New iOS 4.1 Jailbreak Discovered: Will Be Hard For Apple To Fight

Just as Apple has released the iOS 4.1 update, iPhone hackers have found a new way to jailbreak the latest iOS that will be hard for Apple to patch.

The Dev-Team’s Musclenerd says his fellow hacker pod2g has found a boot ROM exploit in the iOS 4.1 as it goes live. Musclenerd advises iPhone users to stay away from the 4.1 update until work on the latest jailbreak is completed.

”Crazy timing that @pod2g got latest exploit just as 4.1 went public (lots of work left…keep away from 4.1 for now!)” Musclenerd tweeted.

A low-level bootrom exploit will be hard for Apple to fight. Boot ROM exploits cannot be patched with a firmware update the way that Apple closed the PDF security hole that the iOS 4.0 JailbreakMe exploit relied on.

Apple would have to make changes to the hardware of its iOS devices to fix the exploit. Previously, pod2g discovered the 24kpwn exploit, which allows older iOS devices to be jailbroken via PwnageTool, but has been patched by Apple in its latests devices.

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For complete instructions on jailbreaking and advice on the best software to install, see our Jailbreak Superguide.

Via Redmond Pie.

18 comments »

About the author

Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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Posted in Apple, iOS, Jailbreak, News |

http://www.cheesecake.com Dennis Digestive
Fail.
I am not handing in my device just to dodge a jailbreak.
Paul
Dennis,
What are you talking about? Who said you had to “hand in” your device to “dodge a jailbreak.” Who is responsible for this “fail”? Apple? The Dev-Team? Cult of Mac?
It might be a good idea to think about what you post before you post it instead of just trying to be the first comment.
Eric
What the hell is he talking about? Dodge a jailbreak? I really don’t know what’s wrong with people.
http://www.shegerianlaw.com/ California Employment Law Attorney
Why should people jailbreak. Is it worth it?
Alfred
Can we get a stupid filter on the comments please?
Jay
I can’t wait the 4.1 Jailbreak cuz my iphone4 is ready to go…
Excited….lol
http://www.l2luna.com GTHaxor
What the Fuh-BOOOOOOOOM.. What are these people talking about?
If you don’t know what a jailbreak is, please cease reading posts like this.
Otisrhw
Yea boy,
Bring back the good old days. I guess I can call my iPhone 4 a old boot rom now!!!!! Hahahaha another piece of apple pie yummy!
Joey
That guy is an absolute idiot and obviously has no idea what he is talking about. What are you even doing posting on a topic you can’t even comprehend? Your definitely the “fail” in this situation. You do the jailbreak yourself via software. You don’t have to “dodge” a jailbreak. Jailbreak if you want, don’t if you don’t want to. So there is no fail here except for you and your comment. And your lack of knowledge on a subject you previously thought you knew.
Otisrhw
If you are thinking about iPhone 4 you should go get one before apple fixes this!!! Or iPod iPad
nsfw
I think it helps people understand what a jailbreak is when you tell them its a unix term for getting out of root jail. (Remember iOS and OSX are unix) Meaning without the jailbreak you don’t have administrative privileges on the phone. The jailbreak allows you to gain admin (aka root) access to the device.
The worst thing that can really happen to your phone is you have to restore it back if you totally screw something up. I think people think jailbreak is some big illegal thing and don’t understand it. Once you have administrative privs you can add things like cydia. cydia is just another app store. Some things are for sale, some things are free. None of it has to be approved by Lord Steve. Jailbreaking doesn’t mean you are a pirate, etc. Just means you have full control. Imagine buying a windows laptop and not getting the admin password. thats what an iphone is doing to you.
Wyseguy
For those who just stumbled onto this story, and don’t know anything about “jailbreaking” iOS device, here are the key things you need to know:
1. It’s a method of defeating Apple’s built-in security controls.
2. A “Jailbroken” phone can run apps developed by people who aren’t registered Apple developers, and which are not screened by Apple to filer out scams, malware, etc. Some of the non-approved apps are cool, in a geeky sort-of way. Some give you command-line access to the phone, allow you to turn your phone into a 3G/WiFi bridge, and so on.
3. Jailbreaking puts you at risk for malware, general device instability, reduced battery life, and potential compatibility problems upgrading your phone to newer versions of iOS. It also may cause you trouble with warranty service on your device.
Bottom line: If you want to geek out on your phone, and accept the risk of malware infection, invasion of privacy, instability, and probable lack of support from Apple if anything goes wrong, go for it. To some, the trade-offs are worth it.
Steve
THE ONLY REASON I WOULD JAILBREAK IS :
the option to unlock the phone so I can be able to use the iphone with other carriers as I travel.. Shame on Rogers and Apple for locking my device…
Jailbreaker
What malware risk? Invasion of privacy? Please, we are talking about apple here. One of the best things about iPhone is the thriving jailbreak community giving us features that apple thinks we shouldn’t have. It really turns the iPhone into a superphone. But I do agree it is not for everyone. If your aren’t tech savvy then you probably have no desire to get more out of your iPhone, or probably wouldn’t know how to. The jailbreak community is way ahead of apple. We’ve had features for ages that apple or only just catching up on. Also we can turn off and fix things that we believe the apple geniuses failed on.
nsfw
@4:03 What experience do you have with jailbreaking? Looks like you are just reading apple press releases.
Your first point is incorrect. You are not defeating apples security, you are taking full administrative access of your device. Would you buy windows or OSX and they don’t let you have the admin password?
You second point.. I can register for apple dev program for a few bucks and have an apps up on the app store in just a few days. Its not like apple is going to vette me to make sure I’m a good person. Do you remember the approved flash light app that was a tethering app in disguise? Why didn’t apple catch that?
Lets pretend some application is malware from cydia. Lets say the application does a:
rm -rf /
My phone would lose its entire file system. You know what happens next? Put my phone in restore mode, plug into itunes, restore, rejailbreak. done. Is that so bad?
If you jailbroke you would know that its more than command line shells and tethering apps. There is an amazing amount of good programmers out there that have created features that apple will probably incorporate into future releases they are that good.
If you jailbroke, you would know that its reverseable. I can put my phone back to all the factory defaults and no apple store is going to know that i jailbroke. I will have no problem getting service. But it is true that many jailbreakers are users that are more technically advanced than the people in the apple store and would never have to go the genius bar anyways.
PHILLYFINEST
IF OU DONT HAVE OUR IPHONE JAILBROKEN WH EVEN HAVE IT AT ALL THATS THE MAIN REASON I LOVE MY IPHONE <3 !!!
Koie
I like jailbreak especially posed by Dev Team Blog PwgnTool cos it makes my iPhone has more features (Apple too mean to give )on my originally unlock iPhone 3g. The future is uncertainty , your iPhone may become iBroke. We just do it now we happy to do it. It is not big deal, it just a phone.
Dania ahmed
suck you