Jailbreak for iPad, iPhone on iOS 4: JailbreakMe; unlock soon (and Weiner)

By Richi Jennings. August 2, 2010.

Have you been patiently waiting on a jailbreak for your Apple iPad or iOS 4 iPhone? Well, no need to wait any longer! JailbreakMe.com is here now, with a carrier unlock hopefully coming Tuesday. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers cheer for a PDF vulnerability, for a change.

Your humble blogwatcher selected these bloggy morsels for your enjoyment. Not to mention vote NO...

(AAPL)

 
Taimur Asad is not a sad panda:

The userland jailbreak for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, 3G on iOS 4 / 4.0.1, iPod touch on iOS 4, and iPad on iOS 3.2.1 is out!! ... A browser based jailbreak, all you have to do is to browse to http://jailbreakme.com from your iOS device.

Devindra Hardawar says it's not hard:

The iPhone Dev Team has released a jailbreak for the iPhone 4 ... and this time around, users can perform the hack right on their device. ...  [It] lets users run software not authorized by Apple, and was recently deemed legal by the U.S. Copyright Office.
...
Despite Apple’s constant and tireless attempts to stop the jailbreaking phenomenon, it’s now ... easier than ever. ... It’s obvious that even more iPhone users will be jailbreaking their devices.

Alexander Vaughn has news for newbies:

If you haven’t been around the jailbreak or iPhone world for very long, you might not remember ... with the 1.1.1 firmware, the only way to jailbreak was to visit jailbreakme.com. ... Thanks to a loophole in the way the iPhone handled tiff files, it was able to force the system into installing installer.
...
This time ... it’s using a loophole in Adobe’s PDF format. ... As for the unlock, it will apparently follow shortly as well.

Federico Viticci says Apple has "a pretty big issue on [its] hands":

Of course Apple isn’t happy about jailbreak. They never were. ... JailbreakMe seems to be based on a PDF vulnerability that is activable in Safari and, potentially, could lead to malicious software sent to users via emails and the browser.
...
For users, it’s magic. But ... for users and Apple this is a problem. ... I wouldn’t be surprised to see malicious softwares floating around in the future, all based on browser vulnerabilities. This is a common situation for desktop users. ... I’d expect an iOS 4.0.2 update fixing “critical PDF vulnerability” very soon.

 
Here's a 'confession' from comex:

I wonder how long until someone figures out the actual bug I'm exploiting.
...
[Apple] will consider it a remote security hole (which it is) [so] high priority.

And MuscleNerd tells us about the carrier unlock situation:

Those needing unlock on 3G/3GS, don't forget to actually install it after running today's JB :) ultrasn0w via Cydia.
...
iPhone4 carrier unlock will be pushed after small test period (only @planetbeing and I have been able to test til now!)

 
And Finally...
Anthony Weiner sings!
 
 
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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com.

You can also read Richi's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.