Android Root Password - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Noob question.
What is the actual password to su on various smartphone models, say Galaxy S5 or LG L3?
Is it a fixed character string or a formula based upon some hw specific like MAC ID?
Why don't vendors and network providers verify certain apps for su and give those sw vendors their devices' root password, or is it done that way now?

OK found the following on the web.
root in Linux (or any Unix-like system) is just the user with User ID 0. The su program (which actually stands for "Switch User", not "Super User") is just a program to start another program with a different user ID than the starting program (by default to uid 0, which is to user root). Android does not use the traditional /etc/passwd, however it still uses Linux User ID and Group ID for managing permissions.
If you want to intercept su requests so you can ask for password or enforce other rules, you will need to replace /sbin/su with your own version of su. Alternative approach is the one described here:
http://www.koushikdutta.com/2008/11/fixing-su-security-hole-on-modified.html
though that will require applications to cooperate by firing an Intent when they want to switch user.
Android security framework is more or less like this: each installed application runs on its own User ID (selected at installation time), and application permissions is implemented as user groups.
Can i change the root password after rooting my android device by simply typing "passwd"?
Android does not use /etc/passwd so it also does not have*passwd*program.
how is the rooting process working ? i mean what is the "one click root" apps doing to my phone?
I'm not quire sure with the exact process myself, you probably want to ask to rooting developers. However, my guess is it just reverts the security check that originally prevent developer from setuid 0.
End of paste.
So the above is saying there are no passwords in Android. To give an app or file root privilege you must change the app's user id that runs it or users id of the user who created the file to 0 (zero).
Therefore giving root privilege to an app on Android is a su app that changes the user id to 0 of the app you want to give root privilege to.
So why don't hw vendors and network providers who provide the Android ROM include a special su app that checks (look up in a file) whether app is OK for root and then grants it ?

Related

[Q] How does "Android Root" works ?

Hello XDA-Forum users,
I ask you a question: How does Android Root works ?
I mean, for example, How does it works in Nexus One ?
This would be an understanding question to know more about how I get root from my Phone (Nexus One, for example) from scratch, from sources.
upupupupupup
Rooting basics:
http://lifehacker.com/5342237/five-great-reasons-to-root-your-android-phone
For details on how to do it on your device, Google or use the forum search. Lots of rooting information that is device dependent out there.
It basically gives your phone permission to do almost anything. It is similar to giving a user in Windows Administrator rights. It is called super user. You can do many things such as removing unwanted apps and overclocking.
This is not what I mean, I asks for an explaining in which the question is "How the root is possible? What active the root ?" Probably a kernel exploit, or stuff like that, to understand the underground passage to take it, from an hack view.
So, How works a root utility (such SuperOneClick) to set gid to 0 ?
Valid question, I am also interested in learning this.
In other words, if I were to perform the rooting manually, where can I find such info?
And some of the question is why su must be in some diredctories, and can't be run from /data/local/tmp for example?
Someone can enlighten us?
diego.stamigni said:
Someone can enlighten us?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The general approach is taking advantage of bugs in the android OS
The process works something like this
User crafts some special data that contains a "payload" (the script/executable that we want to run)
User runs a system process that has root privileges and gets it to open the special data
The bug causes the system process to get confused by the data, and ends up running the embedded script
The embedded script runs with the same privileges as the system process, and thus can stuff that normal users aren't allowed to do (e.g. installs the SU app)
Commonly, things such as buffer overflows are used
So after gaining root access, which apps can run as root?
Or the user becomes root(as in desktop), and can run all types of apps?
Can root app(run as root) access everything?? Or app permission still applies?
Is it that system exploit is always used to run root apps?
can someone explain in technical details? not how to root.
are rooting programs open source??
What is the root procedure
Bayint Naung said:
So after gaining root access, which apps can run as root?
Or the user becomes root(as in desktop), and can run all types of apps?
Can root app(run as root) access everything?? Or app permission still applies?
Is it that system exploit is always used to run root apps?
can someone explain in technical details? not how to root.
are rooting programs open source??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi guys!
I have the same question and after searching and asking find this!
it is good!!
hope it works!
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/...hat-are-the-pre-requisites-for-it-to-work-wha
also look at the suggestedpages at the right of this page!

