Rooting the TF300T *without* downgrading (from .29)

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Hello,

I managed to root my TF300 this week-end.

Since the method of downgrading to .17, getting root, then waiting for Asus to update it again OTA to .29... was not really satisfying to me, I found a simpler (and hopefully safer) way to do it.

Story short: instead of getting write access to mmcblk0p4 to write a blob (as in method #2 of http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1622628), I'm getting write access to mmcblk0p1 to write a single file, with suid perms.

Here is the full guide, and the link to the binaries at the end.

Please be sure to read it until the end, and to understand every line of it. I thus encourage you to read the debugfs manpage here: http://linux.die.net/man/8/debugfs

Of course, there is no garantee for this to work or to not brick your device, especially if you don't understand what you type, so RTFM twice.

Here is now the full guide:

Rooting the Asus Transformer TF300T
===================================

: first, use known method to get write access to the /system partition

adb push debugfs /data/local/
adb push su /data/local/
adb shell

$ cd /data/local/
$ mv tmp tmp.back

FOR TRANSFORMER (TF101 TF201 TF300T TF700T) ONLY:

$ ln -s /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 tmp
$ exit

FOR PADFONE ONLY:

$ ln -s /dev/block/mmcblk0p21 tmp
$ exit

FOR SAMSUNG GALAXY SII ONLY:

$ ln -s /dev/block/mmcblk0p9 tmp
$ exit

FOR SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB 2 7" ONLY: (see http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1791193 thx to Nesquick95)

$ ln -s /dev/block/platform/omap/omap_hsmmc.1/by-name/FACTORYFS tmp
$ exit

adb reboot

adb shell

: some cleanup first

$ cd /data/local

: and now, let's do the dirty work

$ toolbox chmod 755 /data/local/debugfs
$ /data/local/debugfs -w /data/local/tmp
debugfs: cd xbin
debugfs: rm su
NOTE: if this is your first attempt, you should see an error message here, simply ignore it
debugfs: write /data/local/su su
debugfs: set_inode_field su mode 0106755
debugfs: set_inode_field su uid 0
debugfs: set_inode_field su gid 0
debugfs: quit
$ rm /data/local/tmp
$ mv /data/local/tmp.back /data/local/tmp
$ exit

: done, let's reboot and get root !

adb reboot
adb shell
$ /system/xbin/su
# id
id=0(root) gid=0(root) ....
# exit

: cleanup remaining files

$ rm /data/local/su
$ rm /data/local/debugfs
$ exit

Next step is to install ASAP the superuser app from the market, since my version of su is home-made, and was not designed with security in mind.


After installation, or if you previously installed, open it and check for an update, there should be one available. This will replace the non-securised su binary with the one provided by superuser. Reboot when asked to, and you're done.


And now here is the link for the binaries:

http://db.tt/FBUNeVmo

The source code of su is given, and debugfs was compiled natively from a gentoo chroot inside my Transformer (the first version was cross-compiled but segfaulted now and then).

Please let me know how it goes for you.

Credits: wolf849 for the symlink exploit

EDIT0: sparkym3 created a tool integrating this procedure. Although it seems to work only on Windows, a "few" users could make use of it
Here is the URL:

Originally Posted by sparkym3

I have created an automated tool using this root method and am looking for confirmation that it works on a Transformer 300.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1706588

EDIT1: Here are the devices successfully rooted so far:
ASUS TF300T .26 .29 .30
ASUS TF201 .21 .28
ASUS TF101 S/N B70* .24
ASUS PadFone IML74K.CHT_PadFone-9.18.8.41_CHT_9.1.15-0
ASUS TF700T
SAMSUNG Galaxy II ICS 4.0.3
SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab 2 7"

milo

Originally Posted by miloj

Hello,

I managed to root my TF300 this week-end.

Since the method of downgrading to .17, getting root, then waiting for Asus to update it again OTA to .29... was not really satisfying to me, I found a simpler (and hopefully safer) way to do it.

Story short: instead of getting write access to mmcblk0p4 to write a blob (as in method #2 of http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1622628), I'm getting write access to mmcblk0p1 to write a single file, with suid perms.

Here is the full guide, and the link to the binaries at the end.

Please be sure to read it until the end, and to understand every line of it. I thus encourage you to read the debugfs manpage here: http://linux.die.net/man/8/debugfs

Of course, there is no garantee for this to work or to not brick your device, especially if you don't understand what you type, so RTFM twice.

Here is now the full guide:

Rooting the Asus Transformer TF300T
===================================

: first, use known method to get write access to the /system partition

adb push debugfs /data/local/
adb push su /data/local/
adb shell
$ cd /data/local/
$ mv tmp tmp.back
$ ln -s /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 tmp
$ exit
adb reboot

adb shell

: some cleanup first

$ cd /data/local
$ rm /data/local/tmp
$ mv /data/local/tmp.back /data/local/tmp

: and now, let's do the dirty work

$ chmod 755 /data/local/debugfs
$ /data/local/debugfs -w /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
debugfs: cd xbin
debugfs: write /data/local/su su
debugfs: set_inode_field su mode 0104755
debugfs: set_inode_field su uid 0
debugfs: set_inode_field su gid 0
debugfs: quit

: done, let's reboot and get root !

adb reboot
adb shell
$ /system/xbin/su
# id
id=0(root) gid=0(root) ....
# exit

: cleanup remaining files

$ rm /data/local/su
$ rm /data/local/debugfs

Next step is to install ASAP the superuser app from the market, since my version of su is home-made, and was not designed with security in mind.

And now here is the link for the binaries:

http://db.tt/FBUNeVmo

The source code of su is given, and debugfs was compiled natively from a gentoo chroot inside my Transformer (the first version was cross-compiled but segfaulted now and then).

Please let me know how it goes for you.

Credits: wolf849 for the symlink exploit

milo

If this proves to be successful across multiple users, I may try this out; I'm excited to see how this information pans out.

FYI, there was one success in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1688994 where I originally posted.

milo

Yep. That was me.
In essence I had a locked (can get OTA), not rooted device with .26 WW firmware.
Now I've got a locked (can still get OTA unless Asus changes something), rooted device with .29 WW firmware.
This is the holy grail for tf300t users at the moment.

I'm so happy!

For information, I just rooted a friend's TF201 with the same method


Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using XDA

Confirmed

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CONFIRMED!
I rooted my WW.29 this way. No need to downgrade to .17 first.
Thank you, thank you, thank you

It worked! Simpel and easy on ww29 locked!

Thanks!!!

Confirmed working on US .29!

Edit: Does trying adb remount and failing have anything to do with the root or am I not understanding the adb command?

Question: Why weren't you satisfied with downgrading method? i asked because I did the downgrade method and the tf300 has been working fine.

Originally Posted by NJ_RAMS_FAN

Question: Why weren't you satisfied with downgrading method? i asked because I did the downgrade method and the tf300 has been working fine.

Because risk was too high in my opinion:

- risk to brick when injecting the blob into mmcblk0p4 (if the tablet reboot in the middle, I guess you get a 500€ brick)
- risk to not receiving any ASUS OTA (many users have reported this, I didn't want to test it myself)

The procedure was also a bit too complex, between US, DE, DE to WW, and WW blobs.

Also the .17 WW blob is nowhere available.

With my method, there is one risk, it is if the tablet reboot in the middle of writing into the partition. But I guess than, like any other linux (or unix for that matter), the android boot would run fsck on the partition and get it repaired.

And my method is faster !!

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using XDA