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Hackers claim iPhone 2.0 breakthrough

ChopSuey   on 13 March 2008 - 10:14 · 9 comments & 8671 views

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It hasn't even been released yet, but iPhone hackers claim to have already figured out a way to jailbreak Apple's iPhone 2.0 software.

The iPhone Dev Team said yesterday it has figured out a way to hack into the iPhone's bootloader by taking advantage of the way the iPhone authorizes code that can be written to memory. After some modifications, this apparently allows any code to be written to the iPhone, such as applications that haven't been authorized by Apple, and it should work with any new software version Apple releases, according to the team.

The team released a screenshot of what is supposedly an iPhone running external applications on the beta 2.0 software, which can be obtained by downloading the iPhone SDK. It's hard to tell exactly which version is shown in the screenshot, although the inclusion of the App Store is a pretty big hint. Still, Adobe sells a lot of copies of Photoshop for a reason.

Unlike previous hacks, this one isn't specific to the latest firmware version, it exploits the way that Apple designed the iPhone's main bootloader. According to the iPhone Dev Team, the iPhone verifies whether or not firmware code has been signed with an RSA certificate before allowing it to be written to memory. The team has apparently figured out a way to disable that check and allow unsigned code to be written to memory. A detailed explanation of the exploit can be found here.

Screenshot: iPhone 2.0 Hack
View: Full Article @ CNET News

Post a comment · Send to friend Comments · There are 9 additional comments
#1 altermind on 13 Mar 2008 - 10:47
this is good news.... I don't wanna have to always use the itunes store..... will most of the time most likely tho... perhaps I'll get some apps I really want

(btw.. this is kinda old hat) >.<
#2 MiG- on 13 Mar 2008 - 11:57
Yup ^ But I want em to get the whole thing released already.

Just want 802.xx Wi-Fi >.<
#3 +Dakkaroth on 13 Mar 2008 - 17:19
Wow, there seems to be a bigger push with this iPhone fix than I thought. I mean, generally security updates come first followed by hackers breaking through it, not hackers breaking through before the update's released.

Good for them though.
(1 reply) #4 emzino on 13 Mar 2008 - 18:39
What is iPhone 2.0? Is it the software or a yet to be released iPhone 2...
#4.1 betasp on 14 Mar 2008 - 18:51
RTFA.
#5 wired57 on 13 Mar 2008 - 20:26
it's for the upcomming SDK
#6 +Jedimark on 13 Mar 2008 - 20:50
The Beta SDK kit emulates firmware version 1.3 I believe - so parading their achievement is only going to warn Apple that they need to fix it for 2.0.
#7 Gabe3 on 14 Mar 2008 - 07:11
Its the next new firmware for ipod touch and iphone. It comes out in June. Can't wait to get skype on my touch. Its going to be interesting though. Hopefully they can combine the 2.0 app store and jailbrake to work together.
#8 betasp on 14 Mar 2008 - 18:53
Based on the other hacks, I am not sure Apple even cares. It seems that really are enhancing their software for ATT users and is de-criminalizing the hacking. There are many more things they could be doing to stop the hacking... but it does not seem to be a priority.

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