[Q] SU as a Service?

Mods, in case this is the wrong forum for this kind of discussion, feel free to move it. I'm a newbie here and the rules are always a bit ambiguous until you get a feel for how that particular community interprets them.
The problem I'm having is this: My phone is rooted and I've written a short application that moves the apk of another application to the SD, replacing it with a dummy file that in turn launches my application.
Moving the data to the SD isn't a problem and neither is moving it back, but informing the OS that it has been moved back is a different matter, as the particular broadcast message needed to inform other applications of the availability is protected by a UID check which will only allow root or system to proceed. While I can spawn a root shell, I haven't found a way to make this shell interact with the Android system, so the broadcast comes from my application which has a non-system UID and is therefoe denied.
I know I could sign my application with the system keys and add it to the shared system UID group, but let's be honest: that's more trouble than it's worth and would require me to re-sign all system applications on any device where I want my little app to run.
So I need a few API calls executed by an application that is already owned by a system user; a mediator which listens for requests from unprivileged applications and, after a user prompt, executes them in its own context.
I'm quite willing to write such a mediator service myself, but I don't want to duplicate work that's already being done... does anybody else know about
a) methods that would make such a mediator unnecessary
b) existing mediator services available on custom ROMs?
Update:
Right now I'm digging through the app_process source code, as it interfaces with the Android runtime from C++, which might allow for executing Android code under the UID of a Linux binary...

[Q] what does rooting actually do ?

hi. i can't believe i'm the first person to ask this but i've searched as best i can through these forums, and on google, and cannot find a definitive answer. there are lots of pages giving high level descriptions of rooting a phone like "gives admin access", "allows access to the root filesystem", etc. but, when you root a phone, what actually happens ? does it simply make the "su" binary available so that apps can call it to access the root user ? eg. i've got a samsung galaxy s2, if i install an insecure kernel, then add su to /system/xbin, and then reinstall a stock kernel, is that technically a rooted phone ? this is actually what i did on my phone, although i installed superuser and busybox from the market after adding su. i am aware that there are various threads in the sgs2 forums on how to root, i'm just using my phone as an example, i'm just trying to understand generically what is meant when someone says a phone has been rooted. cheers.
Full control over your system
Ability to alter system files. You can replace many parts of the "Android Core" with this including:
Themes
Core apps (maps, calendar, clock etc)
Recovery image
Bootloader
Toolbox (linux binary that lets you execute simple linux commands like "ls") can be replaced with Busybox (slightly better option)
Boot images
Add linux binaries
Run special apps that need more control over the system
SuperUser (lets you approve or deny the use of root access to any program)
Task Manager For Root (Lets you kill apps that you otherwise could not kill)
Tether apps (like the one found at [android-wifi-tether.googlecode.com])
<there are more but I cannot think of any right now>
Backup your system
You can make a folder on your sdcard and backup all of your .apk files to your sdcard (helps if an author decides to "upgrade" you to a version that requires you to pay to use the version you just had)
Relocate your (browser/maps/market) cache to your /sdcard
Relocate your installed applications to your /sdcard
Reboot your phone from the terminal app easily (su <enter> reboot <enter>)
Copied and pasted from google... it is your friend.
thanks for the response however, i'm trying to understand what actually changes on the phone when you root it, rather than simply the benefits of rooting a phone.
Carrot Cruncher said:
thanks for the response however, i'm trying to understand what actually changes on the phone when you root it, rather than simply the benefits of rooting a phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unrooted phone is like logging on as user in a computer. By rooting you have "administrative" rights, just like using sudo command in Ubuntu. Some binaries which are important in gaining administrative rights are installed in the phone.
sent from my nokia 3210
If you come from Windows, you're familiar with the Administrator account. A user that can do everything on the system, as opposed to other users than only have limited privileges. In Linux, that account is called "root". That's all there is to it. It's a user that can do everything on the system.
@Panos_dm: Actually, it's *not* like using sudo. Sudo gives elevated privileges to your existing user account, whereas "root" is a whole separate account.
Nope, sudo actually switches users
i'm a linux user and have been a linux admin in the past so understand the difference between su and sudo. sorry to sound pedantic but i'm still not clear on exactly what happens when you root a phone, i.e. what exactly happens during the rooting process ?
It opens your phone to a whole new array of possibilities.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using xda premium
Carrot Cruncher said:
but i'm still not clear on exactly what happens when you root a phone, i.e. what exactly happens during the rooting process ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In a gist? The "su" binary and the Superuser.apk app get installed. Sometimes doing so requires exploiting a vulnerability via a trigger. Rageagainstthecage is a common trigger. I once had a link that explained what exactly rageagainstthecage does, but I don't have it anymore.
If you really want to know all the details, here's the script I used to root my Defy: http://pastebin.com/G3m9v4FQ
Hmm, I see the script contains a link to the explanation of what rageagainstthecage does. Cool.
many thanks for confirming my understanding of the process.

