Development [RECOVERY][3.7.0_12-8][UNOFFICIAL][UNIFIED] TWRP with A12/A13 encryption support

[Mikefy]

Download link is in the first post. Here it is again:

twrp-3.7.0-12.1 - Google Drive

Go inside the folders and you will see boot.img. 23-05-16 is the latest.

i saw that. so u wanna to say boot.img its Recovery.img? boot and recovery imgs it's a different things ))
i need exactly recovery.img not boot.img to run TWRP )

 

[EugenStanis]

i saw that. so u wanna to say boot.img its Recovery.img? boot and recovery imgs it's a different things ))
i need exactly recovery.img not boot.img to run TWRP )

There is nothing like recovery.img for this device. Why you just cant do what he said?

 

[shadabkiani]

i saw that. so u wanna to say boot.img its Recovery.img? boot and recovery imgs it's a different things ))
i need exactly recovery.img not boot.img to run TWRP )

I understand your confusion. We all shared the same confusion when coming to OnePlus 9 with dynamic A/B partitioning. All modern phones are now like this.
There is no dedicated recovery partition anymore. Recovery now resides inside boot partition sharing the same kernel. So yes, boot.img contains recovery. That is why you don't flash it. You just boot it with command fastboot boot <your_recovery_boot.img> and then from TWRP you install/patch it permanently if you want (although permanent is not needed and I won't recommend). Just temporarily boot it and use it for whatever reason.

 

[Mikefy]

I understand your confusion. We all shared the same confusion when coming to OnePlus 9 with dynamic A/B partitioning. All modern phones are now like this.
There is no dedicated recovery partition anymore. Recovery now resides inside boot partition sharing the same kernel. So yes, boot.img contains recovery. That is why you don't flash it. You just boot it with command fastboot boot <your_recovery_boot.img> and then from TWRP you install/patch it permanently if you want (although permanent is not needed and I won't recommend). Just temporarily boot it and use it for whatever reason.

OH SHOOT now i get it....right new system with A\b....OMAGOD. iam so exuse for my stupid
u right. boot.img from link work like TWRP .thx for explane! I appreciate it

 

[shadabkiani]

OH SHOOT now i get it....right new system with A\b....OMAGOD. iam so exuse for my stupid
u right. boot.img from link work like TWRP .thx for explane! I appreciate it

Yeah. Just another bit of information that if you flash a custom ROM like LineageOS, you would notice it might ask you to download recovery.img, but keep it mind that it is essentially boot.img, even though it is named recovery.img. (That was the case in early builds, I don't know if they still have one of the required files named as recovery).

 

[PartyZone]

I need your help guys so much! I am desparate.
OP9 pro, unlocked, rooted.
I was so stupide to set the pattern, never used it before in my life. So I forgot it.
Now the device doesn't wants any of fingerprint or the pincode, or gmail, or 2FA, nothing but the f.. pattern.
Fastboot is recognized. adb "no devices"
When loading from TWRP the data can't be mounted, it's 0kb.

When tried to restore the backup on another device, it's still asking for a pattern.
Please help, if it's even possible not to loose everything.
Thanks guys!

 

[der_akinator]

I need your help guys so much! I am desparate.
OP9 pro, unlocked, rooted.
I was so stupide to set the pattern, never used it before in my life. So I forgot it.
Now the device doesn't wants any of fingerprint or the pincode, or gmail, or 2FA, nothing but the f.. pattern.
Fastboot is recognized. adb "no devices"
When loading from TWRP the data can't be mounted, it's 0kb.

When tried to restore the backup on another device, it's still asking for a pattern.
Please help, if it's even possible not to loose everything.
Thanks guys!

There can't be done much, if you forgot you pattern. For the adb issue you have to use Mount-> disable MTP. If you have your backup stored on PC or a flash drive, you can factory reset data and restore the backup. Keep in mind the backup only includes apps and settings ando so on, but NOT pictures, downloads and everything that is stored under /sdacrd.

