14 DAY TRIAL // Soon after hackers got their hands on the firmware powering the new Apple TVs, they revealed that it is vulnerable to the exploit behind the upcoming boot ROM-based jailbreak.
The second-generation Apple TV was announced at the beginning of this month and began shipping to customers this week.
Since the device is powered by Apple's A4 CPU, which is also found in iPhone 4, iPad and iPod Touch 4G, it runs on a modified version of iOS 4.1.
The firmware was spotted on Apple's website on Monday as file called AppleTV2,1_4.1_8M89_Restore.ipsw and hackers immediately tested theSHAtter exploit against it.
The SHAtter exploit was announced earlier this month by Chronic Dev team member pod2g, and will serve as the basis for a new persistent boot ROM-based jailbreak.
The exploit itself is ready, but hackers are still working on putting it in a package that wouldn't require a great deal of technical knowledge to use.
"It’s looking like SHAtter is going to be the gift that keeps on giving. Even though the new AppleTV isn’t yet in people’s homes, the firmware is available on Apple’s normal public distribution servers and SHAtter has been used to decrypt its keys!" the Dev-Team announces on its blog.
This allows people to analyze the contents of the image and is a good indication that the firmware is susceptible to the upcoming jailbreak.
Jailbreaking is a controversial practice. While it gives users the freedom to install non-Apple approved applications on their devices, it does come with security risks, as it also allows potentially malicious code to run.
And this isn't just theory. Back in November 2009, a programmer calling himself Ikee developed and released a worm, that specifically targeted jailbroken iPhones.
Nevertheless, the US regulators have acknowledged people's right to jailbreak their iPhones by adding an exemption for the practice from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).