1 Click Root… Its Real And It Works (Recovery Flasher)
| by Rob Jackson on August 17th, 2009 |
Over the weekend, Tyler and Joey spotted the tweet of an Android Developer/enthusiast named RyeBrye who claimed to have an application that – when used – would almost instantly root your phone. There were a ton of skeptics and rightfully so – giving an installed APK this level of access to your phone’s core OS functionality sounds kind of troubling. What if this “1 Click Root” was really “1 Click Brick” that instantly and permanently broke your phone?
Fear not: we can confirm 1 Click Root is real and it works on a number of different Android models. First lets talk about how YOU can use this application to root your phone and THEN lets talk about the implications of this application and its mere existence.
1 Click Root via Recovery Flasher
The original information for 1 Click Root was put together by RyeBrye (who says Zinx did all the work). Since then, UnknownKnita took RyeBrye’s raw APK file and published it to the Android Market as Recovery Flasher, adding a How To Guide and publishing the following video for your convenience:
There are also detailed instructions on RyeBrye’s Blog if you scroll down to the big letters that say UPDATE: More Detailed Instructions. You may want to check that out as it goes a bit more in depth. Please note that it is confirmed to work on the Dream and Magic but instructions may be slightly different so read up before you do ANYTHING and as always, proceed at your own risk.
How It Works
The whole story is explained by RyeBrye but I’ll try to make a long story short: there is an exploit in Android listed as exploit CVE-2009-2692 by the National Institute of Standards and Technologies National vulnerability Database. Google fixed/patched this problem on August 11th, but your phone is still operating with software that has this flaw and until your carrier pushes out an OTA update fixing the problem, 1 Click Root will work. The exploit allows you (or those who know how to) to execute anything at root but the prepackaged Recovery Flasher APK makes it clean and easy, utilizing that exploit to flash a ROM.
Why This Is A Problem
Sure, you love this exploit because it can hook you up with a rooted phone with minimal trouble. But someone could also use this exploit for very, very evil purposes and if you get a malicious APK on your phone that uses this exploit to either grab your personal information, brick your phone or something else… that wouldn’t be good. So as you can imagine, Google has somewhat of a PR and logistical nightmare on their hands and I’m sure a ridiculous amount of resources will immediately go towards getting carriers to push out patched updates.
RyeBrye himself notes the nature of this news and apologizes to the people who are likely put in panic mode as a result:
Apologies in advance to anyone who has to work quickly and work hard to patch this exploit in the wild. (Although it should be noted that if you just shipped phones that weren’t neutered in the first place, it would save us all a lot of work and help us all be on the same team… but that’s a topic for another post.)
The story is much different for users though, as one of the recommended Pre-Rooting steps includes:
Be prepared for the awesomeness you are about to unleash
Awesome? Indeed. Awesome indeed.
I Am Newb, Hear Me Roar
If you have no clue what all this rooting stuff is about, perhaps we can explain it in simple man’s terms. Google doesn’t provide full access to all of the functionality of the Android OS on phone’s shipped through carriers. Instead, it locks out and restricts certain capabilities for the safety of newbs like you. But WITH access to all of these features (aka root) you’re able to do some pretty amazing things. For example, you can install “future” versions of the Android OS.
Remember how everybody was screaming about “OMG I want haz cupcakez!” a few months ago? Cupcake was the “next” version of Android which, at this point, has already been released. Now the “next” thing is Donut and by using Recovery Flasher to Root Your Phone with 1 Click, you can install this “future” version of Android.
Wrapping It Up
This is a great thing for newbs who want root access but are afraid to go through all of the difficult steps. But for Google, the Android team, and carriers with Android Phones this is somewhat of a nightmare. This is a HUGE flaw and the exact reason why some carriers said they didn’t want to get on board with Android to begin with – at least until the platform was proven.
This is somewhat of a test – how will Google respond? How quick will patches be delivered OTA? Will Google police Android Market until a security fix goes out, hoping to catch any malicious apps in the process? Chances are that any malicious app will be delivered direct to device, otherwise the person is pretty much agreeing to be caught if they go directly through the market.
We’ll be watching closely as Google responds to this issue and you should watch this space as we’ll definitely bring you related news and updates. What an insane way to start a week… this is gonna be fun! Thanks to Unknownwita for sending this in and doing lots of legwork that others can use/enjoy! And of course to RyeBrye and Zinx for getting the job done in the first place!
1. User wrote on August 17, 2009
Good article Rob
2. stormrider81 wrote on August 17, 2009
i tried it last night and it worked great i got dark hero on my g1
3. danwc wrote on August 17, 2009
will this work on the mytouch 3g, too?
4. danwc wrote on August 17, 2009
well, i’ll answer my own question, clicking on through to ryebrye’s blog, i see he’s done it on the mytouch 3g successfully. cool!
