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Motorola's Sholes Bootloader Unlocked
teh31337one writes "Motorola's locked bootloader for their Sholes-family devices (Droid OG, Milestone, DroidX, Droid 2 etc, not Atrix 4G) has finally been cracked. @nenolod explains on his website: The Motorola Sholes platform uses a trusted bootloader environment. Signatures are stored as part of the CDT stored on the NAND flash. mbmloader verifies the signature on mbm before passing control. mbm verifies all other signatures before allowing the device to boot. There is a vulnerability in the way that Motorola generated the signatures on the sections stored in the CDT. This vulnerability is very simple. Like on the PlayStation 3, Motorola forgot to add a random value to the signature in order to mask the private key. This allowed the private key and initialization vector to be cracked. This comes at the time when HTC are also stepping up their attempts at locking down their phones . The recently released LTE flagship — ThunderBolt is their most locked-down phone to date ... They made signed images, a signed kernel, and a signed recovery. They also locked the memory."
Even with the cracked bootloader, the company's attitude is not good, so I won't buy a phone from them.
... as a programmer is to spend less time trying to hack, tweak, or otherwise add value to platforms owned by companies who want to strip away my rights as a user to modify and operate those platforms as I see fit.
Why do they spend so much money locking down the phone instead of making a competitive, lasting product that the consumer actually wants? "They also locked the memory.", what the fuck.
Disagree != mod troll.
Sorry, but we shouldn't have to fight teeth and nails to get proper access to devices we buy and own.
Being locked out of our own legally purchased devices is NOT normal.
Kind of like buying a computer and not being able to do what you want with it.
Wait, what is this OSX upgrade you tell me about? Sounds great, and only 29.99!
No wit here.
the smartphone is mine, please don't restrict absolutely nothing
It seems these DRM schemes are getting harder and harder to break as the manufacturers are learning from the unlocking community. The iPhone hasn't had an unlock for iOS 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3 yet due to Apple closing more security holes and implementing new checksums. (Anyone who has an unlocked iPhone for 4.1 and 4.2 is doing a hacked form of upgrade that prevents a full firmware/baseband upgrade, but new buyers are completely out of luck)
It seems like the rooting/jailbreaking/unlocking/modchipping community kinda small; a few geniuses figure it out and publish it in a handy software package for the rest. What does this mean for the future, will the locking/DRM powers outpace them?
With a locked phone they can give the provider control over the phone (read: appstore ), and the telecom provider. I think Motorola hopes to make extra money from the provider instead of the consumer.
You are right, if consumers wanted a closed phone they would have bought a iPhone. an android phone is NOT a closed environment, and locking one part down in an open environment leaves a mediocre (in comparison) product.
Why can't you use your own phone as you please, even more so if it's Android, an open platform?
The only reason I can think of is piracy, which seems to be the justification for everything nowadays.
Seriously, this is a genuine question, not some sort of philosophy.
This really really sucks. Imagine the day when they're no longer providing software updates (next month, next week) but there are nice 0-day exploits for the linux kernel running around in the wild.
I fail to see any reason behind this except pushing people to upgrade...
Signed: A current HTC Hero user running Android 2.3
pushy. always fatal. the time for them to go is now.
... so maybe this is a stupid question.
Is it easier to jailbreak an iPhone (or iDevice) than this? I thought Android devices were "open"; if so shouldn't one be able to change their OS more easily?
Or does the openness of the Android platform refer to the fact that there is no restriction on the Apps you can install? Or is there something else I am missing?
*about this issue. I'm quite knowledgeable about a host of others though!
Why do manufacturers restrict the use of their products like this? For me, as a presumptive buyer, it doesn't sound like a feature at all, just silly. What is the purpose?
Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
According to the Guys from #milestone-modding (nadlabak, xvilka,...) the keys and the Story is a fake/hoax.
Does nobody check this before releasing News?
Motorola forgot to add a random value to the signature in order to mask the private key.
Forgot? Or didn't want to?
If you post as an AC, don't expect me to spend a mod point on you.
They don't seem to understand that the OWNER of the phone/pc/console/etc is the user, not the company, and that he would do anything to get his rights back.
Too bad. Cheers to all of those who use their time to do this things.
This comes at the time when HTC are also stepping up their attempts at locking down their phones . The recently released LTE flagship — ThunderBolt is their most locked-down phone to date.
