T-Mobile G1 Rooted

An anonymous reader writes "T-Mobile's G1 phone, the first commercially available Android based phone, has been rooted. The exploit is extremely simple to execute, just requiring you to run telnetd from a terminal on the phone, and then connecting to the phone via telnet."

Comments

Bad Idea

[TheAmit]

Waiting to see how many non-Linux types try this and get in trouble. Its not a good idea to change permissions on sh. All other apps you run on your phone and use sh are now running as root [:)] I would be very scared of this setup. Going to enjoy this

This is like saying...

[NitroWolf]

This is like saying something is "bricked" when it's just a bad firmware flash that can be fixed.

The phone isn't rooted. Rooted means someone gained root access through an exploit and/or installed a root kit. Running telnetd and then connecting as root is a normal method of logging in, no exploits required.

Or are they saying every UNIX system that has a method of remote access is rooted?

Re:Rooted?

[deniable]

Well, yeah. You did run telnet for them. Why else would you run it? Hasn't it been on the list of don't run services for years now?

The much better question is: why is there a telnetd on the phone in the first place?

Re:I haven't followed the whole Android business,

[Yetihehe]

Better get used to it. First was the "hacker" word, now "rooting".
What's next, "open"?

Re:Rooted?

[Sparr0]

Because telnetd has some tiny fraction of the system overhead of ssh daemons, even "tiny" ones.

Whole lot of stupid going on in these replies ..

[Idimmu Xul]

The point of this exploit isn't so you can remotely hack other people's phones, it's so mobile hackers can get to a lower level than Android permits users to do, which will allow them to flash the phone with unsigned custom updates and what not and customise their phone more.

People should really read the articles and smarten up.