iPhone Dev Team

Apple has released the golden master (GM) version of iOS 5 to developers in preparation for the public launch next week. As usual, the iPhone Dev-Team is constantly working to improve the redsn0w jailbreak tool and now has released redsn0w 0.9.9 beta 3 for Mac and 0.9.9 beta 3a for Windows. The latest version of redsn0w can jailbreak iOS 5 GM on all devices except for the iPad 2.

Of course, the current iOS 5 jailbreak is a tethered jailbreak for most devices, meaning the iPhone must be connected to your computer when booting. If the device is rebooted without using redsn0w then iOS 5 will load up in a normal state without any jailbroken apps available (except for the iPhone 3GS using an old bootrom). As developers already know, iTunes 10.5 beta 7 is required to install iOS 5 GM.

iPhone Dev Team released the first tethered redsn0w jailbreak for iOS 5 via their blog on Friday. MuscleNerd tweeted, "Last day of WWDC…seems as good time as any to release tethered iOS5 jailbreak (for Mac owners with registered UDIDs)"

The blog warns that the tool is intended only for developers of jailbroken apps, and that unlockers should stay away, or risk losing their unlockable baseband. The redsn0w beta runs on third- and fourth-generation iPod touch, iPad , iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 (both CDMA and GSM version).

Apple's new iOS 5 has already been jailbroken by iPhone Dev Team member MuscleNerd who tweeted yesterday, "iOS 5 jailbroken: via limera1n + tethered boot... Not too many surprises." The tweet was accompanied by a picture (shown below) of Cydia and iSSH icons displayed on the screen of a 4th-generation iPod touch.

It looks like Apple essentially has done nothing to patch the known, existing exploits. Presumably this is because the next generation iPhone will have the iPad 2's A5 processor (or similar), which is not vulnerable to the existing bootrom exploits. In other words, though this jailbreak (a tethered one at that) delivers a jailbroken iOS5, it doesn't deliver a jailbroken iPhone 5 or iPad 2 running iOS 5.

Luckily for jailbreakers, Apple has yet to fix the exploit used in the latest versions of redsn0w and PwnageTool from the iPhone Dev-Team. This means the software can be used to jailbreak iOS 4.3.3 untethered on all current Apple mobile devices that support the firmware except for the iPad 2. The exploit comes courtesy of developer @i0n1c and marks the first time that three successive firmware updates from Apple have not plugged an existing jailbreak hole.

Geohot’s limera1n bootrom exploit is also used by Dev-Team to inject the jailbreak. The latest version of redsn0w is 0.9.6rc15 and remains the simplest way to jailbreak a supported iOS device using either Mac OS X or a Windows computer. More information along with the install files can be found at the Dev-Team Blog. PwnageTool has also been adapted for iOS 4.3.3 and is currently available for Mac OS X users.

iPhone Dev-Team is celebrating the third anniversary of their PwnageTool with the release of an untethered jailbreak solution for the latest Apple firmware, iOS 4.3.1. The new version of redsn0w will jailbreak all devices that support iOS 4.3.1 except for the iPad 2. Apple got smart with the iPad 2, and the device can't be compromised by the limera1n or SHAtter exploits used on other devices.

The current jailbreak was made possible by developer Stefan Esser (@i0n1c) who has a long history of researching security on Apple products. Redsn0w is available directly from the iPhone Dev-Team for both Mac OS X and Windows platforms. PwnageTool is also available for Mac OS X and required to jailbreak the second-generation Apple TV.