[Q] Rooting a new droid ultra 4.4?

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KevinDel

Senior Member
Apr 7, 2014
53
3
Ok, so I have been scouring the interwebs for 4 hours now, and I am getting 100 conflicting stories. I am not sure if I can post youtube links, but one says That I can use Kingo (didn't work for me) another was from FrenchGrape100 Neither worked for me, downloaded everything they said, did it all OTA. If anyone has any information, please reply.

Thank you in advance!
~Kevin D.
 
J

Jumnhy

Senior Member
Apr 6, 2011
79
11
Saint Paul, MN
Okay, here's a TL;DR on the Droid lineup root situation. Essentially, you're out of luck at this point. No root for you! (Or for me, or for a lot of other annoyed users out there. You're not alone.)

Let me reiterate: if you currently have a brand new Droid running 4.4, no root is possible at the moment.

That being said, you're probably getting mixed accounts of this because of the following. Droid Maxx/Ultra/Mini sounds a lot like the Moto X--and they're very similar phones. However, the Moto X DOES have root on 4.4. It's a complicated process that involves downgrading to 4.2, installing a backdoor, and upgrading again to 4.4, then using the backdoor to regain root access. However, as the Droid Maxx/Ultra/Mini have locked bootloaders, it is not possible to downgrade after accepting the OTA upgrade to KitKat 4.4, and most new phones in the lineup are being shipped out with 4.4 already installed.

The first inkling of possible root was when noted dev and exploit-master jcase mentioned, tangentially and on twitter, that he HAD found an exploit for our phones. However, the exploit is not suitable for casual user usage, and still doesn't unlock write protection on the phone, making it essentially useless. Oh, and as a result of the locked write protection, root would be lost any time you restarted the phone. Jcase will be revealing the exploit at the blackhat conference this coming August as a teaching tool, but don't expect it to turn into anything we'll be seeing a solution out of.

The next glimmer of hope came a few weeks ago; remember how I said we couldn't downgrade because of our locked bootloaders? Some Motorola employee started selling bootloader unlock codes for the Droid lineup. You could send the guy 40 bucks and your IMEI number and he'd send you back a device-specific code to unlock your bootloader. Which through an even more complicated process, does eventually allow for root. However, as of about 2ish (?) weeks, the guy selling the codes has stopped; it seems like he/she/them/it/whatever no longer has access to the database containing the unlock codes. A few lucky people got codes before that happened--the process seemed sketchy, and those of us like myself who hesitated are now left with locked down phones.

So yeah, at various points, it's been possible to get root--which, when trying to read up on this stuff, makes it a tad hard to follow.
No root now, though, not if you're already on KitKat 4.4.
Sorry for the disappointment. Keep your ear to the ground in case someone offering codes pops up again and is legit--but I wouldn't hope too hard.
 
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kanagadeepan

kanagadeepan

Senior Member
Jul 27, 2011
189
40
Sivakasi
I am one among those few lucky people who got code and unlocked the BL and enjoying root now in 4.4.
@Jumnhy
However, the Moto X DOES have root on 4.4. It's a complicated process that involves downgrading to 4.2, installing a backdoor, and upgrading again to 4.4, then using the backdoor to regain root access. However, as the Droid Maxx/Ultra/Mini have locked bootloaders, it is not possible to downgrade after accepting the OTA upgrade to KitKat 4.4,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want to add only one extra info to make things more clear. Actually BigRed's Moto X is also coming with locked / encrypted BootLoaders like DroidMini/Maxx/Ultra, but since its 4.4 update came first and without signature verification / check and hence downgrading was possible in its case. But in 4.4 of Droid series, the mistake was corrected and downgrade was IMPOSSIBLE.

So Droid users with 4.4 and NO root has to live without root in the future, unless any wonder occurs (like the earlier code purchase).

Moral of the Story:
If you want root access in Droid or other BigRed's phones, buy their Dev edition in future.
 
