A method for influencing a control program of a control device, the control device comprising a first memory for receiving the control program and the control program comprising a plurality of first functions (F1A, F1B,..., F1N), at least one of the first functions (F1A, F1B,..., F1N) being implemented for controlling an actuator, a plurality of variables (V1, V2,..., VN) being provided and each of the variables (V1, V2,..., VN) being associated with a memory address (A1, A2,..., AN), a predefined association being thereby implemented between the variables (V1, V2,..., VN) and the first functions (F1A, F1B,..., F1N), the control device comprising at least one processor and the processors of the control device comprising altogether a plurality of processor cores (P1, P2,..., PN), the control program having the first functions (F1A, F1B,..., F1N) being processed by one first processor core and a bypass function (F2A) being processed in a second processor core of the control device not being used for processing the control program during the processing of the control program, a first function (F1A) associating a first value with a variable and writing the first value into the memory address of the variable at a first point in time, and the bypass function (F2A) associating a second value with the variable, the variable being overwritten with the second value at a second point in time, and the control program accessing the modified value of the variable at a third point if time, the bypass function (F2A) at least partially comprising a program code differing from the first function (F1A), characterized in that the accesses of the memory address of the variable are mutually coordinated by means of a control instance, such that the first point in time is before the second point in time and the second point in time is before the third point in time, wherein the control instance is implemented by a monitoring program and the monitoring program is processed on a different processor core (P2, P3,..., PN) of the control device than the first processor core or on a processor core located outside of the control device, or the control instance is implemented as a monitoring unit for connecting to the control device, particularly as a monitoring unit implemented as an interface unit. the control program having the first functions (F1A, F1B,..., F1N) being processed by one first processor core and a bypass function (F2A) being processed in a second processor core of the control device not being used for processing the control program during the processing of the control program, a first function (F1A) associating a first value with a variable and writing the first value into the memory address of the variable at a first point in time, and the bypass function (F2A) associating a second value with the variable, the variable being overwritten with the second value at a second point in time, and the control program accessing the modified value of the variable at a third point if time, wherein the control instance is implemented by a monitoring program and the monitoring program is processed on a different processor core (P2, P3,..., PN) of the control device than the first processor core or on a processor core located outside of the control device,