It looks like the RIM BlackBerry Incident Response Team is not going to get much sleep this weekend. Lucas @N4BB noticed that long time hacker/dev Chris Wade has confirmed on his Twitter account that he has a confirmed that the BlackBerry PlayBook has been “rooted.” In case you don’t know “rooted” is slang for gaining escalated privileges on the OS level usually giving you access to the Super User “Root” account. Wade has a history of Linux ports, iPhone jbs, WinPwn, PSP exploit and other projects under his belt so I doubt he is bluffing.
Wade says that he is working on releasing an installer for anybody who wishes to perform the root exploit. This is a huge deal for RIM because it essentially means there is a security vulnerability in the PlayBook that allows you to gain root privileges. This is how Apple and Android devices are jailbroken or rooted and leads to loads more fun down the road like attempted Android ports and more.
Right now the exploit only gives you privileged access to the QNX core OS. It supports all versions of the PlayBook OS including the latest PlayBook beta OS. It currently persists across upgrades which is also interesting but is something that RIM could patch in future updates. Still this is going to let developers tear through the QNX OS and see what makes it tick in the PlayBook.
Any guesses for what comes next? Do you guys think RIM has a remote kill switch for such a scenario? Any guesses on why Chris dubbed it the DingleBerry exploit?
Credit for the original exploit discovery goes to @XPVQS and @neuralic
Michael S. Not Registered
Posted: November 27, 2011 at 8:22 PM EST from my BlackBerry 9550
Well… It took 6 months compared to IOS 5 minutes… Haha! I’m sure they’ll fix that soon enough OTA.
Ronen Halevy ( View Profile) - Posts: 4128
Posted: November 27, 2011 at 9:23 PM EST
Yeah it did take awhile. Though this is the same guy who managed to root the PlayBook simulator before the device launched so it should be interesting. I just wonder if RIM has a sort of “force you to upgrade” switch.
dkonigs ( View Profile) - Posts: 114
Posted: November 27, 2011 at 11:41 PM EST
I can’t seem to find *any* details on this alleged rooting, nor any actual proof that its happened. All we have so far are a couple sparse tweets, and an image of a changed wallpaper (which hardly requires hacking).
Anyone have any tangible information on this?
emac Not Registered
Posted: November 28, 2011 at 7:26 AM EST
Actually for me that’s a very positive news – being able to root the PlayBook probably means that I would be able to run a decent OS
thecsman Not Registered
Posted: November 28, 2011 at 11:23 AM EST
You mean Android is a decent OS? Do you know the number of security vulnerabilities that appear every month, if not every week? Come on, all you want to do is play Angry Birds.
pbkman Not Registered
Posted: November 28, 2011 at 12:47 PM EST
you r a dick
ayekon Not Registered
Posted: November 28, 2011 at 11:57 AM EST from my BlackBerry 9670 | OS 6.0.0.522
Saying QNX is not a decent os is like saying iOS is not popular for only its apps… Let alone Android, that’s a cess pool… I’m waiting for a cell botnet from that one…
DBX00 Not Registered
Posted: November 28, 2011 at 1:22 PM EST
I’m happy that it was rooted; keep in mind that the Playbook isn’t currenlty connected to the NOC, which I assume adds a whole new layer of security and is core to RIMs real security advantage
yvpan1 Not Registered
Posted: November 28, 2011 at 3:43 PM EST
well, in a positive way, rooting means you can do something beyond your expectation. glad to hear that the QNX could be brought to an extensive level, however that also means that there is a minor security flaw which would lead to a major issue on the development of the BBX as well. RIM.. better fix this up BEFORE your BBX platform arrives in the market.