8 ms·

> If you root or jailbreak your devices, you've, by their very nature, broken their security. > If he can demonstrate someone remotely jailbreaking your TV, or

> If you root or jailbreak your devices, you've, by their very nature, broken their security. > If he can demonstrate someone remotely jailbreaking your TV, or flipping on those settings without you knowing or doing anything to your TV, that would be a far more damning issue, in my view. There are ways to remotely jailbreak LG webOS TVs without user interaction, using the same (or similar) vulnerabilities you use to root your own TV voluntarily. The main reason tools like https://rootmy.tv https://rootmy.tv are prefixed with disclaimers and require user interaction is because we're being courteous, not because they're technically necessary. (source: I own the rootmy.tv domain)

froddd 9d ago
Most of what I’m reading on rootmy.tv says the vulnerability it exploits has been fixed. So, if one were to keep software up to date on their TV, there is an improbably small chance it can actually be remotely jailbroken — am I reading this right?
- Retr0id 9d ago
  The specific vulnerabilities exploited by rootmy.tv have been patched, yes, but there are plenty more unpatched vulnerabilities remaining. There are also more up-to-date rooting tools beyond rootmy.tv. The security posture of webOS is absolutely terrible, at least, it is in the way LG deploys it.
  - rickdeckard 9d ago
    > The specific vulnerabilities exploited by rootmy.tv have been patched, yes, but there are plenty more unpatched vulnerabilities remaining. But vulnerabilities that can be remotely exploited without user interaction (CVSS grade 9-10)?
    - Retr0id 9d ago
      Yup. I'm sitting on one that doesn't even require an internet connection, only RF down the TV antenna input. I'm waiting for my model to go EOL before I release it.
      - minetest2048 9d ago
        I'm guessing that you're exploiting some sort of exploit (buffer overflow???) on the DVB-T demodulator
      - delta_p_delta_x 9d ago
        > only RF down the TV antenna input Holy shit. RF to zero-click exploit is a new one. I guess digital-everything wasn't always a good idea, this probably wouldn't ever have been a problem with analogue antennas and CRTs. What are the people at LG even doing?
        Ekaros 9d ago
        Teletext was available in analogue times. So I could well imagine there to be a possible avenue of exploits with it too. Would take a bit of time, but I see no reason why wouldn't some data result in a incorrect handling.
        hnlmorg 9d ago
        Exploiting what? There wasn’t any software hierarchy for Teletext to escape from in analogy TVs. If you found a bug in the Teletext chip you couldn’t then go on to do anything to the TV set aside print different data to the screen. And since you’re already tuned into that radio frequency and controlling the data sent on it, you already have control of what’s sent to the TV screen already anyway so who cares? As an aside, I once interviewed one of the guys who wrote Teletext processors for analog TVs. He was a very interesting individual.
      - rickdeckard 9d ago
        > Yup. I'm sitting on one that doesn't even require an internet connection, only RF down the TV antenna input. I'm waiting for my model to go EOL before I release it. So no responsible disclosure, I see. Not knowing any more details, it still sounds like you'd still need the user to tune to the actual frequency on the correct receiver (to cause some buffer overflow?). But then still there's no internet to do anything. So you'd need some very specific f/up exploit to then change local settings on the device I imagine. Either way, would be a great opportunity to demonstrate this in a video, now that there's attention on the topic, to further amplify the pressure on LG's "terrible security posture" as you say.
    - Brian_K_White 8d ago
      Why do you even ask? Why do you even think this is at all unlikely? It doesn't even matter what exploits are publicly known and closed at any given moment. What we know is that at every given moment, no matter what security hole was just found and closed right now in some device, always later it turns out there were others not yet known by you but known and used by someone. This has been everything with an OS for 40 years. So yes, of course, right now, on every tv, and everything else, from any manufacturer, there are "grade 9-10" exploits just sitting there. It's the default state not some exception.
- LoganDark 9d ago
  I read the documentation and it appears that the only reason it doesn't still work is because development was "postponed for a few months" back in 2021. Presumably there is still the possibility of exploits on the latest versions, it's just nobody's bothered yet.
- franga2000 9d ago
  These vulnerabilities only get fixed because they're used by public rooting tools. If blackhat hackers found them instead, kept quiet about them and used them carefully, they'd never be fixed.
- toast0 9d ago
  > So, if one were to keep software up to date on their TV, I presume LG is like most vendors and stops issuing updates for older models after a while. It's pretty hard to keep software up to date when the vendor stops issuing updates.
- mort96 9d ago
  why would I want to keep the software on my TV updated, it's a screen
  - dgellow 9d ago
    It’s a whole computer that runs YouTube, Netflix, Amazon video, etc
    - mort96 9d ago
      I've never used a TV that way, that's the job of whatever is connected to the TV. But if you do use your TV like that, didn't those things work when you got it? Why do you need software updates?
      - bcraven 9d ago
        I think you're being deliberately obtuse. You would update software on a TV for all the same reasons you update software on any other device: improved performance, better compatibly, new features, etc
        mort96 9d ago
        No. My computer is a tool I actively use. The TV is an almost entirely passive consumption device. Was performance not good enough when it was new? If it wasn't, will the new software versions truly buck the trend we've seen in software for the past few decades and improve performance? What new features are necessary? Video playback has been a solved problem for the past few decades.
        sersi 8d ago
        With streaming apps unfortunately you can run in compatibility issues if you do not update. So for people using the TV for streaming, it does make sense to at least update that part of the software.

froddd 9d ago

Most of what I’m reading on rootmy.tv says the vulnerability it exploits has been fixed. So, if one were to keep software up to date on their TV, there is an improbably small chance it can actually be remotely jailbroken — am I reading this right?

