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Hacker Cracks Lumia Bootloader, Offers Tool For Root Access and Custom ROMs (hothardware.com)

Posted by timothy on from the even-more-yours dept.

MojoKid writes: Microsoft and Nokia have worked hard making Lumia smartphones difficult to break into at a low-level, but software hacker Heathcliff has just proven that it's not impossible. He's just released a solid-looking tool called Windows Phone Internals, and it can do everything from unlocking the bootloader to replacing the phone's ROM. WP Internals is a completely free download, though Heathcliff welcomes donations by those who've found the tool useful. According to the "Getting Started" section of the tool, supported models include Lumia 520, 521, 525, 620, 625, 720, 820, 920, 925, 928, 1020, and 1320. If your model is not on the list, the developer has said that he hopes to add more models in the near future.

10 of 72 comments (clear)

  1. Landfill-saving hero by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hopefully this will lead to other operating systems being ported to these devices, which could make them useful for a variety of applications. A Lumia 520 is currently at a low of $25 used on eBay, and perhaps you can get them even cheaper if you lurk.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:Landfill-saving hero by pereric · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Or imagine them running an updated Maemo (from the N900), or some similiar full-sized and well-designed operative system.

    2. Re:Landfill-saving hero by Billly+Gates · · Score: 3, Funny

      Funny I was thinking the same thing with my crappy slow and buggy samsung galaxy thats stuck with Android.

      WindowsPhone is the best mobile OS I ever used with a superior UI that never crashes, freezes, or glitches and runs 400 to 500% faster. My 820 which inferior hardware to my Galaxy S 5 was so much faster. To this day cut and pasting calander events with conference calls with pins is not possible with Android. You need to write down the pin with paper and a pen.

      The same sheep who choose Windows 98 over linux are the same choosing Android over Windows Phone.

      --
      http://saveie6.com/
    3. Re:Landfill-saving hero by serviscope_minor · · Score: 4, Funny

      The same sheep who choose Windows 98 over linux are the same choosing Android over Windows Phone.

      I think I speak for everyone reading this post when I say: u wot m8?

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
  2. All 13 owners were ecstatic! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    n/t

  3. Re:Will Lumias become usable? by NotInHere · · Score: 2

    The easiest way to escape malware is to not download random stuff from the internet. Android has the play store and f-droid, both good places to get malware free apps, the linux distros also have their software repos, filled with non-malware software. And the only problem was that windows had no such repo.

  4. I hope he didn't buy his phone with a credit card by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    MS doesn't really like people tampering with their OSs. And doing a background check on everyone who bought a phone should be trivial, considering the annual meeting of the windows phone users happens in the phone booth next to the Android convention...

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  5. Re:the higher level point by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Soon people will have to break the laws to own what they buy.

    For everyone who has ever wondered just why the decks in cyberpunk stories and games are so horribly expensive when technology is so pervasive (and hence should be cheap): They're devices that the owners own. Which is probably by the time these stories play already a grey area by itself, and certainly these things are not mainstream.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  6. No, it uses standard Windows kernel by Myria · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That's not true. WinPhone uses an ARM port of the same NT kernel used on desktops. It's essentially the same kernel as used on the Windows RT tablets, which had a desktop.

    I know this because I managed to load an unsigned kernel driver using my CVE-2015-2552 exploit long before this release.

    --
    "Screw Sun, cross-platform will never work. Let's move on and steal the Java language." - Visual J++ Product Manager
  7. They will just uninstall it by Stan92057 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And whats to stop MS from uninstalling the program? They started uninstalling programs on Win 10 without permission what to stop them from doing this?

    --
    Jack of all trades,master of none