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Guide To Building a Cable That Improves iOS Exploits
mask.of.sanity writes "An Aussie network engineer has published a guide to building a serial cable connector that allows access to a secret kernel debugger hidden within Apple iOS. The debugger was a dormant iOS feature carried over from Apple OS, and seems to serves no function other than to allow hackers to build better exploits. The cable needs an external power source and a jailbroken device to access the debugger." We've mentioned Pollock's serial adapter kit before, modulo the kernel debugging abilities.
Wait... so in order to use the cable to find exploits, you need a jailbroken device. But in order to jailbreak your device, you need to first find an exploit.
* Yes, I do know that there are other ways to find exploits...
It's amazing that Apple and Jobs in it are so shortsighted that they don't provide official tools that people want. Of-course they have contracts with AT&T and who knows what else, that's most likely why they don't want to let people use these devices as general purpose computers, so that normal apps could be executed (and then you can use Skype or whatever to go around long distance phone charges obviously). But still, this is just so screwed up that a company would not see that it is in its best interest to sell the phone with the maximum possible features in it. OK, have an official Apple utility to so called "jail break" the thing and enter another lucrative market of various adapters and gadgets that could be then used together with the phone.
These devices are general purpose computers with wireless access and an odd phone application installed on them. Let the people use them the way they want to.
Of-course the unwillingness of Apple to allow people to use their own freaking product the way they want to provides HUGE market for all the other types of phones (Android) to fill that gap. It's just the short-sightedness of Apple is amazing in this instance.
You can't handle the truth.
...exists in pretty much all phones (amongst other devices) although most would require some soldering on the PCBs, they are also used for forensic investigations -- or have completely separate circuits used just for forensics.
I don't remember much to be honest (like protocols etc) but I remember it from a forensics class I took.
The only surprising thing here is that they allow access to that circuitry via the normal device ports.
The opinion that Jailbreaking is "stupid" is exactly that, an opinion. There are many reasons to jailbreak, and in reality, you're only more vulnerable than unjailbroken iDevices to viruses if you don't change your default SSH passwords[1]. If you don't do that, then it's you who's stupid. [1]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8373739.stm
If you gave me a choice between a printer and a giraffe with explosive diarrhoea, i'll get my ladder and my raincoat
That's like saying "Windows Vista doesn't get viruses if you use a Microsoft Certified Firewall Solution, Microsoft Certified Anti-Virus Solution, only install Microsoft Certified software and don't open files from outside your own network in addition to exercising due diligence and having your computer serviced by a Microsoft Approved Technician weekly."
Also: jailbreaking uses the same mechanism as viruses do to get onto your iPhone. A virus could well jailbreak your iPhone and install itself without you even knowing given an appropriate exploit (such as the Adobe Reader exploit from a while back).
"The most dangerous enemy of a better solution is an existing codebase that is just good enough." -- Eric S. Raymond
We want the schematics for the "hacker cable". /dev/tty.iap but the bootloader won't send anything on those pins at startup.
The schematic from the link in the TFA, ( http://www.ionetworks.com.au/files/serial_port.pdf ) using pins 12 & 13 of the dock connector is for a "accessory connection" cable and can be used from a jailbroken iPhone with
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I remember the days when apple play commercials claiming their OS don't get virus's, malware, etc.
That was in the old days when major Windows applications required you to run as administrator, when mail messages could silently install software and an unpatched XP machine connected to the internet would be infected before you had a chance to download the patches. Win 7 has done a lot to reduce that, which may by why Apple dropped the ads...
An iOS exploit that requires physical access to the machine, a custom cable and only works on a machine which has already been jailbroken (i.e. deliberately cracked by the legitimate user) isn't exactly in the same league as the sort of remote pwnage seen on PCs in the Bad Old Days.
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.