 

[PartyZone]

OMG. So I did managed how to push files to device and install it with twrp. So you are saying despite this, nothing can't be done? Even not google backup restore after reset?
2nd questiom
Does it count's the pattern tryes when trying to decrypt inside the twrp?
I also can see the data size now instead of 0.
Thanks

 

[der_akinator]

OMG. So I did managed how to push files to device and install it with twrp. So you are saying despite this, nothing can't be done? Even not google backup restore after reset?
2nd questiom
Does it count's the pattern tryes when trying to decrypt inside the twrp?
I also can see the data size now instead of 0.
Thanks

Google (cloud) backup and so should work, if you have enabled it and it's synced. I never used restricted login attempts, so I'm not sure if twrp has any effect on that counter.
I would suggest to pull the contents of /sdcard, if you can access it. The other stuff in /data is already in the backup, that is hopefully on you PC or any other storage media.

 

[PartyZone]

Google (cloud) backup and so should work, if you have enabled it and it's synced. I never used restricted login attempts, so I'm not sure if twrp has any effect on that counter.
I would suggest to pull the contents of /sdcard, if you can access it. The other stuff in /data is already in the backup, that is hopefully on you PC or any other storage media.

No, I don't have any twrp backup. Also as I said for the google full backup to restore the device it still demands the pattern. So it's lost i guess.

 

[der_akinator]

No, I don't have any twrp backup. Also as I said for the google full backup to restore the device it still demands the pattern. So it's lost i guess.

You can try to use you normal google password for the backup, but it's not really clear what exactly is used to encrypt those backups.

Back up or restore data on your Android device - Android Help

You can back up content, data, and settings from your phone to your Google Account.

support.google.com

 

[PartyZone]

You can try to use you normal google password for the backup, but it's not really clear what exactly is used to encrypt those backups.

Back up or restore data on your Android device - Android Help

You can back up content, data, and settings from your phone to your Google Account.

support.google.com

Sorry, I don't really understand what do you mean. Beacause google asks for the pattern in order to restore backup. Not the pin, not the google password or 2fa, Nothing.Only the pattern is all it knows in this world. I am frustrated.

 

[PartyZone]

My logic is simple. If TWRP knows what is the right pattern, then it's at some file inside the system, not a cloud or something.
So if we determine what the file this is, then we can decrypt the numeric to 3x3 pattern.
I have an access to the files beacause of an unlocked and rooted device. So why not to find the file which storing the pattern?

 

[EugenStanis]

My logic is simple. If TWRP knows what is the right pattern, then it's at some file inside the system, not a cloud or something.
So if we determine what the file this is, then we can decrypt the numeric to 3x3 pattern.
I have an access to the files beacause of an unlocked and rooted device. So why not to find the file which storing the pattern?

Good luck in finding it.

 

[der_akinator]

Sorry, I don't really understand what do you mean. Beacause google asks for the pattern in order to restore backup. Not the pin, not the google password or 2fa, Nothing.Only the pattern is all it knows in this world. I am frustrated.

The link states that google either uses google password or phone pin for backups. So it seems you don't have luck.

My logic is simple. If TWRP knows what is the right pattern, then it's at some file inside the system, not a cloud or something.
So if we determine what the file this is, then we can decrypt the numeric to 3x3 pattern.
I have an access to the files beacause of an unlocked and rooted device. So why not to find the file which storing the pattern?

TWRP essential does the same as default android, and there is no password stored. That would defeat the whole purpose of encryption. I'm not sure about the internals, but broadly speaking the system tries to decrypt with your provided pattern and if the result doesn't make sense, you get an error.

 

[PartyZone]

So it seems you don't have luck.

Absolutelly. It's such nonsence. But it asked for the pattern on a new phone when tried to setup the phone using backup stored at google account which I loged-in. And no any other option!!!

