Absinthe 2.0 jailbreaks most iDevices running iOS 5.1.1

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
The untethered jailbreak Absinthe v2.0 debuted on Friday with compatibility for almost all devices powered by Apple's A4 and A5 processors running the latest iOS 5.1.1 firmware, and is the first solution to unlock the new iPad.

Disclaimer: Jailbreaking may void Apple's warranty and in rare cases cause damage to the device being unlocked. Users opting to run jailbreak software and tweaks do so at their own risk.

Announced at the Hack in the Box event in Amsterdam, GreenPois0n Absinthe v2.0 is the result of a collaboration between the Chronic-Dev Team and iPhone Dev Team and gives iDevice users wider access to system features normally prohibited by Apple thus allowing for the download of applications and extensions unavailable in the official App Store.

Currently, the iOS 5.1.1-only jailbreak can be applied to nearly all iPads, the iPhone 3G, 4 and 4S, third and fourth generation iPod touch media players, and the second-generation Apple TV. Support for the new 8GB iPad 2, which features a custom-designed A5 chip, will be available soon though the team notes that Apple TV compatibility will not be included in the version 2.0 build.

Absinthe v2.0


During the event, the "dream team" of hackers explained (via iClarified) how Absinthe v2.0 works:
GreenPois0n Absinthe was built upon @pod2g's Corona untether jailbreak to create the first public jailbreak for the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 on for the 5.0.1 firmware. In this paper, we present a chain of multiple exploits to accomplish sandbox breakout, kernel unsigned code injection and execution that result in a fully-featured and untethered jailbreak.

Corona is an acronym (sic) for "racoon", which is the primary victim for this attack. A format string vulnerability was located in racoon's error handling routines, allowing the researchers to write arbitrary data to racoon's stack, one byte at a time, if they can control racoon's configuration file. Using this technique researchers were able to build a ROP payload on racoon's stack to mount a rogue HFS volume that injects code at the kernel level and patch its code-signing routines.

The original Corona untether exploit made use of the LimeRa1n bootrom exploit as an injection vector, to allow developers to disable ASLR and sandboxing, and call racoon with a custom configuration script. This however left it unusable for newer A5 devices like the iPad2 and iPhone 4S, which weren't exploitable to LimeRa1n, so another injection vector was needed.
Basically, the jailbreak takes advantage of certain exploits found in iOS to gain higher levels of systems access to "breakout" of the Apple-imposed sandboxing, or the iPad maker's stringent set of operating rules for apps running on the device. For example, jailbreaking gives apps the power to change certain system settings, like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, on or off.

Friday's announcement saw such high levels of interest that the Cydia app store became overloaded with a flood of new users.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 97
    bigdaddypbigdaddyp Posts: 811member


    And que the comments about how every single person jailbreaks so that they can steal apps....

  • Reply 2 of 97
    euphoniouseuphonious Posts: 303member


    The intricacy of some of these jailbreak methods is very impressive. There's some clever guys out there... if they have any interest in working for Apple then Apple would do well to snap them up.

  • Reply 3 of 97
    powermachpowermach Posts: 90member


    ...Corona is an acronym for "racoon"

     


    Uh, no. It's an anagram.

  • Reply 4 of 97
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by bigdaddyp View Post

    And que the comments about how every single person jailbreaks so that they can steal apps....


     


    Thanks for providing that! Now we can get past it and talk about other things. image


     


    Look, Huddler, I've no problem with seeming lighthearted all the time. I pretty much am! But this much laughing can hurt a guy. How's about making the rest of your emoticons work?

  • Reply 5 of 97
    londorlondor Posts: 258member


    The only reason I'm jailbreaking my iPad is to install XBMC.

  • Reply 6 of 97
    drdoppiodrdoppio Posts: 1,132member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by bigdaddyp View Post


    And que the comments about how every single person jailbreaks so that they can steal apps....



    ¿Que?

  • Reply 7 of 97


    Ho hum... this might be good news for some, bad news for some developers, but meh for me.  I have no desire to jailbreak.

  • Reply 8 of 97
    drdoppiodrdoppio Posts: 1,132member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Euphonious View Post


    The intricacy of some of these jailbreak methods is very impressive. There's some clever guys out there... if they have any interest in working for Apple then Apple would do well to snap them up.



    That would be a brilliant move. Apple hires the best jailbreakers and gives them the next iOS in advance. If they jailbreak it, Apple fixes the hole before release. If they don't, Apple hires the next jailbreakers (who are better, having managed something the previous guys failed at), and so on ad infinitum...

  • Reply 9 of 97
    tylerk36tylerk36 Posts: 1,037member


    I jail-broke my 1st GEN iPad and a friends iPhone 4 via RedSn0w.  Was ok and could do certain things like theme the home screen and icons as well as tether the device (hotspot it).  But Apple has made it really appealing to not have any reason to Jailbreak the device.  I might do my iPhone 4s.  The only reason would be to unlock it for another network.

  • Reply 10 of 97
    davemcm76davemcm76 Posts: 268member


    Hurray for SBSettings on my iPhone 4 again.... I'll be jailbreaking that again at the first opportunitity as I've been missing that easy access Bluetooth switch!


     


    Won't be doing my iPad (3rd gen) though because as much as I'd love to get xbmc on it the f@#king Sky Go! app I use for watching sports while away from home has jailbreak detection in it and refuses to stream on jailbroken devices "for security reasons"... 


     


    Slightly off topic, but I wish they'd get a move on with Seas0npass for the 3rd gen AppleTV as that is crying out for xbmc.... I know, I know, it's not like they are being slow on purpose... 

