Kingo root malware?

[DustinKimble]

So before finding out about this I have already rooted with it and now all of the xda admins are advising not to use this. After a good bit of reading I guess this app has sent www.wmshua.com my imei. It uses their exploit and their patches and makes it seem like they made a root method. This is a deceptive app and I wish I would have never used it. The lest this app developer could have done was change the layout of the program and download all the patches and hosted them himself. Not I fear some conglomerate in China has my imei and will use it at a later date to do a worldwide hack or something. I understand there is no going back so I'll just uninstall the app and hope nothing bad comes from this....

 

[Agent]

So before finding out about this I have already rooted with it and now all of the xda admins are advising not to use this. After a good bit of reading I guess this app has sent www.wmshua.com my imei. It uses their exploit and their patches and makes it seem like they made a root method. This is a deceptive app and I wish I would have never used it. The lest this app developer could have done was change the layout of the program and download all the patches and hosted them himself. Not I fear some conglomerate in China has my imei and will use it at a later date to do a worldwide hack or something. I understand there is no going back so I'll just uninstall the app and hope nothing bad comes from this....

Designgears seems to endorse it on his de la vega thread so I would think it's ok.

 

[eagle0042]

Designgears seems to endorse it on his de la vega thread so I would think it's ok.

I think that post was before it was questioned that Kingo could contain malware.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using xda app-developers app

 

[DustinKimble]

Yea it was. Someone needs to dissect the program, see what info is collected, what is downloaded, and what's transfered to the phone and all that dissected. I don't have hardly any knowledge on how to do this but I'm about to attempt this. I wish I had a whole day and a couple adderall I could dedicate to digging into this.

 

[agustincordoba]

I'm in no special hurry to root my 9005, so I can happily wait for the next version. Hopefully somebody more knowledgeable than I can take that *.exe apart and so what load it carries, if any.
In any case caution is a virtue...

Enviado desde mi SM-N9005 mediante Tapatalk

 

[KennyG123]

The reason manufacturers and carriers do not like rooting is the security issues. It has nothing to do with them trying to prevent tethering or modifications. With that said any root method not developed and hosted on XDA by a known developer should be used with extreme caution. Exploits are not required to have source posted and it takes a great deal of time and effort to reverse them to see what they do.

 

[seano666]

I would encourage everyone to make their own decisions on this. I'm keeping my Kingo root, as I contacted them and was satisfied with the response I received. I like open source as much as the next guy, but not every piece of software can be open source. That doesn't mean that the application is malware.

 

[Gary02468]

The main reason they were shut down here is because they are being so secretive with their methods and "closed source" doesn't exactly go around here expecially not with root methods. Expecially not with root methods originated from china.

The world's espionage leader right now seems to be the US, not China. AT&T users in particular should consider the most recent apying revelation: NYT:cia-is-said-to-pay-att-for-call-data

 

[Anthonok]

So what exactly could they do with said information? There's nothing extra running on our phones after using it to root. Plus its not like they didn't actually supply us with a simple root method. I could understand the concern if it didn't work

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

 

[defectiveleader]

So what exactly could they do with said information? There's nothing extra running on our phones after using it to root. Plus its not like they didn't actually supply us with a simple root method. I could understand the concern if it didn't work

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I have to agree with you. I'm not even remotely worried about it. The program works.
It scares people on here, so maybe not host it on XDA, but Kingo has their own site.

 

[Anthonok]

I have to agree with you. I'm not even remotely worried about it. The program works.
It scares people on here, so maybe not host it on XDA, but Kingo has their own site.

I understand the fear. Its also interesting that they have a root method for many devices. So maybe they have a reason to not be so open. Maybe they've found the mother of exploits and they don't want it to be closed.

Or with all this talk about how they want to keep root free but pay their devs means they are going to use this super exploit to lock devices and charge people to unlock them in order to use it. Idk I'll wait a day or 2 and see what comes of this whether that's a good idea or not idk. Time will tell. Either way I've got designgears' one click stock on my PC just in case.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

 

[funfordds]

If you wanted to be safe, couldn't you just disconnect from the Internet while you root and then reconnect after? Or does it require an active Internet connect to root?

 

[drwario]

If you wanted to be safe, couldn't you just disconnect from the Internet while you root and then reconnect after? Or does it require an active Internet connect to root?

Tried that no go

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

 

[manny18pr]

This is weird now. Im rooted with kingo and now I dont know if its safe. Im thinking now of unrooting

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

 

[manny18pr]

Just went back to stock. But still afraid of the imei stuff

 

[Zwarx]

Well theres nothing extra running on the phone with Kingo. People are way to paranoid

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

 

[KennyG123]

As far as can be seen the information is grabbed and sent during the rooting process which is why it will not work without an active internet connection. Kingo is working on a revision to remove the data collection.

Also note thread cleaned
Profanity is NOT acceptable on this site...ever!
FNM

 

[khaytsus]

This is weird now. Im rooted with kingo and now I dont know if its safe. Im thinking now of unrooting

You can't unscrew a girl.. Whatever is done, is done. Now you just have to root again...

 

[refinition]

Wait, so if i've rooted using kingo..is it safe to stay rooted with their exploit or do i have to wipe + reset?

 

[Gary02468]

Well there[']s nothing extra running on the phone with Kingo.

Just wondering: how did you establish that?