Ever since Apple released iOS 5.1 last week, a lot of folks have been wondering when the new software would be jailbroken. Older devices can use RedSn0w to perform a tethered jailbreak of sorts, but it's not really a viable solution.
Then a few days ago we told you that pod2g, the hacker largely responsible for the Corona and Absinthe jailbreaks, was working on finding vulnerabilities in iOS 5.1. But it looks like i0n1c has beaten him to the punch...
iOS hacker i0n1c came out of a long period of silence to tweet about a future iOS 5.1 jailbreak and a piece of advice to get ready for it.
According to a rather sarcastic tweet sent a few hours ago, i0n1c recommends everybody downloads KakaoTalk Messenger, a free application in the App Store that apparently hides some mysterious features, namely an exploitable vulnerability that can be used for an iOS 5.1 jailbreak...
For reasons that we cannot begin to imagine, known hacker and security guru Stefan Esser (i0n1c) has tweeted that he will do an untethered jailbreak for iOS 4.3.5. Yeah, not iOS 5, but iOS 4.3.5. We don't get it, either.
Dedicated jailbreakers that haven't wanted to ditch their untethered jailbreaks are likely still on iOS 4.3.3 (it was the last firmware that was accompanied with an untether, ala JailbreakMe). Then there's the possibility of a few users who truly hate iOS 5 and haven't updated for that reason. Whatever the intention, i0n1c seems to think that we need an untether for 4.3.5.
Some of the greatest minds in the security research and hacking community, including a couple of prominent jailbreak developers, have put together a new book called The iOS Hacker's Handbook.
The book is a collaboration between infamous security guru Charlie Miller, Dion Blazakis, Dino DaiZovi, Vincenzo Iozzo, and Ralf-Phillip Weinmann. Stefan Esser (better known as "i0n1c" in the jailbreak community) is also listed as an author. The Dev Team's MuscleNerd served as the book's Tech Editor.
With iOS 5 scheduled to drop this Wednesday, the question in the back of everyone's mind (at least here at iDB anyways) is when will it be fully jailbroken? A tethered jailbreak is already available for the new software, but it's just not the same.
A tethered jailbreak is inconvenient, it means you have to reconnect your iDevice to your computer after every restart. Luckily it sounds like we won't have to wait long for an untether to hit web, as i0n1c has confirmed it's being handled...
Stefan Esser, better known in the jailbreak community as i0n1c, was responsible for one of the most successful exploits in jailbreak history. While the iOS 4.3.1 jailbreak was certainly a collaborative effort, Esser's work was perhaps the most important.
No one likes to connect their iDevice to their computer every time they reboot, and i0n1c's untether meant they didn't have to. What made it so successful? The fact that the exploit continued to work through iOS 4.3.2 and 4.3.3 updates.
Have you ever wondered what goes into hacking the most secure mobile operating system? Esser tells all in this 97 page paper...
Apple has begun to step up its game with patching jailbreak exploits in iOS. When Comex's PDF exploit was used in the latest version of JailbreakMe, Apple pushed out iOS 4.3.4 about two weeks later to combat the security hole.
Jailbreakers on 4.3.3 (4.2.9 for the Verizon iPhone) can stay on their current firmware to keep their untether, but the bad news is that Apple actually patched the untethered exploit that's been used by jailbreakers since iOS 4.1.
Apple released iOS 4.3.4 yesterday, and as always, the Dev Team was right on it and updated RedSn0w to version 0.9.8 beta 3, which is a tethered jailbreak for iOS 4.3.4 for all devices (except the iPad 2).
Those of you (all of us?) waiting for an untethered jailbreak for iOS 4.3.4 shouldn't get their hopes too high. As iOS hacker i0n1c mentioned today on Twitter, there probably won't be an iOS 4.3.4 untether anytime soon...
Stefan Esser, better known as "i0n1c," has been receiving a lot of heat from the jailbreak community as of late. Stefan is a prominent member of the jailbreak developer scene, and he was responsible for the untethered exploit that has been used for the iOS 4.3 jailbreak.
i0n1c recently introduced the idea of banning pirated apps in the iOS 5 jailbreak. He stated that if he were to release the jailbreak for iOS 5, he would consider placing a restriction on installing apps from the infamous 'Installous' repo. Millions of jailbreakers use Installous to download pirated apps.
Hackulous, the group behind Installous, obviously feels very differently about i0n1c's notion. The frontman for Hackulous, known as Dissident, has also shared his thoughts on the issue of banning cracked apps through a jailbreak.
Stefan Esser, better known as i0n1c, is a prominent member of the jailbreak community. His untethered exploit was responsible for the jailbreak that lasted from iOS 4 to 4.3.3, and he has been contributing to the Dev Team for quite some time.
i0n1c's untethered jailbreak may have been killed in iOS 5, but he's got a new and very controversial idea for another iOS 5 jailbreak in the future: blocking access to pirated apps.
Earlier today we shared the excellent news with you that the first beta version of iOS 5 had already been jailbroken by MuscleNerd. This tethered jailbreak uses the same LimeRa1n exploit that has been used from iOS 4 to 4.3.3.
However, because it is a tethered jailbreak, the community was hoping that i0n1c's untether might still work with iOS 5, but unfortunately, it doesn't look like it...
You might remember about a month ago when iOS hacker i0n1c sent a cryptic tweet about an "elevator," which made it sound like it was related to an iPad 2 jailbreak. Everyone got excited and many people believed that "elevator" would be the first iPad 2 jailbreak.
Then i0n1c denied the fact that he had an iPad 2 jailbreak but he kept on cultivating this rumor by tweeting several times about the mysterious elevator. I really thought i0n1c was over this, but today he tweeted about his new website elevat0r.com...