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Tencent Security Keen Lab’s 2021 assessment did not show an unaided remote takeover of a Mercedes-Benz. Its researchers said they first gained physical access to an MBUX head unit and then reached it remotely in an experimental setup. They demonstrated changing interior-light colors and displaying images on the infotainment screen. A separate test involved a debug-version T-Box. The report does not say they controlled steering or braking.
How the reported attack worked
Keen Lab described a broad security assessment of Mercedes-Benz’s MBUX infotainment system, not a single attack launched over the internet against an ordinary car. The report’s head-unit chain began with physical access; researchers subsequently gained remote access to that system in their experimental environment. The distinction matters: the findings do not establish that an attacker could start with no access to a vehicle and remotely take it over.
The researchers wrote: “We have gained first physical access and subsequently remote access to the main infotainment ECU: the head unit.” Their stated remote demonstrations were limited to changing interior-light colors and displaying images on the infotainment screen. The report does not claim remote control of steering or braking. Keen Lab’s May 12, 2021 report describes the assessment and its results.
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Head unit and T-Box: two different findings
| System | What Keen Lab reported | Important condition |
|---|---|---|
| MBUX head unit | Researchers gained remote access after first obtaining physical access. They demonstrated changing interior-light colors and displaying images on the infotainment screen. | Experimental environment; physical access came first. |
| T-Box | Researchers compromised an internal chip and sent arbitrary CAN messages. | The demonstration used a debug-version T-Box, not evidence about an unmodified consumer vehicle. |
These results should not be collapsed into one claim that a production Mercedes was remotely driven or controlled. The head-unit demonstration concerned infotainment and an interior function; the separate T-Box result came from a debug-version unit. Keen Lab’s report does not establish that the T-Box demonstration enabled control of steering or braking in a production car.
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What vehicles or owners can infer
Keen Lab says MBUX debuted in the A-Class in 2018 and was later used in model lines including the E-Class, GLE, GLS and EQC. That list is not a complete affected-vehicle list: it does not identify vulnerable model years, markets, software releases or VIN ranges. It therefore cannot establish that every vehicle in those model lines was affected—or whether a particular car currently has the relevant fixes. For vehicle-specific status, owners need to contact Mercedes-Benz through its service channels.
The technical report lists CVE-2021-23906 through CVE-2021-23910, covering findings involving HiQnet checks and type confusion, T-Box SH2 MCU code execution, and an out-of-bounds array issue in T-Box RemoteDiagnosisApp. It also lists additional findings without CVE identifiers; multiple table entries map to CVE-2021-23907, so the table should not be read as one distinct CVE per finding. The report’s technical findings table says the listed bugs had been fixed before publication.
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When Mercedes-Benz was notified and fixes began
Keen Lab’s timeline says the project began internally in March 2020. Researchers validated findings and attack chains in an experimental environment in November 2020, reported the findings to Daimler in December, and received confirmation on January 15, 2021. They requested CVE identifiers on January 21; new fixes began rolling out on January 30. Keen Lab says some fixes were already available and rolling out by the January confirmation. Its public summary appeared in May 2021. These dates describe the reported disclosure and fix process, not the status of any individual vehicle today. Keen Lab’s timeline is the source for those milestones.
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What the report does not establish
- That an attacker could remotely compromise an ordinary production car without first obtaining physical access.
- That the demonstrated head-unit access controlled steering or braking.
- That every MBUX-equipped vehicle, or every vehicle in the model lines named, was affected.
- Whether a specific vehicle has received the relevant fixes; the report does not provide VIN-level or current vehicle-status information.
- How many Mercedes-Benz vehicles were affected or hacked; the report and its vulnerability table do not give a prevalence figure.
The finding is best understood as a security assessment that exposed vulnerabilities in an experimental setup and a separate debug-version T-Box—not as proof that researchers remotely took over a customer’s car.
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