactly that?

        According to author and activist Cory Doctorow, organizations that undertake legal enforcement for open source licensing issues are now aware of John Deere's alleged non-compliance.

  2. Winkypop Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Deere John

    Thanks, but we’ve got this from here.

    So long.

    - Farmers

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  3. Old Used Programmer

    Not the only company....

    Medtronic (pacemakers, among other things) shows the use of GPL code if you dig through their documents. However, when one asks for the GPL'd source code...crickets.

    1. Martin Summers Silver badge

      Re: Not the only company....

      Try not to take it to heart

      1. aerogems Silver badge

        Re: Not the only company....

        But you've got to admit, it is a little disheartening

      2. Swarthy
        Coat

        Re: Not the only company....

        Gotta pace yourself on these....

        1. The Indomitable Gall

          Re: Not the only company....

          They work to the beat of the own drum.

  4. Leedos
    Coat

    I love the corn rows in the game. Great mod.

    On the GPL Stuff, they're scared stiff. Like a "Deere" in headlights...

    1. Dimmer Bronze badge

      Re: I love the corn rows in the game. Great mod.

      Tried the same with SONICWALL sslvpn appliance. Even sent them the money for the cd of the open code. Been 15 years. Still nothing.

  5. DS999 Silver badge

    Remote hacks

    Could be kind of a problem, since the latest models allow them to "self drive" without anyone even in the cab. If someone hacked a tractor driving by itself via LTE and steered it off its proper plot of land and made it drive down the middle of the highway or into the nearest town they could cause a lot of havoc.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Remote hacks

      Then maybe the answer is to require an operator be in the 15-ton death-machine at all times while it is operating. Perhaps put a little "farming" back into farming instead of relying on robots and corporate lawyers.

      Just wait until Husqvarna develops a self-driving chainsaw.

      1. H in The Hague

        Re: Remote hacks

        Well ....

        Two or three years ago I went to a presentation by them (or was it Stihl?) where they showed us autonomous mowers, deployed by a drone. So, chainsaws might be next :)

        1. Marty McFly Silver badge

          Re: Remote hacks

          Uhhh... Look up John Deere 803M. Shouldn't be too tough to automate.

          1. cyberdemon Silver badge
            Devil

            > Deere 803M tree-felling machine

            Now if there was one machine which, with a remote-bricking OTA update, could stop deforestation by the likes of Drax "dead in their tracks", that 803M would be it.

        2. Pirate Dave Silver badge

          Re: Remote hacks

          Didn't one of the hacks here on El Reg have an autonomous mower like 10 years ago? I vaguely recall reading an article about it.

          1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

            Re: Remote hacks

            "Didn't one of the hacks here on El Reg have an autonomous mower like 10 years ago? I vaguely recall reading an article about it."

            Yeah, they've been around for ages. A Roomba with spinning blades of death whizzing around your lawn. Keep your kids and pets indoors!

            1. A Nother Handle

              Re: Remote hacks

              ...and check for hedgehogs first.

          2. TheRealRoland
            Happy

            Re: Remote hacks

            https://www.theregister.com/2011/12/22/electronic_sheep/

            1. Pirate Dave Silver badge

              Re: Remote hacks

              Yep, that's it. Thanks Roland.

      2. This post has been deleted by its author

      3. Grinning Bandicoot

        Re: Remote hacks

        It'll be called Jason!

    2. revdjenk
      Mushroom

      Re: Remote hacks

      ... or into the next country ...

  6. ChoHag Silver badge
    FAIL

    Internet of Farming Things

    > "The main bug is that nothing's encrypted or checksummed properly or anything like that," Sick explained, adding that patching the weakness out isn't practical.

    I'm leaning back toward supporting John Deere on this one. If the restrictions on one's own right to repair one's own equipent boil down to "please don't", then it's no wonder the Ukrainians gained access to them so easily and the Americans haven't got a foothold.

    1. Gene Cash Silver badge

      Re: Internet of Farming Things

      This is a hell of a lot more than "please don't" - people have been working on this for years. It's just he approached it from the right angle.

      JD rolls out the lawyers at the slightest excuse. I wonder how it'll be when they get a beating for not complying with the GPL.

      IMHO, John Deere is worse than HP. HP doesn't put families out of livelihood & farm when their printers refuse an ink cartridge.

      1. Ken Hagan Gold badge

        Re: Internet of Farming Things

        But will they get a beating or just a slap on the wrist?

        The allegation is that they chose to use GPL'ed software and then chose to violate the licence, reasoning that the profits from their repairs division over many years would outweigh any future fines. (The GPL requires that the resulting product be hackable by the recipient, so JD would have to share the repairs market.)

        Even if found guilty, my guess is that this line of reasoning will turn out to be correct.

        1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

          Re: Internet of Farming Things

          "he GPL requires that the resulting product be hackable by the recipient"

          Could you quote this term in the licence.

          1. the spectacularly refined chap

            Re: Internet of Farming Things

            "he GPL requires that the resulting product be hackable by the recipient"

            Could you quote this term in the licence.

            Indeed. One of the big controversies over GPL3 when it was drafted was the lack of any provision against "Tivoisation" - you can have the source code but good luck getting it to run on the hardware without the correct signing keys.

