I am seeing a growing discussion on the need for more Linux phones in the market given Google’s problematic behaviour w.r.t the changes that will be introduced to that OS.

One very good point that some community member raised was that Android itself wasn’t the problem but the locking of the bootloader in the phone. If the bootloader could be unlocked, then it significantly lowers the bar for the end user to install their OS of choice.

I have dabbled with flashing OSs in old smartphones (GrapheneOS, Post market and Lineage). I commend the developers because I could do that without truly having to “understand the code” at the lower levels. But I assume that was possible because the boot loader could be unlocked somehow*. It seems that isn’t the case with many/most phone fro. Samsung / Xiomi, etc.

Are their bootloaders truly unlockable? Is it simply impossible to unlock and relock bootloaders?

  • I know that with lineage, the bootloader couldn’t be relocked and that was touted as a security flaw. If someone could explain why this lock/unlock is so complex, I’d appreciate it.
  • infjarchninja@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    8 months ago

    Thanks Ragebutt

    Comprehensive answers

    That what I like

    Thank you

    my motorola example:

    fastboot oem get_unlock_data

    3A35219112984799#5A593232444743424E46006D6F746F726F6C0000#869D8063DBECC893461CCDA39BC5560898D31E77E0EA41ED679205BA559DC4A1#663D5E2D000000000000000000000000

    could this be cracked with Hashcat?

    you upload this to motorola

    They then send you this to unlock your bootloader

    Here is the unique code to unlock the bootloader of your Motorola phone.

    Unlock Code: YGS5FHGWSJDQKBTSWXBS

    fastboot oem unlock YGS5FHGWSJDQKBTSWXBS

    fastboot oem unlock YGS5FHGWSJDQKBTSWXBS

    (bootloader) Bootloader is unlocked!

    OKAY [ 13.949s]

    Finished. Total time: 13.949s

    I have wondered if Hashcat could crack the hash sand give the Unlock Code.

    When you consider how long a WPA2 hash is and it s still very possible to crack WPA2 as long. 3-4 hours to run through an 8 char uppercase keyspace on an old sky router.

    WPA021709ba709b92c3eb7b662036b02e843c6c5940096fb664cc2edaeb526c686c64ca37bb6be93179b0ce86e0f4e393d742fca6854ace6791f29a7d0c0ec15340860103007502010a00000000000000000001f09960e32863aa57ba250769b6e12d959a5a1f1cc8939d6bed4401a16092fa72000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001630140100000fac040100000fac040100000fac02000000

    but a 20 char Unlock Code would be impossible on my gaming rig.