 

[TheGhost1951]

When I use to enable Google backup....it was done based on my Gmail account. If I re-did my phone and needed to restore everything from Google, during phone setup I would log into my Gmail account after connecting to wifi and everything was restored (usually) as part of phone setup. However, since Google is not totally reliable, I have gone to SwiftBackup (rooted) and currently testing oandbackup (not rooted).

 

[TheGhost1951]

When I use to enable Google backup....it was done based on my Gmail account. If I re-did my phone and needed to restore everything from Google, during phone setup I would log into my Gmail account after connecting to wifi and everything was restored (usually) as part of phone setup. However, since Google is not totally reliable, I have gone to SwiftBackup (rooted) and currently testing oandbackup (not rooted).

Oandbackup requires root, last but not least there is Helium for non-root backup of apps and data. But I would still rather have a rooted phone just for the possibilities!

 

[shadabkiani]

My logic is simple. If TWRP knows what is the right pattern, then it's at some file inside the system, not a cloud or something.
So if we determine what the file this is, then we can decrypt the numeric to 3x3 pattern.
I have an access to the files beacause of an unlocked and rooted device. So why not to find the file which storing the pattern?

Lock settings are stored in /data/system/locksetting.db and other files with filenames locksettings. Now since /data/ is encrypted, you cannot access it without decrypting. And, even if you decrypt phone by entering correct pattern, and then you delete those files, that would make the entire /data useless and forever encrypted because there would be no way to decrypt it anymore.

On my HTC 10, I have custom ROM installed and /data isn't encrypted by default, unlike OnePlus 9. You have to manually encrypt from Settings > Security if you want. So, if I don't have encryption, I can go to TWRP and simply delete /data/system/locksettings.db and phone lock would just go away. However, if encryption is enabled, and I go to TWRP, decrypt with correct lock code, then delete the same files, it would not work. The phone will boot up and would be stuck after bootanimation. I would have to format data and only then it would work again.

Ain't no way you can bypass encryption. You either enter the correct lock code, or just get super lucky and try again again through brute forcing.

 

[[GR]Frostbyte]

TWRP essential does the same as default android, and there is no password stored. That would defeat the whole purpose of encryption. I'm not sure about the internals, but broadly speaking the system tries to decrypt with your provided pattern and if the result doesn't make sense, you get an error.

Lock settings are stored in /data/system/locksetting.db and other files with filenames locksettings. Now since /data/ is encrypted, you cannot access it without decrypting. And, even if you decrypt phone by entering correct pattern, and then you delete those files, that would make the entire /data useless and forever encrypted because there would be no way to decrypt it anymore.

On my HTC 10, I have custom ROM installed and /data isn't encrypted by default, unlike OnePlus 9. You have to manually encrypt from Settings > Security if you want. So, if I don't have encryption, I can go to TWRP and simply delete /data/system/locksettings.db and phone lock would just go away. However, if encryption is enabled, and I go to TWRP, decrypt with correct lock code, then delete the same files, it would not work. The phone will boot up and would be stuck after bootanimation. I would have to format data and only then it would work again.

Ain't no way you can bypass encryption. You either enter the correct lock code, or just get super lucky and try again again through brute forcing.

I would also like to add my own two cents, as a senior UNIX/Linux system administrator, to these already helpful excerpts of information.

@PartyZone

Even if the stars could align and a decrypted version of the file that the pattern/pin is stored in could be found, one could never get the actual pattern/pin out of it; the reason being that the actual pattern/pin is being hashed (with blowfish/bcrypt being the latest trend) and usually salted too.

This means that when one enters a password/pattern/pin, the input is being hashed once more and compared against the stored hash. Hashing is typically considered to be a one-way process, which cannot be reversed (while in theory it technically could, it would require immeasurable processing power to do so).
As you also might've guessed, an added salt makes the possibility of a successful decryption even more unfathomable. (Further details and explanation can be found here)

As @der_akinator most eloquently and accurately put; an encryption process which could be reversed (at least not without an insurmountable cost), would defeat it's whole purpose and existence in the first place.