          2. Ken Hagan Gold badge

            Re: Internet of Farming Things

            GPL 2, clause 3:

            "The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the executable."

            I take this to mean that what is delivered must be sufficient to recreate the official software, ab initio, and install it.

            1. anothercynic Silver badge

              Re: Internet of Farming Things

              If that's the case, then Apple needs to also be taken to task over their use of some GPL software...

        2. aerogems Silver badge

          Re: Internet of Farming Things

          And, who is going to bring the lawsuit against JD? The FSF? The people behind that specific Linux distro? The makers of the hardware it's running on? Who would have standing to bring the case in the first place? The GPL kind of relies on the implicit threat that if companies don't comply it undermines their own copyrights and whatnot. You run into someone willing to roll the dice on that front, there's not a lot you can do about it.

          1. J. Cook Silver badge

            Re: Internet of Farming Things

            The EFF might be interested in pursuing it.

            1. aerogems Silver badge

              Re: Internet of Farming Things

              Would the EFF have standing to bring a suit? They don’t hold the copyright to Linux or any of the code probably being misappropriated. They could potentially offer to represent someone who does have standing to sue but I doubt they could bring a case themselves and have it pass summary judgment for lack of standing.

          2. A Nother Handle

            Re: Internet of Farming Things

            There's a growing market in venture capitalists funding civil lawsuits in return for a large share of the payout. If the case is strong someone will pony up the money to fight it.

  7. karlkarl Silver badge

    So once the DRM kicks in, at least you can do *something* useful with the hardware ;)

  8. Mike 137 Silver badge

    An awfully expensive games console

    "The hack involved getting into the physical guts of the controller and modifying the electronics in such a way to run his code"

    But will it still run the tractor? If not, that's rather a big financial hit.

  9. jmch Silver badge
    WTF?

    Other tractors???

    With all the grief John Deere gets you would think some competition would be in order! Are there really no other tractor makers in the US or foreign-made ones imported???

    1. IGotOut Silver badge

      Re: Other tractors???

      It's a cartel in the US, just like the cable companies.

      They divide up dealerships. So you have only JohnD coverng X thousand sq km and say MF covering another X thousand sq km.

      So if you need that service, just pop a few thousand km down the road and all is good..

      Due to the huge bribes, sorry donatiobs, its perfectly legal.

  10. John Jennings

    Lamborguni makes a fine one - https://www.lamborghini-tractors.com/en-eu/

    Belarus also - 'bulletproof' - but might be tricky getting spare parts! - http://www.belarus-tractors.co.uk/

    And of course good old Massey Fergusson are still around - https://www.masseyferguson.com/en_gb.html (inventors of the original 3 point hitch that revolutionised tractors in the 1930's).

    1. Caver_Dave Silver badge
      Happy

      Ah, old tractors!

      Belarus. I once drove an 8 wheel (4 x dual 6' diameter wheels) monster. It would do 10kph max speed - regardless of what was on the back - including pulling an Artic full of grain out of a soggy field!

      My brother once fell asleep at the wheel of a smaller model whilst ploughing and managed to go through 3 hedges and ditches before it was stopped by a mature Oak tree.

      In my youth I used to plough (single furrow) with one of the 5 "little grey fergies" that were previously converted to run on Aviation fuel at the local military base. It is now in a museum.

    2. jmch Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Lamborghini and tractors.... that's a juxtaposition I never expected!!!

      1. Loyal Commenter Silver badge

        Maybe they thought they could get repeat sales: one sale of the car, one sale of the tractor to pull it out of the ditch.

      2. Anonymous Coward
      3. John Jennings

        Actually, Lamborghini started off making tractors. The Founder went to Ferarri for a car and Enzo told him to feck off..... So he started to build supercars

        True story, I a told.

        1. jmch Silver badge

          "The Founder went to Ferarri for a car and Enzo told him to feck off."

          Almost! I tracked it down here - https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamborghini

          The relevant part is not available in English, but basic translation - Ferruccio Lamborghini owned a Ferrari 250GT with which he wasn't completely satisfied, and contacted Enzo Ferrari directly with suggestions for improvements. Ferrari replied on the lines of "What do you know about cars, you drive tractors!", which prompted Lamborghini to start making cars

      4. PRR Bronze badge

        > Lamborghini and tractors.... that's a juxtaposition I never expected!!!

        Porsche too. >100k Porsche-design tractors made.

        http://www.porsche-diesel.com/gallery.aspx

        https://www.motortrend.com/vehicle-genres/porsche-diesel-tractor-models-history-origin

        It is reputed that clutches and other bits on the early Lamborghinis (and Ferraris) were Fiat parts sold with heavy markup. (Of course the early Porsche sporty-cars were mostly out of the VW part bins.) (An american tractor used a stock Chrysler sedan engine; the postwar Ferguson tractor and the Triumph saloon/sportcar shared an engine with different cam/carb), with wet-sleeve cylinders ground on the machine which made so many WWII sleeve-valve airplane engines.)

  11. AndrueC Silver badge
    Joke

    I'm getting sick of all these Doom and bloom stories.

  12. MattPDev

    What is the suggestion regarding GPL violation?

    The article states they used Wind River Linux presumably with a commercial Board Support Package.

    1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      The Linux kernel is not the only GPL'd piece of software out there.

      C.

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