What's up everybody?
This is Andy with MyTechMethods.com.
So most people with an iPhone, iPad, or iPod have probably heard of the term jailbreaking.
Heck maybe you've even jailbroken a device before.
But what does jailbreaking actually mean, and what is the process behind it?
Well today you're going to find out in this jailbreaking edition episode of "What Is?"
Now on the surface, jailbreaking might seem as simple as plugging a device into a computer,
clicking a button, waiting a few minutes, and bam the jailbreak is done.
But in reality, it's a little more complex than that.
Now what does jailbreaking actually mean?
Basically it means gaining the ability to install custom third-party apps on your device.
That's all it means.
It's completely legal, but Apple does not want you to do it because they want to control
the user experience.
They want to make it the same for everyone.
Simplicity is one of Apple's key selling points so they don't want people to go in and customize
and hack their device and risking a bad user experience.
But I personally believe if you shell out cash for a device and you pay for it, and
it's yours, you own it, you should be able to do whatever you want with it.
Rebel!
Now before we get into the jailbreaking process, let's learn a little bit more about our device.
How does an iOS device boot up?
It basically goes through a chain of trust.
This is a series of signature checks that makes sure everything that's being ran is
approved by Apple.
And it happens in the following order.
First is BootROM, which is also called SecureROM.
And this is the first important piece of code that runs on an iOS device.
The second is BootLoader.
This is responsible for loading the main firmware.
The third is the Kernel, and this connects the operating system to the actual data processing
done at the hardware level.
The fourth is iOS.
This is when the operating system is loaded and you see the "Slide to Unlock" screen.
So now you know about the bootup process let's move on to the juicy stuff.
How does jailbreaking actually work?
The jailbreak itself involves obtaining control of the root and media partition of the device.
This is where all iOS's files are stored.
And in order to be controlled, the "private/etc/fstab" must be patched.
Now the "fstab", that controls the permissions of the root and media partition on the device.
The default security setting is set to Read-Only so you can view but you can't modify.
So in order to modify we need to change that to Read-Write.
Man that sounds easy.
See the main problem is not getting the modified code in but getting it through certain checkpoints.
Apple put in these checkpoints to verify if a file is actually legit or if it's from a
third-party.
Every file is signed with a digital signature, or key, and without it the file is useless.
So how do we get these keys?
Well since Apple doesn't give them out very easily, we either have to undo the lock by
patching every single checkpoint or bypass through a backdoor, with the former being
more difficult than the latter.
Now what 's stopping a jailbreak?
Well the signature checks are the main roadblocks in the jailbreak process.
While the kernel is loading there are tons of signature checks happening to make sure
every file has been approved by Apple.
Specifically, there are many signature checks throughout the boot process that look for
a signature file.
If the file is correct, the bootup will continue and finalize.
If it's not, it will either crash the device or it won't even execute that file at all.
Now what's the main objective in jailbreaking?
Now obviously the main objective is to either patch the checks or bypass them.
The common way is to bypass them because patching them would take up way too much time.
So this brings us to the two main exploit categories.
The first one is the BootROM Exploit.
This is done during the bootROM, and it can't be patched by a normal update.
It can only be patched by new hardware.
Now since this is before almost any checkpoint, the modified code is put in and this creates
a gateway to bypass all the signature checks or simply disable them.
The second exploit is the Userland Exploit.
Now this is done during or after the loading of the kernel, and it can easily be patched
by Apple.
Since it's after all the checks, it puts the modified code directly into the openings and
back into the kernel.
Now these openings are not easy to find, and once found they can be patched.
And Userland Exploits have been the most common exploit because they are easier to find, and
they're software based.
So those are all the things behind jailbreaking.
And as you can see, jailbreaking is not an easy task and takes a lot of time and effort.
And if you're not worried about voiding your Apple warranty or if you don't even have a
warranty, I would recommend you trying jailbreaking out if you haven't already.
And if you click this video right here on your screen that will take you to my latest
jailbreaking video and that'll show you how to do it.
So this concludes my episode of "What Is Jailbreaking?".
I hope you enjoyed it.
Thank you so much for watching.
If you enjoyed this video, if it helped you out, if you learned anything just give it
a thumbs up.
That'll be awesome.
And if you want to see more videos like this in the future make sure you subscribe to my
channel so you are notified when I upload more videos.
Keep having fun out there.
I will talk to you guys and girls later.