Kindle fw 5.6.5 jailbreak
Posted by sky | Tags: Debian , Linux , Personal , Technology , hacking , installation , kindle , ssh , testing , usbnetwork
The latest jailbreak by Branch Delay for these kindles: paperwhite 2 & 3, voyage and basic, that are running firmware version 5.6.5 was announced and released on MobileRead Kindle Developer's Corner, 5.6.5 Jailbreak closed-kindle -- released!
Apparently, he was waiting for Amazon to release a fix for the bug before releasing the jailbreak.
Pre-requisite for the jailbreak is that the kindle must be running firmware version 5.6.5 , and download links for these Amazon firmwares are provided in the first post of the jailbreak thread.
Download the post attachment jb.zip , which contains these files in the extracted jb folder:
- frame.html, index.html, jb.html
- jb
The jb file is to be copied to the kindle root directory, after the kindle is connected as usb storage to the computer where the jb.zip is downloaded.
Following instructions assume computer is running Debian Linux.
- install a web server if your system does not have, eg. lighttpd
apt-get install lighttpd - copy the 3 html files in jb folder to the web server document-root /var/www/
(The jailbreak is performed via the kindle web browser by visiting the root url of your web server) - for some reason, the url must be a , so we install a dns server, dnsmasq
apt-get install dnsmasq - add the below line to /etc/hosts to resolve a to your computer ip, where \<computer ip> should be replaced by the actual ip address \<computer ip> a
Note: url need not be a , refer 5.6.5 jailbreak easy method, with links
Unplug kindle from computer, setup a wireless connection with the dns server ip set to the computer ip.
On my kindle (basic, kt2), this need the advanced settings: select the Static connection type to enable all the settings. All the settings have to be entered before connecting to wireless router. (or forget network, select wifi network, enter wrong password, select connect, select Set up, select Advanced for advanced settings)
Open the kindle web browser and visit the url a and follow the instructions on the page:
- Press Stage1.
- Press back after page fails to load.
- Press Stage2.
- Read titlebar for next steps. (user is given two minutes)
Once the titlebar shows "Run ;fc-cache in the search" ,
Click search icon, and enter ;fc-cache - Once the title changes to "Jailbreak succeeded!", you're done.
If the jailbreak is successful, download the attached zip file in NiLuJe post, and unpack it. Copy the Update_jailbreak_1.14.N_install.bin file to the root directory of your Kindle for installation, it just install the developer key.
To install, eject & unplug your Kindle, and go to [HOME] -> [MENU] > Settings -> [MENU] > Update Your Kindle.
After this, you must install Kual and MobileRead Package Installer, MRPI, a Kual extension that is required for the installation of other packages (previously, these packages can be installed via Update Your Kindle method)
The MRPI kual-mrinstaller-1.6.N.zip, contains 2 folders: extensions and mrpackages, both are to be copied to the kindle root directory.
Kual, Kindle Unified Application Launcher is a kindlet that is used to run other developers applications; including the installation of other packages via MRPI. Copy KUAL-KDK-2.0.azw2 to the kindle documents folder.
To install NiLuJe USBNetwork, download the attachment kindle-usbnet-0.21.N.zip , it contains Update_usbnet_0.21.N_install_pw2_kt2_kv_pw3.bin to be copied to kindle mrpackages folder.
Unplug kindle, Kual should appear on the kindle home screen. Select Kual to run it.
To install USBNetwork, select Helper, then select Install MR Packages. If its successful, the kindle is restarted.
USBNetwork allows one to ssh into kindle via usb or wifi.
The installation installs files to:
- /mnt/us/extensions/usbnet
- /mnt/us/usbnet
As a Kual extension, we can run Kual, select USBNetwork, then select Toggle USBNetwork to switch the kindle between a usb storage or ethernet via usb (also run sshd).
The config files for USBNetwork and sshd are all stored in /mnt/us/usbnet/etc/ (absolute path on kindle) or usbnet/etc/ (relative when connected as usb storage).
Edit/modify usbnet/etc/config :
USE_WIFI="true"
USE_OPENSSH="true"
Set USE_WIFI to true , to allow SSH over WiFi.
If ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub (user public key) already exists on your computer, this can be copied to usbnet/etc/authorized_keys so as to use ssh without password. Otherwise, use ssh-keygen to generate RSA keys first.
To test ssh over usb first, eject and unplug kindle.
- run Kual, select USBNetwork, then select Toggle USBNetwork (verify its status: usbnet, sshd up)
- plug kindle back to computer
and on the computer terminal,
- sudo ifconfig usb0 192.168.15.1
- ssh root@192.168.15.244
If ssh is successful, then ssh via wifi should work as well. (Run ;711 in kindle search to check the kindle ip)
Thanks to those MobileRead kindle forum admins, kindle developers and hackers!
For more of NiLuJe Tools Snapshots, and A helpful list of Extensions for KUAL.
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