yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] spexwood:
Only temp root has been achieved on Kitkat.

So root WAS achieved, but it's temp root for now and tied to Kitkat. Most people want permanent root though and if you upgraded past OC5, you can't even downgrade back to KK in order to temp root.

So basically, all the things you mentioned are techicalities in wording. As I just stated, root WAS achieved, which is why that thread was closed. However, those who are now on Lollipop (for whatever reason) or those who don't want to deal with root disappearing after a reboot, don't have root. These people simply refer to it as "root not being achieved" when technically, they mean "[permanent] root not being achieved."

Does this make sense?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] KennyG123:
Any developer is free to open a new thread in the Developers Only section to discuss possible exploits on Lollipop to gain permanent root. They don't need permission. The issue is no decent exploits for Lollipop are floating around, otherwise the Keen team would have even a temp root solution for Lollipop root.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] Xak:
Guys honestly just forget dont expect root on ATT variant. I was patient since note 4 came out on att at the beginning recently just got a tmobile note 4 because i gave up on waiting. Also i think note 4 is better then note 5. So i spent 320 on a practicallly brand new tmobile 32 gb note 4 not blacklisted not even scratched. And now i have perm root and cm 12 android 5.1.1 and many more features. Way more snappier too. If you can afford to upgrade just get a tmobile note 4 instead save money. I still have. Both b/c contract though so now i plan on paying off that note 4 unlocking it then selling it for a couple hundred my att varient. Unlocking it will make it more profitable in the long run. Yes i unlocked my tmobile note 4 and free to by calling support b/c it was paid off and not reported lost or stolen. . Just an idea for people who want perm root.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] JOSHSKORN:
Root WAS achieved long ago by the makers of KingRoot, a Chinese product that sends information to China, which is the reason we all want to remove it with Supersu-Me Pro, once root access is made. It replaces KingRoot with SuperSU. It only works on KitKat. The problem was, and still is, write protection, which undoes root at reboots and also, over time as well. THAT is why it is referred to as "Temp Root". For that reason, and this is just my opinion, that this topic should've been closed long ago, and that a new discussion should've been opened, focusing only on disabling write protection. Maybe something like that already exists in a dev only forum, just to keep people that know nothing, out of the picture, which I can understand.

Now it's been said before, that in order to disable write protection, you need a "key" from Samsung. Good luck w/ that one. I'm no security expert, but I read something about it being some sort of SHA-256 hash. With at least today's technology, it seems impossible to break, otherwise it would've happened already. I wouldn't know if there's a way to extract such from the file used for the KitKat rollback or not.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] vonerk:
Custom boot logo persists

If for some reason I get the custom boot logo persisting through every hard reboot with the power button or every time i pull the battery and it says system status: custom every time I go into Odin mode is it possible to flash a custom rom? After a series of stupid freaky events this is happening. Used to be just once then I would lose root then next time no custom boot screen. Good thing is I remember exactly how I got it to do this. Bad thing is Google play and other apps keep crashing. At first I thought if I used the power button, write protection would kick in and fix it. But it didn't. I am using ATT Note 4 SM-N910A KK NIE was rooted with King root and used SuperSUme pro to install SuperSU. Before I reflash stock NIE I thought I might try the custom ROM in the developer section.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] LysolPionex:
Do you still have root, or just the logo?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] yamaha_wins:
So you basically lost functionality of your internal/external storage? If you use a file explorer can't you browse your storages?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] vonerk:
No root and no storage internal or external. Anyway to fix without reflashing?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] eklipz3:
This might be a long shot and don't even know if it will work but have you tried clearing your cache
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] yamaha_wins:
Not that I know of.. but gates did make some changes to supersu me that might help that issue.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] XVIravenIVX:
Anyone else find his issue interesting as potential hope? Because if it can be broke that way it means something didn't repair its self correctly which if repeatable could lead to a way around wp/dm verity, yet just being hopeful there. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] vonerk:
Wiping cache Didnt work
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] vonerk:
That is exactly why I posted my problem. Something broke it. Although I could make phone calls,text and some apps did work. The important ones didn't. Unfortunately KingRoot needs internet or i might have had perm root on a useless phone.my guess is whatever we need to disable might be in storage.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] mircury:
I don't think it's anything. You probably messed something up in your data partition which isn't protected with wp. The system partition is what you need.

I see a lot of focus on root vulnerabilities here which is already done and won't get us any farther. What you need is a vulnerability in the kernel module that does the WP.

No amount of root vulnerabilities elsewhere is going to do any good in obtaining permanent root.

It will just get overwritten.