  • Reply 11 of 97
    moxommoxom Posts: 326member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Londor View Post


    The only reason I'm jailbreaking my iPad is to install XBMC.



    Hmm... I currently use PS3 Media Server to stream (and encode on the fly) movies stored on my iMac to my PS3.


     


    The creators of PS3 Media Server have since updated the software to support a range of other media renderers - including XBMC.


     


    Am I right in thinking that with Absinthe, I could stream movies direct to an iPad then Airplay to an AppleTV?


     


    If this works, I could then get rid of the PS3 and replace it with an AppleTV.


     


    Also, I assume I'd have to Jailbreak the AppleTV - would that be correct?


     


    Has anyone got this working? 


     


     


     

  • Reply 12 of 97
    postulantpostulant Posts: 1,272member


    iOS 5 negated a lot of reasons to jailbreak. However, I was still left wanting more. I jailbroke both my new iPad and 4S this morning. Here are my favs:


     


    My3G: Allows me to use FaceTime over 3G. Also when I watch youtube videos over 3G they aren't pixelated beyond recognition(because it tricks the phone into thinking you're using wifi).


     


    Belfry: It installs the stock weather app, clock app, compass, stocks, voice memos, and calculator app on the iPad(I have no idea why these are only on the iPhone).


     


    Springtomize 2: I can delete/hide stock apps that I don't use like newsstand or ibooks


     


    SBSettings: Allows me to toggle things like bluetooth, wifi, LTE, etc without having to launch the Settings app(with just a swipe of the finger)


     


    SiriSports: Get scores, times, game stats etc just by asking siri.

  • Reply 13 of 97
    tylerk36tylerk36 Posts: 1,037member


    Update.  I just tried it on my iPhone 4s with iOS 5.1.1 and it worked flawlessly.  Very Nice.

  • Reply 14 of 97
    bigdaddypbigdaddyp Posts: 811member
    Thanks for providing that! Now we can get past it and talk about other things. :lol:

    Look, Huddler, I've no problem with seeming lighthearted all the time. I pretty much am! But this much laughing can hurt a guy. How's about making the rest of your emoticons work?

    Hey! Are you trying to roll your eyes at me?
    ;-p
  • Reply 15 of 97
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by bigdaddyp View Post

    Hey! Are you trying to roll your eyes at me?


     


    I was thinking more of a wink.

  • Reply 16 of 97
    hittrj01hittrj01 Posts: 753member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Postulant View Post


    iOS 5 negated a lot of reasons to jailbreak. However, I was still left wanting more. I jailbroke both my new iPad and 4S this morning. Here are my favs:


     


    My3G: Allows me to use FaceTime over 3G. Also when I watch youtube videos over 3G they aren't pixelated beyond recognition(because it tricks the phone into thinking you're using wifi).


     


    Belfry: It installs the stock weather app, clock app, compass, stocks, voice memos, and calculator app on the iPad(I have no idea why these are only on the iPhone).


     


    Springtomize 2: I can delete/hide stock apps that I don't use like newsstand or ibooks


     


    SBSettings: Allows me to toggle things like bluetooth, wifi, LTE, etc without having to launch the Settings app(with just a swipe of the finger)


     


    SiriSports: Get scores, times, game stats etc just by asking siri.



    That's a decent list, but one critique: iBooks is not a stock, built in app, it's downloaded from the App Store, so you would be able to delete it without a jailbreak, or never download it at all if you wanted. Although hiding Newsstand and SBSettings are reason alone to jailbreak!

  • Reply 17 of 97
    bigdaddypbigdaddyp Posts: 811member
    drdoppio wrote: »
    ¿Que?
    There is/was a small group of people on this forum that thought the only reason people jail broke their devices was to steal apps. They argued that everything you needed to do could be done with the apps and that Jailbreaking was illegal.

    At first I thought they were simply trolling the forum but eventual decided they were sincear in their beliefs.
  • Reply 18 of 97
    drdoppiodrdoppio Posts: 1,132member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by bigdaddyp View Post





    There is/was a small group of people on this forum that thought the only reason people jail broke their devices was to steal apps. They argued that everything you needed to do could be done with the apps and that Jailbreaking was illegal.

    At first I thought they were simply trolling the forum but eventual decided they were sincear in their beliefs.


    Yeah, Postulant made a rather convincing list...

     

  • Reply 19 of 97
    fredaroonyfredaroony Posts: 619member


    I jailbreak for little things like having the SMS tone I want. 

  • Reply 20 of 97
    bigdaddypbigdaddyp Posts: 811member
    tylerk36 wrote: »
    I jail-broke my 1st GEN iPad and a friends iPhone 4 via RedSn0w.  Was ok and could do certain things like theme the home screen and icons as well as tether the device (hotspot it).  But Apple has made it really appealing to not have any reason to Jailbreak the device.  I might do my iPhone 4s.  The only reason would be to unlock it for another network.

    I pretty much agree with you. A while back I snagged a copy of Tether off the app store and thought I wouldn't need to Jailbreak anymore. After getting my new iPad (att version) and turning on the mobile data for a trip to Atlanta, I realized how convienant that is. And holy Moses is that Lte network fast! Anyways I might jailbreak my iPhone so the kids can tether their iPads when we go on our summer vacation. Not to watch YouTube, but just to be able to look up facts and simple things like that while on the road, which feels very liberating. Otherwise I would have no need to Jailbreak*.

    *I do realize that there are other reasons people want/need to jailbreak, just talking about me.
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