I wrote: > Google Android applications on the T-Mobile G1 can spawn a telnetd > that gives remote root access to your phone: > > http://www.android-unleashed.com/2008/11/howto-get-root-on-your-android-g1-and.html > > This particular method needs user interaction, but a rogue Android app > could easily run telnetd automatically. Android apps are not normally > granted this sort of permission, and granting root is not supposed to > even be possible. Hi, I was mistaken. Turns out that init spawns a root shell on /dev/console -- so everything you type automatically gets executed, as root, as a command. This is just a bug and requires the user to physically type at the keyboard. I don't think it could be exploited automatically by an application. -jim