So unless you see a vulnerability specifically related to dmverity or the kernel module, it isn't going to help assuming the bootloader never gets unlocked. It is a very specific vulnerability with a specific module that is needed.

There is a chain of trust in the boot process where each step loads the next while verifying it is unchanged and signed with SHA256. Samsung holds the keys. It goes from aboot ----> bootloader ----> kernel (this is where wp/dmverity is) -----> rest of the OS. Finding a vulnerability in the "rest of the OS" will only give temp root.

A vulnerability and working PoC in aboot, bootloader, or dmverity will result in permanent root.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] DamnCampers:
CVE-2015-3636 which is used by keen team that I mentioned above IS A KERNEL EXPLOIT. We either need someone that understands their white paper to implement it, or we need to reach out to them to see if they can provide some help with the implementation of it. If we can get it to work it COULD mean root for both Kitkat and Lollipop.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] mircury:
But that isn't a vulnerability related to the dmverity kernel module. It will allow privilege escalation but the wp module is still loaded. So as soon as you modify the system partition for root it will get over written on reboot or as the hash tree works it's magic. Also remember if you try to disable dmverity with the newly found root your phone will not boot because it will fail the signature check.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] DamnCampers:
From the way that I am reading their white paper it looks like it exploits then kernel's use-after-free option, which I'm not sure if that is dmverify or not. I posted a link to white paper a few posts back if you or someone else would like to look it over.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] Surge1223:
Indeed you are right. Theoretically this is all one should need to attempt to disable wp, and maybe more. I'd start investigating how dm-verity is implemented. It's in $KERNEL_SRC/drivers/md/ and also in the platform tar.gz that comes with kernel source. Of course, this is only after you find the addresses for lkmauth and either hijack kernel execution via /dev/mem using native assembly or find some means to allow you to write to /dev/mem so you can disable module verification (lkmauth) . As a bonus, this also opens up avenues for smc calls and qsee/tz secure channel execution.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] zxz0O0:
Some things:

- the exploit will allow you to write to kernel, so not sure what you need /dev/mem for

- dm-verity is not a write protection

- if dm-verity is implemented, there is no way to disable it without a custom kernel

- if I remember correctly, the write protection for this device is initiated by a mode which prevents disabling the wp after it was enabled
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] mircury:
Ya I read that when it came out. Unfortunately, here is what team keen said about the Note 4 and this kernel exploit in their XDA FAQ.

Q: Note4/Z3/Old Samsung/etc?

A: We also wrote the rooting engine in KingRoot 4.0 for generic 32-bit devices. Give it a try. Note that for some devices like Note4, only temp root is achievable.

---------- Post added at 03:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:40 PM ----------

I've been trying to understand how the S6 was able to be perm rooted (before May 15th builds) since dm-verity was implemented. Or was it? When I do a search I find people that have had dm-verity errors on the S6, so if it was implemented it must be in a different way. I'm just wondering how this Note 4 is unique. I bet is has something to do with the use of the exynos vs qualcomm.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] Surge1223:
I didn't say dm-verity was wp. I'm just saying people should look into how it's implemented. It's been awhile since I looked at the wp function but iirc it loads at boot, verifies a hash it has pregenerated, and then unloads, but even if it says in memory, that doesn't eliminate all avenues.

For example, you can now look into any tz/qfprom vulnerabilities to see if there are any vulns that allow you to send a secure smc call, or you could load kexec via a module, have it write reboot code to a location that won't get invalidated by cache using its relocate code, and boot into a custom kexec kernel.

Also I'm just saying this opens doors for this note 4 crowd, thats desperately in need of hope.

Also the checks on whether the device is commercial or unlocked seem to be set in qfprom so there's that I guess.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] mircury:
From what I've read it really isn't block based like google's suggestion. It's tree is file based according to the KNOX whitepaper.

"KNOX's implementation of DM-Verity differs from stock Android in supporting file-based firmware over-the-air (FOTA) software updates. This approach is easier to support with the existing infrastructure than the stock block-based approach."
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] Surge1223:
I know. Samsung also somewhat details their implementation in the platform.tar.gz I mentioned comes with kernel source.

Also, as a sidenote, if anyone is curious how wp actually works, just look in aboot.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] zxz0O0:
Whenever data is read on a partition with dm-verity, the block is verified by a hash (this is done in kernel). If the hash is incorrect, it will result in a I/O error.

dm-verity is started by fsmgr (which is located in ramdisk) and makes ioctl calls to the kernel. If fsmgr detects the dm-verity hashtable to be modified or non-existent, it will skip mounting the partition. So trying to modify the hashtable or removing the dm-verity metadata will just result in a bootloop.