5. baemike2 wrote on August 17, 2009
ok so ive flashed window mobile phones before but i want to root my g1. so this maybe a stupid question but if i download this does it come with a rom on it already or do i have to download a custom rom first? and what is the best rom to download. i read that some wont work with wifi and bluetooth which is a must for me.
6. Maj wrote on August 17, 2009
has anyone tried UI Sense on g1 ? is it smooth or laggy ? all functions work properly or there are some restrictions ?
7. cwalker29 wrote on August 17, 2009
@baemike- no custom rom will come with it. U would have to download them on your own. But last part of your question is important for me also. “Which roms are the best ones?” I need wifi 2 work too!!!!!
8. baemike2 wrote on August 17, 2009
well one part answered one to go! thanks cwalker.
also man if you find out a good rom please email me. baemike2@gmail.com
i really want hero but from what ive read the bluetooth doesnt work.
9. dkr8806 wrote on August 17, 2009
Where can I get roms. dkr8806@gmail.com
10. cocoa wrote on August 17, 2009
I have Sense UI running on my G1 phone and it’s been running for a couple months now. And it’s awesome!
Months ago it was slow but the folks at XDA developers forum for G1 have it working great now and my latest version is very responsive. The bad news is that they set up a linux swap partition, optimized cpu clocking, etc. so it is pretty extensive.
In other words, just having root allows you to play around and experiment. But to really rock out the device you need to have an SD card with multiple partitions (the standard win formatted one for your files, a 1GB sized linux partition for moving the apps to the sdcard and a 32mb sized linuxswap partition).
11. sunsguy wrote on August 17, 2009
Hey Guys,
I did it and guess it worked. Now I downloaded the latest CyanogenMod v3.6.8.1 Do I need to do a system wipe before installing this rom?
12. cwalker29 wrote on August 17, 2009
@baemike2> I got you!! As soon as i find any good roms, with everything working. I will send them your way. @cocoa> where can we get these linux sd card? Are they at you local stores or do we have to order onine? Which suck anyway, why can’t we rock out with the factory sd card? @the world> could u please post a link for us folks that don’t know where to go 2 find these custom rom!!!! I sure we could just google it, but I’m sure the good people of the android world would love 2 keep us post and up to date with the best of the best roms!!!
13. Hanger wrote on August 17, 2009
I just did this It booted into the recovery mode the first time but after that it just gave me a triangle with an exclamation point… I’m not sure what I should do… Should I do a factory reset and try again?
14. Victor wrote on August 17, 2009
im having an orgasm :D:D:D:D:
i have a rooted G1 :DD wooho thanks
15. me wrote on August 17, 2009
anyone in uk tried this yet?
16. umar wrote on August 17, 2009
Hey everyone a good site to download roms is: http://www.getyourdroidon.com or head over to the xda forum site(google it) for any other rom, since post download links for the roms are in there. Peace.
17. Tim wrote on August 17, 2009
Awesome. My first thought when I heard about this vulnerability was “Well that’s shit. Should start writing Linux in C++ to avoid these problems…” and my second was “Good for Android!”.
18. Ike wrote on August 17, 2009
Will I lose all my apps and have to re-install them if I use this?
19. TR wrote on August 17, 2009
Okay I’ve forgetten a lot of things about rooting. What are the side effects of rooting my G1? What do I have to be careful about? Is it okay to take updates? And what not. I’d appreciate any help. I would love to root my G1, I’ve just forgotten so much.
20. magnus686 wrote on August 17, 2009
This works and is awesome. Multi touch, and tethering here I come :D
21. Dee wrote on August 17, 2009
Will doing this erase all my contacts/music? or can I just proceed without backing it up? I know, noob question.
22. dude wrote on August 17, 2009
once you root your phone can you restore it?
23. saklas wrote on August 17, 2009
after thinking about it for 3 days, and with the new article from Phandroid (Upgrade Your Android… Unless You Have A G1); i went ahead and rooted my G1.
@dude:
Yes, you can restore it to original image.
Just follow thru with the youtube vid and you are totally fine. :)
[rem to get the rom image to flash: else you just go back to default firmware] (i did that twice~)
24. tray562 wrote on August 17, 2009
i kinda remember getting a ota update like last week or before that. Is it safe to use this to root my phone? also what happens after i root my phone? do I loose anything? what are some good roms to get? so if anyone comment back on here or email tray562@gmail.com it would be very helpful
25. Unknownkwita wrote on August 17, 2009
here are the instructions http://www.ryebrye.com/blog/2009/08/16/android-rooting-in-1-click-in-progress/
no you dont lose anything unless you wipe your data or install a custom rom, im not sure if that update patched the hole, what build are you using?if you need more help email me through the android market
26. Beanz0nToast wrote on August 18, 2009
What’s the best Hero Rom? Any suggestions?