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T

ThunderWulf

Member
Aug 12, 2011
9
0
This is really disheartening. I had one Droid Maxx back before the update and like an idiot, I updated without researching first. Now I got my insurance to replace the phone hoping that they'd send me one which hasn't been updated yet and instead they sent me one with 4.4 pre-installed. So I started researching and I thought it was possible because I saw a thread where an XDA user... Einstein something or other... said he got the downgrade to work. I think I'm just going to sell the phone and either try to buy one without the update or get a different phone.
 
J

jfriend33

Senior Member
Oct 7, 2010
1,532
149
Illinois
nerdyplayer said:
my dear thunder, you are not alone.... i miss tethering my internet....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Tethering does not require root. Now if you want wireless hotspot no frills then yes you need root.

You could use easy tether pro to tether just fine without root. But if you wanted to share that connection with more devices the first one would have to remain on. You can bridge the connection to your wireless card and share it.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
 
N

netuoso

New member
Apr 25, 2014
1
0
kanagadeepan said:
I am one among those few lucky people who got code and unlocked the BL and enjoying root now in 4.4.
@JumnhyI want to add only one extra info to make things more clear. Actually BigRed's Moto X is also coming with locked / encrypted BootLoaders like DroidMini/Maxx/Ultra, but since its 4.4 update came first and without signature verification / check and hence downgrading was possible in its case. But in 4.4 of Droid series, the mistake was corrected and downgrade was IMPOSSIBLE.

So Droid users with 4.4 and NO root has to live without root in the future, unless any wonder occurs (like the earlier code purchase).

Moral of the Story:
If you want root access in Droid or other BigRed's phones, buy their Dev edition in future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Do you mind sort of breaking down the process you did once you got the code and how the code was styled. Alpha-numeric? 10 digits? Things like that. I am considering that since there is a code and method for unlocking the device in an offline setting, that could be bruteforced using strong hardware GPU. (Which I tend to have these days thanks to virtual currencies.)

I am going to run on the assumption Motorola won't lock out a user for multiple incorrect attempts but who knows.
 
BladeRunner

BladeRunner

Senior Member
Jan 15, 2012
1,455
393
netuoso said:
Do you mind sort of breaking down the process you did once you got the code and how the code was styled. Alpha-numeric? 10 digits? Things like that. I am considering that since there is a code and method for unlocking the device in an offline setting, that could be bruteforced using strong hardware GPU. (Which I tend to have these days thanks to virtual currencies.)

I am going to run on the assumption Motorola won't lock out a user for multiple incorrect attempts but who knows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

It's a 20 digit Alpha numeric code. You enter the code in fastboot mode using the command fastboot oem unlock <code> Since there are 36^20 possible combinations good luck bruteforcing THAT :eek:
 
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doogald

Senior Member
May 27, 2010
1,387
337
BladeRunner said:
It's a 20 digit Alpha numeric code. You enter the code in fastboot mode using the command fastboot oem unlock <code> Since there are 36^20 possible combinations good luck bruteforcing THAT :eek:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I know that this question is rhetorical, as reverse engineering this is probably not possible, but is it full alphabet, or only the hex characters a-f for the alpha characters? That's a smaller alphabet. (Also, if it is upper and lower case letters, that's at least a 62 character alphabet, so 62^20. If they are just hex digits, that's "just" 16^20.)
 
BladeRunner

BladeRunner

Senior Member
Jan 15, 2012
1,455
393
doogald said:
I know that this question is rhetorical, as reverse engineering this is probably not possible, but is it full alphabet, or only the hex characters a-f for the alpha characters? That's a smaller alphabet. (Also, if it is upper and lower case letters, that's at least a 62 character alphabet, so 62^20. If they are just hex digits, that's "just" 16^20.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

full alphabet and I have only seen upper case letters
 
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    J
    Jumnhy
    Okay, here's a TL;DR on the Droid lineup root situation. Essentially, you're out of luck at this point. No root for you! (Or for me, or for a lot of other annoyed users out there. You're not alone.)

    Let me reiterate: if you currently have a brand new Droid running 4.4, no root is possible at the moment.

