It’s only been a few weeks since hackers released the Gingerbreak tool for rooting Android devices running Google Android 2.3.x. But Google has already patched the security flaw that Gingerbreak exploits in order to provide root access.
The good news is that doesn’t mean much at the moment. While the latest Android source code includes the fix, it will likely be a while before phone makers and wireless carriers start pushing the security update to phones.
On the one hand, it’s kind of annoying to see that Gingerbreak’s life will be limited. But on the other hand, this is actually a good thing. Gingerbreak only works because of a security flaw in the Anroid operating system — one that could theoretically have been exploited by a malicious app which would do more than just grant you root access to your phone.
In the meantime, if you haven’t rooted your phone yet, you might want to check out Gingerbreak before it stops working. If you have a Google Nexus One, you can follow my step by step instructions, which may also work for some other phone models.
via Android Police