27. _fisherman wrote on August 18, 2009
T-Mobile Germany is pushing an OTA-update by today. I Think I postpone it for my G1 :)
28. cwalker29 wrote on August 18, 2009
@The best hero rom- I herd it was the “roger hero rom” smooth and stable. Go to youtube and type different types of rom to see for yourself. I just put jf 1.5 and the htc hero theme on mind g1 yesterday. Because its not many stable hero roms out there!! The roger rom take hours and hours to do. And you need the right sd card for it, its very complexs so get ready. But the 1 click root is the best thing that happen 2 my g1!!!
29. Will H. wrote on August 18, 2009
I wish I had something to test this but from the reviews it sounds promising.
Best Hero Rom in my opinion is DrizzJAC JACxHEROv1.2. It requires a bit of instruction fallowing. Good Luck on that.
30. james brumsey wrote on August 18, 2009
powered unit back on ,recieved a white triangle with an yellow exclamation pointin the center phone not working please help g1 phone my 2gb micro sd card was almost full 23 mb left does that has anything to do with it
31. tray562 wrote on August 19, 2009
yeah my phone wont come out of recover mode everytime i boot it up it goes back to the root screen
32. Mike Taylor wrote on August 19, 2009
@james brumsey
Dude, contact me if you have fixed this problem. It’s doing the same to me. And when I boot into Android I don’t think it’s rooted. Downloaded the ‘Terminal Emulator’ app and tried to execute ’su’ and it said permission denied.
Gaining access to the recovery menu seems to work for one boot, and then when booting normally the phone isn’t rooted.
Contact me through my site, click on my name here to get there!
33. Bob Garon wrote on August 19, 2009
What is the “jf 1.5 and the htc hero theme” AND how do I get the hero theme on my MyTouch 3G?
Thanks
34. sean wrote on August 19, 2009
how do i partition my sd card on this 1 click root… i’m new to this …
35. ubergoober wrote on August 19, 2009
I was successful on rooting (via 1-click) on my G1 (TMO USA) and was able to flash with the Cyanogen ROM v4.0.1 (zoom zoom zoom – STABLE) with no problems. (RyeBrye’s blog recommended Cyanogen v3.9.11.2 which is marked as experimental)
BTW: I initially installed 1-click via QRCode link, then I got notification of the v1.1.0 update in the Android Market and applied that update before I rooted. (I don’t know what’s new in 1-click’s v1.1.0 update
36. obLiviOn wrote on August 20, 2009
Hi,, I have successfully rooted my Tmo US G1 using the 1 click root app that I got from the market.. now I want to install a hero rom.. can anyone give me a step by step instruction on how to do this?! and no,, i haven’t partitioned my sd card yet.. sorry for being a total noob..
37. Devyn Glowen wrote on August 20, 2009
This app has been removed from the market… WHY?!!!!!
38. cwalker wrote on August 22, 2009
@oblivion> go to the webite call “THEUNLOCKR.COM” look up downloads for android. and they have a step by step video on how to partition your sd card and how 2 install a hero rom. very good site!!!!
39. nicker wrote on August 23, 2009
im having a lot of problems since using this. 1. i cant flash any other roms. 2. my nandroid backup wont work. 3. when i try to use the bootloader to go back to rc29 nothing happens. so i need a lot of help so please contact me if you can. thanks
40. nicker wrote on August 23, 2009
p.s. i think its because i tried to flash hero rom and i partitioned my sd and thats when it started acting like that
41. redmdc wrote on August 24, 2009
this is no more than an apk running an in essence adb flash recovery script, WOW! still does not get you local root so pretty pointless for the likes that want to root because they want bluetooth file share and wifi tethering etc
42. Paul Simpson wrote on August 26, 2009
First for those experiencing the Triangle with the Exclamation mark just select ALT L and you will get the menu.
Secondly I did the 1 Click Root method and it does not give you root. So How do I get root now?
43. ahmed wrote on August 27, 2009
people please ust tell me if this works on the galaxy didnt any one do it yet
44. Trav wrote on September 8, 2009
mine said install unsuccessful
45. Colin wrote on September 15, 2009
I was about to do the one step root however, i saw that my build number is different then yours.. mine is CRC1 and yours in CRC28. Does that matter or can i continue on with the root?
46. Jake dupre wrote on September 18, 2009
I have the same question as Colin, can I continue on with this one click root if I have the CRC1 build? Halps pleasee
47. BHaleem wrote on December 11, 2009
I installed the flash recovery, but when i press the backup button, its just says backup failed…what do I do?
48. ian wrote on December 29, 2009
Umm can i use this application using donut? help please.
49. diamond wrote on July 13, 2010
Does this work for the LG ALLY from Verizon?