    That being said, you're probably getting mixed accounts of this because of the following. Droid Maxx/Ultra/Mini sounds a lot like the Moto X--and they're very similar phones. However, the Moto X DOES have root on 4.4. It's a complicated process that involves downgrading to 4.2, installing a backdoor, and upgrading again to 4.4, then using the backdoor to regain root access. However, as the Droid Maxx/Ultra/Mini have locked bootloaders, it is not possible to downgrade after accepting the OTA upgrade to KitKat 4.4, and most new phones in the lineup are being shipped out with 4.4 already installed.

    The first inkling of possible root was when noted dev and exploit-master jcase mentioned, tangentially and on twitter, that he HAD found an exploit for our phones. However, the exploit is not suitable for casual user usage, and still doesn't unlock write protection on the phone, making it essentially useless. Oh, and as a result of the locked write protection, root would be lost any time you restarted the phone. Jcase will be revealing the exploit at the blackhat conference this coming August as a teaching tool, but don't expect it to turn into anything we'll be seeing a solution out of.

    The next glimmer of hope came a few weeks ago; remember how I said we couldn't downgrade because of our locked bootloaders? Some Motorola employee started selling bootloader unlock codes for the Droid lineup. You could send the guy 40 bucks and your IMEI number and he'd send you back a device-specific code to unlock your bootloader. Which through an even more complicated process, does eventually allow for root. However, as of about 2ish (?) weeks, the guy selling the codes has stopped; it seems like he/she/them/it/whatever no longer has access to the database containing the unlock codes. A few lucky people got codes before that happened--the process seemed sketchy, and those of us like myself who hesitated are now left with locked down phones.

    So yeah, at various points, it's been possible to get root--which, when trying to read up on this stuff, makes it a tad hard to follow.
    No root now, though, not if you're already on KitKat 4.4.
    Sorry for the disappointment. Keep your ear to the ground in case someone offering codes pops up again and is legit--but I wouldn't hope too hard.
    View
    1
    kanagadeepan
    kanagadeepan
    I am one among those few lucky people who got code and unlocked the BL and enjoying root now in 4.4.
    @Jumnhy
    However, the Moto X DOES have root on 4.4. It's a complicated process that involves downgrading to 4.2, installing a backdoor, and upgrading again to 4.4, then using the backdoor to regain root access. However, as the Droid Maxx/Ultra/Mini have locked bootloaders, it is not possible to downgrade after accepting the OTA upgrade to KitKat 4.4,
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    I want to add only one extra info to make things more clear. Actually BigRed's Moto X is also coming with locked / encrypted BootLoaders like DroidMini/Maxx/Ultra, but since its 4.4 update came first and without signature verification / check and hence downgrading was possible in its case. But in 4.4 of Droid series, the mistake was corrected and downgrade was IMPOSSIBLE.

    So Droid users with 4.4 and NO root has to live without root in the future, unless any wonder occurs (like the earlier code purchase).

    Moral of the Story:
    If you want root access in Droid or other BigRed's phones, buy their Dev edition in future.
    View
    1
    BladeRunner
    BladeRunner
    netuoso said:
    Do you mind sort of breaking down the process you did once you got the code and how the code was styled. Alpha-numeric? 10 digits? Things like that. I am considering that since there is a code and method for unlocking the device in an offline setting, that could be bruteforced using strong hardware GPU. (Which I tend to have these days thanks to virtual currencies.)

    I am going to run on the assumption Motorola won't lock out a user for multiple incorrect attempts but who knows.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    It's a 20 digit Alpha numeric code. You enter the code in fastboot mode using the command fastboot oem unlock <code> Since there are 36^20 possible combinations good luck bruteforcing THAT :eek:
    View
    1
    BladeRunner
    BladeRunner
    doogald said:
    I know that this question is rhetorical, as reverse engineering this is probably not possible, but is it full alphabet, or only the hex characters a-f for the alpha characters? That's a smaller alphabet. (Also, if it is upper and lower case letters, that's at least a 62 character alphabet, so 62^20. If they are just hex digits, that's "just" 16^20.)
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    full alphabet and I have only seen upper case letters
    View

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