Limera1n iOS Jailbreak Divides Jailbreak Community

Apple has been trying so hard to shut down jailbreakers and their efforts to give iPhone owners the freedom to do as they wish with their phones. Apple may have very valid reasons for its push to stop iOS hackers, but so far the jailbreak community has stayed one step ahead of it. The community was expected to release a new set of jailbreak tools for iPhone community this week. It was stunned when Geohot decided to release Limera1n iOS during this past weekend. The jailbreak community has been pretty tight so far, which is why Geohot’s competitive style was a surprise. As a result of this move, the Dev Team has decided to postpone its release and wait for Apple’s reaction to the latest hack.

DO NOT USE LIMERA1N IF YOU USE THE ULTRASN0W CARRIER UNLOCK — wait for PwnageTool to incorporate the limera1n exploit. This is so that you can avoid updating your baseband and losing the unlock (possibly forever). Limera1n uses a different exploit than SHAtter, and in fact covers more devices. Although some may question geohot’s dramatic and competitive style, he obviously does have considerable skill pulling this together in just over a day (although he’s had the underlying exploit for months).

Geohot’s move seems to have upset a few hackers. The best way for Apple to stop the hacker community is by dividing it and turning it against itself. That is not to say that Apple had anything to do with this latest development. Let’s just say Apple won’t be too upset with this:

The good news is the Dev Team can now wait to see how Apple responds to this jailbreak. It is going to hold back its release to stay one step ahead of Apple.

Releasing SHAtter now would be a complete waste of a perfectly good bootrom hole in light of limera1n, and so it can be held until Apple closes limera1n’s hole. While there’s no guarantee that Apple won’t also close SHAtter by then, it provides a ray of hope for devices after Apple’s bootrom respin. Meanwhile, look for an alternate implementation of the limera1n exploit in greenpois0n (and possibly other tools), where it should undergo more testing too.

Limera1n seems to be unstable at this point. People have gotten it to work but if you are planning to hack your iPhone, you are better off waiting for a more stable release.

Have you tried Limera1n?