[Q] Security practicality of SElinux for Android's' MAC?

Starting with Android 4.4 SELinux's MAC is enforced. Does this mean that if an app somehow can get installed and exploit the kernel to get root privileges, that MAC will still prevent that app with root privileges from accessing private app data?
Android Documentation says: "SELinux can be used to label these devices so the process assigned the root privilege can write to only those specified in the associated policy. In this way, the process cannot overwrite data and system settings outside of the specific raw block device." source - http://source.android.com/devices/tech/security/se-linux.html#use-cases
As a reference I am implementing a Mobile Device Management system and in the process I have to determine how secure Android OS is itself. That is why I need to know how secure corporate data stored on a device is to root-kits, spyware, and other malware.
p.s. This has been posted on the "Unix and Linux" StackExchange site with no one being able to answer yet. I'm hoping XDA's hands on experience with the Kernel will be able to help get this answered, Thank You .
milleraj66 said:
Starting with Android 4.4 SELinux's MAC is enforced. Does this mean that if an app somehow can get installed and exploit the kernel to get root privileges, that MAC will still prevent that app with root privileges from accessing private app data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The answer is: "It depends."
Mandatory access controls systems like SELinux are very good at constraining application behavior to what is allowed by the security policy. In many cases, it can eliminate huge chunks of security vulnerabilities by sandboxing privileged applications so that exploitation of those applications is ineffective.
You may want to take a look at http://selinuxproject.org/~jmorris/lss2011_slides/caseforseandroid.pdf, specifically slides 7-9. This will give you an idea for what SELinux can and can't defend against.

rooted phone user changes & dir permissions

Is there a way, once rooting is done, and i have customized my phone a bit (a change in one of the config files of linux), to change the user accounts and permissions? To create a new user account and change the user that is used by the phone to be a non-root, non-sudo, standard user. And all apps to use this or another standard user account.
And my app (that i installed after rooting) use another account. Only this account will have permission to read and write my app's directory.
Finally change the root user password, so that others cannot get into it unless they have that password.
So in effect protect my apps directory and allow the phone to work with a non sudo user from then on?
Next time phone re boots it uses another user say A (non sudo); without access to my apps directory. And when my app runs it uses user B (also non sudo) which has access to its dir. Others cannot read or list files in it or change permissions. So in effect my apps directory cannot be read by the user of the phone, in this new set up. I understand there will be ways around this.
But is this possible and how?
Rooted using https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/root-samsung-galaxy-on5-t3435457 but i can do systemless root if that is the way.
Phone model : Samsung On 5 Pro SM-G5550FY. Thank you much.

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