3/23/2014

Android rooting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

5.6 United Kingdom 5.7 United States 5.8 New Zealand 6 See also 7 References

Description
Rooting lets all user-installed applications run privileged commands typically unavailable to the devices in the stock configuration. Rooting is required for more advanced and potentially dangerous operations including modifying or deleting system files, removing carrier- or manufacturer-installed applications, and low-level access to the hardware itself (rebooting, controlling status lights, or recalibrating touch inputs.) A typical rooting installation also installs the Superuser application, which supervises applications that are granted root or superuser rights. A secondary operation, unlocking the device's bootloader verification, is required to remove or replace the installed operating system. In contrast to iOS jailbreaking, rooting is not needed to run applications distributed outside of the Google Play Store, sometimes called sideloading. The Android OS supports this feature natively in two ways: through the "Unknown sources" option in the Settings menu and through the Android Debug Bridge. However some carriers, like AT&T, prevent the installation of applications not on the Store in firmware,[4] although several devices (including the Samsung Infuse 4G) are not subject to this rule,[5] and AT&T has since lifted the restriction on several older devices.[6] As of 2012 the Amazon Kindle Fire defaults to the Amazon Appstore instead of Google Play, though like most other Android devices, Kindle Fire allows sideloading of applications from unknown sources,[7] and the "easy installer" application on the Amazon Appstore makes this easy. Other vendors of Android devices may look to other sources in the future. Access to alternate apps may require rooting but rooting is not always necessary. Rooting an Android phone lets the owner modify or delete the system files, which in turn lets them perform various tweaks and use apps that require root access.[8]

Difficulty
In the past, many manufacturers have tried to make "unrootable" phones with harsher protections (like the Droid X), but they are usually still rootable in some way. There may be no root exploit available for new or recently updated phones, but one is usually available within a few months.[9] In 2011, Motorola, LG Electronics and HTC added security features to their devices at the hardware level in an attempt to prevent users from rooting retail Android devices.[citation needed] For instance, the Motorola Droid X has a security boot-loader that puts the phone in "recovery mode" if a user loads unsigned firmware onto the device, and the Samsung Galaxy S II displays a yellow triangle indicator if the device firmware has been modified.

Process
The process of rooting varies widely by device, but usually includes exploiting one or more security bugs in the firmware of (i.e., in the version of the Android OS installed on) the device. Once an exploit is discovered, a custom recovery image can be flashed which will skip the digital signature check of firmware updates. Then a modified firmware update can be installed which typically includes the utilities needed to run apps as root. For example, the su binary can be copied to a location in the current process' PATH (e.g., /system/xbin/) and granted
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