Def Con hacker shows John Deere’s tractors can run Doom

Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP via Getty Images

We can add a John Deere tractor to the list of things that Doom can run on because the internet has shown us that it's possible. Sick Codes worked with Skelegant to get the game running on a John Deere tractor display and to show off some of the game's features at the Def Con hacking conference.

The video posted by Sick Codes shows how the game plays on top of the John DeereUI. Sick Codes says it took months for the process to be completed. In this version of Doom, the player mows down enemies on a tractor in a corn field.

With epic just-in-time help by NZ based doom modder @Skelegant. She helped get this run using DeHacked Doom, since gzdoom was a mission. Together, we teamed up to make this happen. She is amazingly talented. pic.twitter.com/OfVDMvRhzR

— Sick.Codes (@sickcodes) August 14, 2022

Sick Codes can be used to get tractor to run doom. He created and presented a new jailbreak that gave him access to the tractor's system. John Deere has come under fire in the past for its software blocks that prevent farmers from fixing their tractor.

Sick Codes was able to get 1.5 gigabytes of logs that dealers could use to identify and diagnose problems. He was able to gain root access by soldering controllers to the tractor circuit board. Sick Codes said it would be possible to develop a tool based on the vulnerabilities to more easily execute the jail break.

John Deere has a technological hold on its tractor. John Deere remotely locked its equipment after Russians stole it from a farm in Ukranian and it has done the same on construction sites in China to comply with the country's financing policies. John Deere said in March that it would make its software available to independent repair shops.