A researcher at KU Leuven showed off a $25 hacking tool that could allow entry into Starlink’s network and wreak havoc, according to a report from Wired. 

Lennert Wouters, a Belgium-based security researcher showed off how he gained access to one of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite dishes at the Black Hat Conference being held in Las Vegas this week.

“The SpaceX operated
Starlink low Earth orbit satellite constellation aims to provide
satellite internet coverage to the whole world. The widespread
availability of Starlink User Terminals (UT) exposes them to hardware
hackers and opens the door for an attacker to freely explore the network,” wrote Wouters in the brief describing his presentation. 

SpaceX launched the first Starlink satellites in 2019 and has so far put 3,009 satellites into low earth orbit as they try to provide Internet access to those in rural areas. 

Wouters for his part says that the the satellite dish show how the terminal which users need to connect to Starlink is easily hacked using a circuit board cobbled together from easily available electronic parts. The circuit board can be attached to Dishy McFlatface (the name that the Starlink satellite dish was given), which pushes an attack on the software causing a glitch and exposing locked parts of the Starlink system. 

“Our attack results in an unfixable compromise of the Starlink UT and allows us to execute arbitrary code,” wrote Wouters. According to Wired, the researcher has previously warned SpaceX of the flaw. The company says it has fixed the exploit but the only way for it to be fixed is to come up with a brand new version of the main chip.

SpaceX has been courting controversy since the launch of Starlink, and more so this year, angering Russia for providing Ukraine with connectivity in the middle of the war between the two nations. A Chinese military researcher had also released a paper showcasing how to “soft and hard kill” the satellites should they pose a threat.