Now you could disable dm-verity in kernel and modify data (assuming there is no other protection which prevents writing), but after a reboot dm-verity will be enabled again before anything else is run (except the kernel ofc) and data will be corrupt / not readable.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] Surge1223:
Is it loaded before qseecom/tzapps? Because if qseecom API is loaded first then there could be a way to have code execution there. Actually I'll just have a look instead of basing things on assumptions. I'm just spit balling here lol.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] zxz0O0:
If you mean the apps located in /system/etc/firmware, then yes it's loaded before. dm-verity is loaded before any partition is mounted.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] mircury:
How can that be if it's a file based hash tree? Maybe it's a hybrid?

Edit: Well I guess it could still be loaded and when the partition is mounted start looking at files.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] zxz0O0:
fsmgr reads the dm-verity metadata which is located at the end of the partiton and verifies the hashtable signature. Then it sends the hashtable to the kernel via ioctl. After everything is done it will mount the partition. The kernel keeps the hashtable.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] mircury:
ahhh, clever.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] playerone_:
And then there was silence.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] Clienterror:
Right? I think it might be time for people to just move on, I did 6 months ago. The phone isn't bad without root and it isn't going to happen.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] TechBSwift:
Just buy the nexus 6p
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] playerone_:
It's near the top of my list along with the moto x pure. Just waiting to see them side by side in a comparison.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] DamnCampers:
Stagefright 2.0 details have been released.

https://threatpost.com/stagefright-2-0-vulnerabilities-affect-1-billion-android-devices/114863/

This might be worth looking into again.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] edjahman:
Unfortunately the Nexus 6p doesn't really look so wonderful IMHO.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] omair2005:
550 for 64gb looks great to me!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] playerone_:
Yeah the camera looks like that dude from xmen, buying a phone is getting ridiculously hard.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] Adaken13:
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/ne...-more-than-1-billion-android-users-vulnerable

someone take a look :D
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] mircury:
Sorry, it's not going to help. Read post's 3342 through 3357.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] dan6677:
topic

It’s nice to see no one cares about on or off topic anymore. (Just a hint of sarcasm)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] edjahman:
Who own permanently rootable devices...
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] DroidHelp101:
Traded my note 4 for a nexus 6. Broke my screen the same day but months later it was still worth it....just my opinion
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] ProxyOne:
I've been silently following these forums since I first rooted my i717. Now that I have a Note 4 that still isn't rooted, I have hope and a BIG thanks to all the developers who have been working on our phone. Everyone who's complaining, just switch phone's and move on. Besides, our phones are MUCH faster than most and better than anything that Apple has haha. Sit tight and brain storm, somethings coming
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] Jmelendez1:
Safe to say that pipe dreams end in the sewer. Nexus P it is.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] Puppy69us:
Could "Stagefright" help us obtain WP abilities on this device? Or do we have to find a specific exploit specific to our devices? I couldn't find this exact question being answered. Thanks!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] pattonsj:
No. Yes. Posts 3342 and 3344 of this thread.

Sent from my SM-N910V
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] keithfrombm:
Cyclops! LMFAO I thought the same thing. It's hideous. Huawei can't be serious with that.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] edjahman:
Besides looks it doesn't really appear to be so great hardware wise. I've been mulling over if it's worth buying so I can have some freedom once again.

Anyone else considering the 6P?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] vsn4:
Love the idea of the freedom! I've given much thought on this matter too! But I think I'm just gonna stick it out on the note 4 and hope and pray that temp root for it becomes more and more stable! I'd be more satisfied with that out come, over losing features that's grown on me! Hopefully someone will disable wp one day! But for now my hopes are a temp root that holds and does not cause any random reboots! I also hope gatesjunor hasn't given up on improving supersume or our note4's
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] hammer860:
I have been thinking about the same switch. I went from a note 2 to 4 and went with att phone before checking. The 2 was a T but I was on one of the cheep plans that used att network. How do you like the nexus? Thanks
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] keithfrombm:
I thought so too. But now, I'm convinced that Android just needs more powerful hardware (i.e. LOTS MORE RAM) to run lag-free. Now that Samsung has figured out how to DOUBLE the RAM in the same amount of space in SOC's, I think in a year or 2, we'll see 6gb RAM phones. Then, there'll be no more excuses.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] spexwood:
Every time I see this thread bumped, I get hopeful that there's progress with root. Instead, there's only talk about what phone people should switch to. >:(
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] Chris_howe:
Feel the same way...
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] elliwigy:
welcome to an active dev community.. the posts you see (imo) are other hopefulls who frequent here in hopes of exactly the same thing.. better that than nothing at all.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] v3ngence:
I thought I finally found a root app that would actually force me to switch from the Note 4!