The submitter should know that the HTC Thunderbolt is just a customized variant of the HTC Desire HD provided for Verizon. Locking it up is almost certainly a Verizon-demanded attribute, and not an initiative from HTC. The Desire HD is unlocked in most of the world, and I doubt if a locked version can be obtained in countries with a more enlightened phone system.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
Why do people allow the phone industry to be like this?
Where would we be if we went to buy a computer and it was locked down to a single ISP vendor, and the only way you could install software was via their system.
As phone hardware was becoming more general purpose pro programmatically I was hoping it would open up a bit. Droid seems to be the closest but damn.
This is why I will not buy a smart phone. Oh that and the charging $30 freaking dollars a month for "broadband" that is 3-6gig capped. WTF that's as much as a cable modem.
Why use an open platform for a closed system?
We're getting to a point where if we don't like how we're being treated as a customer, we can no longer take our money elsewhere. Every option is becoming evil.
I've been running custom roms and kernels on my rooted Droid OG for a while now. What exactly was the locked bootloader preventing me from doing?
Since when did ElGamal private keys fit into a single tweet? I don't believe for a second that Motorola were using a 240bit key, I call bullshit.
if you go android, go with the current Google reference device. One of Googles base requirements is that you single handedly can unlock the bootloader as you wish (usually via the command adb oem unlock)
Currently the two reference devices are the Nexus One and the Nexus S.
Here's why: In the US, the only way to get a phone is through a carrier.
Correction, for the LAZY that is the only way.
In the United States, the price of 2 years of service includes a discount on a phone. There's no discount on the service for not buying a phone at the same time as the plan. T-Mobile used to offer such a discount, called "Even More Plus", but it'll probably go away in a year once AT&T completes its acquisition of T-Mobile.
A european iphone 4 works perfectly here
On which carrier?
You want something with added functionality? You try to find something that has that functionality included OEM.
It doesn't help if all OEMs refuse to provide such a product to the public. Case in point: I want a set-top video game player that lets me make and run my own games, but the three OEMs of set-top video game players (Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony) don't provide that. In fact, Nintendo is openly hostile to home developers. So it's a Morton's fork: all products on the market are unsuitable.
They can lock them down, the question is if it is LEGAL to lock them down.
If they distribute GPL or LGPL libraries they can't legally lock out using your own modified versions.
Having not seen the technical details of this implementation issue before, I googled it, and found http://rdist.root.org/2010/11/19/dsa-requirements-for-random-k-value/. I don't design my own signature implementations (I just use openssl), but its conceivable that I might need to at some point, so I like to keep up on the technical details behind such cracks; in order to avoid making the same mistakes.
The publisher of the info is a known troll, hasn't ever released anything, and has already been trounced by people that know this stuff. False alarm.
I'm not sure I understand the reasoning behind developing these ever increasingly complex locks... What exactly does it do for Motorola or HTC other than cost them a lot of money and developer time to create? Inevitably is will be cracked, so ultimately all of their efforts are useless. And once they're cracked, does it really cost them any money if people have unlocked phones?!? It doesn't seem like this is something being driven by the phone manufacturers themselves, but rather the service providers in an attempt to prevent people using the phones in ways they don't want... I figure, I'm paying a LOT of money for service on my phone, and I'm paying for "unlimited" internet, yet it seems that really isn't the case. So I imagine this is just a way to enforce the restricted use of the "unlimited" internet connection? I'm waiting out my current "warranty" period of one year, then I will be rooting my phone to be able to actually uninstall some of the garbage they have on it. I think if I bought a new laptop and it has as many restrictions as my phone, I would be returning it the next day (although things seem to be headed that way with all of the new tablets like the iPad and Xoom...).
Comes from china as a 'clone'....
---- Booth was a patriot ----
from droid-life.com: Oh Those DROID Bootloaders – Still Locked. Forever Locked. Trolls. (Updated) http://www.droid-life.com/2011/03/21/oh-those-droid-bootloaders-still-locked-forever-locked/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DroidLife+(droid+life) "About that DROID bootloader unlocking story. Just read the conversation above and move on with your lives. It’s locked, will always be locked, and we’re glad we used a bunch of question marks and “coulds” in our post about it. And you guys call me the hypebeast? Update: Motorola reached out to us to clear up more of this situation. They said as plain as day, “We did not send the C&D letter to Mr. Pitcock [nenolod].” They also did not receive any notice of vulnerability which nenolod claims to have sent. This probably isn’t surprising since the guy admitted to it being one giant scam, but Moto wanted to make sure you all knew."
Am I the only the only one that read the first words of the title as 'Motorol-asSholes'?