Retr0id 9d ago
The specific vulnerabilities exploited by rootmy.tv have been patched, yes, but there are plenty more unpatched vulnerabilities remaining. There are also more up-to-date rooting tools beyond rootmy.tv. The security posture of webOS is absolutely terrible, at least, it is in the way LG deploys it.
- rickdeckard 9d ago
  > The specific vulnerabilities exploited by rootmy.tv have been patched, yes, but there are plenty more unpatched vulnerabilities remaining. But vulnerabilities that can be remotely exploited without user interaction (CVSS grade 9-10)?
  - Retr0id 9d ago
    Yup. I'm sitting on one that doesn't even require an internet connection, only RF down the TV antenna input. I'm waiting for my model to go EOL before I release it.
    - minetest2048 9d ago
      I'm guessing that you're exploiting some sort of exploit (buffer overflow???) on the DVB-T demodulator
    - delta_p_delta_x 9d ago
      > only RF down the TV antenna input Holy shit. RF to zero-click exploit is a new one. I guess digital-everything wasn't always a good idea, this probably wouldn't ever have been a problem with analogue antennas and CRTs. What are the people at LG even doing?
      - Ekaros 9d ago
        Teletext was available in analogue times. So I could well imagine there to be a possible avenue of exploits with it too. Would take a bit of time, but I see no reason why wouldn't some data result in a incorrect handling.
        hnlmorg 9d ago
        Exploiting what? There wasn’t any software hierarchy for Teletext to escape from in analogy TVs. If you found a bug in the Teletext chip you couldn’t then go on to do anything to the TV set aside print different data to the screen. And since you’re already tuned into that radio frequency and controlling the data sent on it, you already have control of what’s sent to the TV screen already anyway so who cares? As an aside, I once interviewed one of the guys who wrote Teletext processors for analog TVs. He was a very interesting individual.
    - rickdeckard 9d ago
      > Yup. I'm sitting on one that doesn't even require an internet connection, only RF down the TV antenna input. I'm waiting for my model to go EOL before I release it. So no responsible disclosure, I see. Not knowing any more details, it still sounds like you'd still need the user to tune to the actual frequency on the correct receiver (to cause some buffer overflow?). But then still there's no internet to do anything. So you'd need some very specific f/up exploit to then change local settings on the device I imagine. Either way, would be a great opportunity to demonstrate this in a video, now that there's attention on the topic, to further amplify the pressure on LG's "terrible security posture" as you say.
  - Brian_K_White 8d ago
    Why do you even ask? Why do you even think this is at all unlikely? It doesn't even matter what exploits are publicly known and closed at any given moment. What we know is that at every given moment, no matter what security hole was just found and closed right now in some device, always later it turns out there were others not yet known by you but known and used by someone. This has been everything with an OS for 40 years. So yes, of course, right now, on every tv, and everything else, from any manufacturer, there are "grade 9-10" exploits just sitting there. It's the default state not some exception.
LoganDark 9d ago
I read the documentation and it appears that the only reason it doesn't still work is because development was "postponed for a few months" back in 2021. Presumably there is still the possibility of exploits on the latest versions, it's just nobody's bothered yet.
franga2000 9d ago
These vulnerabilities only get fixed because they're used by public rooting tools. If blackhat hackers found them instead, kept quiet about them and used them carefully, they'd never be fixed.
toast0 9d ago
> So, if one were to keep software up to date on their TV, I presume LG is like most vendors and stops issuing updates for older models after a while. It's pretty hard to keep software up to date when the vendor stops issuing updates.
mort96 9d ago
why would I want to keep the software on my TV updated, it's a screen
- dgellow 9d ago
  It’s a whole computer that runs YouTube, Netflix, Amazon video, etc
  - mort96 9d ago
    I've never used a TV that way, that's the job of whatever is connected to the TV. But if you do use your TV like that, didn't those things work when you got it? Why do you need software updates?
    - bcraven 9d ago
      I think you're being deliberately obtuse. You would update software on a TV for all the same reasons you update software on any other device: improved performance, better compatibly, new features, etc
      - mort96 9d ago
        No. My computer is a tool I actively use. The TV is an almost entirely passive consumption device. Was performance not good enough when it was new? If it wasn't, will the new software versions truly buck the trend we've seen in software for the past few decades and improve performance? What new features are necessary? Video playback has been a solved problem for the past few decades.
        sersi 8d ago
        With streaming apps unfortunately you can run in compatibility issues if you do not update. So for people using the TV for streaming, it does make sense to at least update that part of the software.