Chronic Dev Team Member Finds Bug In iOS 5 That Can Lead To Untethered Jailbreak

After seven betas, one GM and another performance improving update (which itself has two betas),

iOS 5 hasn’t received an untethered jailbreak yet. Folks who wish to enhance their experience with apps and tweaks from Cydia have to make do with a tethered jailbreak, but it appears that the jailbreaking community is getting closer and closer to an untethered jailbreak for iOS 5 as one hacker has sent out an update regarding its progress.

The update on iOS 5 untethered jailbreak comes from pod2g – iPhone hacker, discoverer of exploits and member of Chronic Dev Team – in the form of a tweet from his Twitter account in which he states that he has found a bug that can untether iOS 5.

From pod2g:

Hey jailbreaking friends, I’ve found a bug that can untether iOS 5. Don’t expect a release soon, but I’m gonna work hard in it.

No details have been given regarding the bug, but, perhaps, it is a userland exploit like the five userland exploits which were announced by p0sixninja at this year’s MyGreatFest. These userland exploits – unlike bootrom exploits – are software-based and, hence, would be available for all iOSdevices, including iPhone 4S and iPad 2 (as was shown by MuscleNerd of iPhone Dev Team), on the version of iOS which has the userland exploit.

The last userland exploit-based jailbreak was comex’s JailbreakMe which was based on a PDF exploit in Mobile Safari on iOS 4.3.3. The main disadvantage of a userland exploit is that it can be easily patched with a software update whereas bootrom exploits cannot be patched unless hardware is revised.

Current iOS 5 jailbreak is tethered-boot only, meaning you’ll have to connect your device to your computer every time you need to restart it. If you’ve got a supported iOS 5 device, you can jailbreak it using Redsn0w or Sn0wbreeze.

Tethered jailbreak is not very pleasant but there is a bit of a solution: SemiTether package from Cydia allows you to reboot your device with limited functionality so that your phone doesn’t become a total brick when you’re out of juice. You can follow our guide to jailbreak semi-tethered on iOS 5.0.1 or iOS 5.

Coming back to today’s update: pod2g hasn’t given any ETA but has promised to work hard on it to get it out as soon as possible.