The present invention provides a vehicle control apparatus that ensures the detection of external influences on a vehicle network. A control unit CU that performs a program stored in advance is connected to a network communication path (10) to from a vehicle network. When an external communication unit (14), which is configured to communicate externally, is connectable to or disconnectable from the network communication path (10), a monitoring unit (18) determines the state of a control unit CU while the external communication unit (14) is disconnected from the network communication path (10).The monitoring unit (18) compares a program stored in the control unit CU with a default program while the external communication unit (14) is disconnected from the network communication path (10), determines that the control unit CU is in a normal state if both programs match, and determines that the control unit CU is a modified control unit if both programs do not match. It is possible to overwrite the program in the modified control unit CU with the default program and the vehicle network can be returned to the normal state.