MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - How to write a jailbreak (Process, Quick Start, First Steps, etc)?

pavel-s · 11-01-2019, 10:37 AM

It seems like the entry point is NiLuJe KindleTool. The quick overview of the process:

Download KindleTool from the snapshots page.
Download a firmware you are interesting in from amazon (google for kindle paperwhite 4 download update)
Unpack the firmware with kindletool (use "extract" command, e.g. ./kindletool extract firmware.bin firmware_unpacked)

After the extraction inside extracted folder (e.g. firmware_unpacked) you'll see the following folder structure (this is how it looks for PW4 5.12.2):

Code:

imx6sll_rex                 <- folder, containing chip firwares, etc
rootfs.img.gz               <- compressed filesystem
rootfs.img.gz.sig
update-payload.dat
update-payload.dat.sig

From here you can see into all files, folders, etc in rootfs.img.gz using any archive manager (e.g. 7z). You can also go deeper and disassemble boot images, firmwares, etc inside imx6sll_rex with any disassembler you like (e.g. IDA Pro, Radare, etc).

The forum itself contains a lot of info regarding internals of kindle software + source code for the firmware update can be downloaded from here (amazon).

For examples of how current hacks are working it's possible to unpack any hack with the same kindletool and see what is inside.

This is what I figured out so far, thanks.

11-01-2019, 10:37 AM	#2
pavel-s Enthusiast Posts: 35 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2017 Device: PW3/4	It seems like the entry point is NiLuJe KindleTool. The quick overview of the process: Download KindleTool from the snapshots page. Download a firmware you are interesting in from amazon (google for kindle paperwhite 4 download update) Unpack the firmware with kindletool (use "extract" command, e.g. ./kindletool extract firmware.bin firmware_unpacked) After the extraction inside extracted folder (e.g. firmware_unpacked) you'll see the following folder structure (this is how it looks for PW4 5.12.2): Code: imx6sll_rex <- folder, containing chip firwares, etc rootfs.img.gz <- compressed filesystem rootfs.img.gz.sig update-payload.dat update-payload.dat.sig From here you can see into all files, folders, etc in rootfs.img.gz using any archive manager (e.g. 7z). You can also go deeper and disassemble boot images, firmwares, etc inside imx6sll_rex with any disassembler you like (e.g. IDA Pro, Radare, etc). The forum itself contains a lot of info regarding internals of kindle software + source code for the firmware update can be downloaded from here (amazon). For examples of how current hacks are working it's possible to unpack any hack with the same kindletool and see what is inside. This is what I figured out so far, thanks.