Quick Kindle 3 root shell via USB

[NiLuJe]

@mnwcsult: The text file in my kindle-x-tc archive is more or less a terminal history dump of what I do on *my* system to build a cross toolchain using crosstool NG, and the stuff used in my hacks.

So, while it is pretty much tied to my system (and relies on Gentoo distfiles & patches, and some of it from my local overlay at that ), if you're familiar with things, it shouldn't be too hard to use this on any other system.

And if you only need a cross-toolchain anyway, that part isn't really tied to my system at all, except for the paths used .

That's enough for me since I don't build a lot of stuff, but if you intend to build invasive/complex stuff, I'd recommend using a buildroot-like tool (The author or Savory, which included a stripped down Python+Calibre env, used the stuff from OSELAS for example).

[mnwcsult]

@NiLuJe

Thanks for the heads up, I have installed qemu as per directions recieved from @kindle3zeng.

Very nice discussion forum.

[marxgen]

Originally Posted by yahro

Hi,

went through all steps, but at the end can ping, but can't telnet, I'm getting:

telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: Connection refused

I'm sure it's kindle I'm pinging, because when I disconnect it, the pings stop working.

Any ideas?

I'm having the same issue with telnet and when I try to ssh @ root it asks for a password. I tried password, fiona, fionab13, foo, and [enter] with no luck.

[marxgen]

Originally Posted by marxgen

I'm having the same issue with telnet and when I try to ssh @ root it asks for a password. I tried password, fiona, fionab13, foo, and [enter] with no luck.

Fixed the problem. I went into the /etc folder (in disk mode) and added a public key as well as enabled the wifi ssh stuff like in this post (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...85&postcount=8)

[paul31]

Steps in the original post do not work for kindle 3 with 3.1 firmware.
(unable to telnet and ping)
Is this the known issue?
How can I get the root shell after the firmware upgrade? I have no hacks installed ATM.

[Tiersten]

Originally Posted by paul31

Steps in the original post do not work for kindle 3 with 3.1 firmware.
(unable to telnet and ping)
Is this the known issue?
How can I get the root shell after the firmware upgrade? I have no hacks installed ATM.

The steps in the original post don't work for the majority of Kindles anyway as it relies on special test/diagnostic files to be left on your Kindle by the factory. Any Kindle that has had an update applied will disable it anyway.

If you haven't already hacked your Kindle with something like USB networking or Launchpad prior to installing 3.1 then you can't currently get root access without using the serial port in the side of the Kindle.

[dubaaron]

Hey guys,

This looks to be thread most involving the usbNetwork hack; let me know if I'm posting in the wrong place.

I'm trying to use usbNetwork on my Kindle 3G (firmware 3.0.2), and I've got it successfully installed; the computer I'm using has got xUbuntu 10.04 --

but when I do an "ifconfig usb0" (with or without sudo), it appears my interface only has an ipv6 address. Any ideas? Can I get it to work with ipv6? If so, I have no way of knowing what the kindle's ipv6 address is.

Output:

aaron@teeny:~$ sudo ifconfig usb0
usb0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr ee:49:00:00:00:00  
          inet6 addr: fe80::ec49:ff:fe00:0/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:2520 (2.5 KB)

I suspect it's an issue to be resolved on my computer, as opposed to the kindle. Like my usb networking interface just doesn't have ipv4 turned on properly.


P.S. Thanks to everyone here who has provided and shared such excellent knowledge and help. Especially NiLuJe, ecostin, h1uke, porkupan, DiapDealer, among many others who my mind forgets or I don't know about

[Tiersten]

Did you actually set an IP address for usb0?

[dubaaron]

Originally Posted by dubaaron

aaron@teeny:~$ sudo ifconfig usb0
usb0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr ee:49:00:00:00:00  
          inet6 addr: fe80::ec49:ff:fe00:0/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:2520 (2.5 KB)

I suspect it's an issue to be resolved on my computer, as opposed to the kindle. Like my usb networking interface just doesn't have ipv4 turned on properly.

oops, duh! answered my question.
Just had to

sudo ifconfig usb0 192.168.2.1

and all is good.

[dubaaron]

Originally Posted by Tiersten

Did you actually set an IP address for usb0?

Thanks, Tiersten. No I hadn't. I answered my own question just after I posted it.

Just now realized I could've even done that through the GUI.

[tim.warin]

This sounds like a great approach but I have the same sort of problems as Ged_uk, there is no response from the kindle when I enter ~usbNet, shouldn't there be some sort of message from the kindle.
Then when I put the ~exec ...... command in again there is no message, it dosn't even stop responding as you said it would.
One thought I had was that you exec nk from /mnt/us, is it possible that someone has been crazy enough that it's /mnt/uk for us there.

If anyone has one I would realy like to see the full disk layout.

Oh one last thought, I did test out the nk modules in two linux boxes and they worked fine so that's not the problem.

Well regards from "tiger" tim and keep up the good work.

[mnglfiddle]

Hey guys, I have been trying to ssh into my Kindle (3.1), but am stumped by the demand for a password.

I tried the ssh key idea, but it too seems to fail.

This is what I get in my terminal:



@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@
@ WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! @
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY!
Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)!
It is also possible that the RSA host key has just been changed.
The fingerprint for the RSA key sent by the remote host is
4e:30:f8:bf:3e:92:b6:ad:18:21:b3:47:95:9e:02:30.
Please contact your system administrator.
Add correct host key in /root/.ssh/known_hosts to get rid of this message.
Offending key in /root/.ssh/known_hosts:1
RSA host key for 192.168.2.2 has changed and you have requested strict checking.
Host key verification failed.

What is going on here?

Actually, I started the whole root my Kindle thing when my kindle decided to refuse to log on to a previously no problem wifi network. It shows the networks in the wifi scan, but refuses to log in. I figured it would be good to root the device and do the whole ~usbNetwork thing. So far so good, as I can certainly turn the ~usbNetwork on, and it seems to work. My computer (am running Ubuntu 10.04) recognizes it immediately.

However, when I try to ssh into it, it demands a password, and nothing works. Leaving it blank does not work.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Matthew

[mnglfiddle]

I want to clarify quickly, that not only have I followed instructions in this post, but also on this one (trying to figure out the ssh keys thing):
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...85&postcount=8

Thanks,
Matthew

[NiLuJe]

What's happening is exactly what your SSH client says. You already had an host key saved for this specific IP, and the one on your Kindle is different, so your client is shouting at you, because that could be VeryBad(TM) is we were talking about anything other than a Kindle .

If you're sure this previous host key isn't important, you can remove it from your ~/.ssh/known_hosts file.

Also, I wouldn't SSH from root, ever.

[mnglfiddle]

That I understand, but the steps I followed gave "sudo ssh root@192.168.2.2" so that's what I tried. Just plain "ssh root@192.168.2.2" did nothing...

Do you mean that the one key in my own ~/.ssh/know_hosts file is causing the problem? I could back it up and get rid of it. I am not actually sure why there is a key in that file, though. Is it created by VirtualBox by chance?

I'd rather not use the ssh key thing anyway, but regardless, I get asked for a root password for the device, and nothing I type in works, and just hitting the enter key doesn't work (tried that first, as per instructions). The readmefirst.txt file in the usbNetwork hack says that no password is needed over the usb0 wired in connection, but that seems very mistaken.

Thanks,
Matthew