I got a new car stereo that can do android auto and I wanted to watch Amazon video too,

everyone I read said you needed AppRadio Unchained but I found out it's a root app!

But I tried connecting the Note 4 with an MHL/hdmi adapter and it works great! Still no need for root IME :good:
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] Jmelendez1:
This thread is officially dead. Nothing to see here.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] hiperglyde:
is proot something we can use?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] FiniteTime:
Neat stuff, typed up for reference:

Vulnerability Statistics

High 3, Medium 0, Low 1

Google Android Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Android WAPPushManager Module SQL Injection Vulnerability

Android Settings application Privilage(sic) Escalation Vulnerability

Google Android 'handleSmsSent()' Function Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Edit:

To see more info about these vulnerabilities, go to http://www.varutra.com/mvd/

Click on "SEARCH OS VERSION" and put in "4.4.4" (without the quotes) then click "SEARCH" to the right.

Edit 2:

Seems the latest, CVE-2014-7911, is that one that's been talked about before where to make use of it another exploit needs to be discovered: https://www.reddit.com/r/netsec/comments/2mr9cz/cve20147911_android_50_privilege_escalation_using/

So continuing to not update is still how to wait for root.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] charlie.s:
Has anyone attempted to root this device with ChimeraTool?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] holywhitebread:
If you search within this thread, you'll find info on that.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] charlie.s:
You are quite correct -- mea culpa. Unfortunately, the question remains unanswered :(
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] grmcrkrs:
It was also answered. No root, only unlock.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] acts4:12:
Hey guys. Saw this today on one of my Google+ feeds. Has anyone tried this: http://www.androidean.com/2015/01/how-to-root-your-device-without-voiding.html?m=1
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] thawte:
That looks like a really old post from 2015....
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] thanitos:
Are you from the future?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] thawte:
eh ooops my bad....been a long day and was thinking it was 2016... My bad. But still the page is talking about version 4.3
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] acts4:12:
If you read the page it says any device 4.0 and above. It also says it works on Samsung Knox. At any rate, it may be worthless but I just thought it wouldn't hurt to share and let someone who knows more than me have a look at it.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] thanitos:
Give it a try the worst that can happen is nothing, if the exploit it uses is not on the note 4 it won't do anything
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] MrPlNK:
So what happens if it hacks your phone and you get all your information stolen?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] jonrobertd:
Tried the APK and desktop software, desktop could not connect even though usb debug is on ???, and apk did not root. Oh well. Oh AVG popped an apk the desktop software had, clean(something).apk as android/deng

AVG on phone showed nothing.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] torreon901:
it dont work i tried.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] jtc276:
I've gone through the last ten or so pages, so sorry if this has been addressed already. But is there any progress to speak of? Do we have any devs working on this right now?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] McKinnisG:
No real progress to speak of and yes, there are developers working on it. This matter is going to take some time. Be patient.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] jtc276:
That's good enough news for me. I'm in no big rush, I'm just new to the device and just wanted confirmation that people were working on it. I'm actually rather satisfied with the phone on stock, but having root access is always nice.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] ExtremeRyno:
I'm certainly in no rush for root, but I am looking forward to using Tincore for my gamepad and a few other root-only apps I've paid for. Honestly, other than that, this phone works so much better than my old (very old) HTC that I'm pretty satisfied. I look forward to throwing some cash at whichever dev out there does achieve root, though.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] Simsron1:
Can't wait to stick it in AT&T's a** when root comes through.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] Puppy69us:
limit people's input.

Is there a way for the Mod to limit this room specifically to the people developing solutions for this device? I'm fairly sure they would stay on topic and we wouldn't need to keep reminding people. Thank you devs for all the work.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] pcgate:
And how exactly would they determine who is working on root? Thanks for the great read guys and hard work.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] jbeef86:
Not sure what the point would even be since there hasn't been a really relevant post here in weeks. If there is going to be a perm root it's going to be because something new was tried on another phone then tried it on this one and it worked. Basically I am doubtful anybody notable is working on this device specifically a little if at all.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] TheCruzz:
I hope that once this phone gets to Android M 6.0, that hopefully like kitkat did to the note 2, we get a bootloader update, that is literally are only hope at this point, we are just in a bad place right now, im already dsving to buy a 6p, but i still want this phone to be rooted, so hopefully Android M brings hope to this phone.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] Reinaldo33897:
I would be surprised at all if this phone doesn't see M6 as at&t would rather you see it by buying a new phone than rather update an old phone. The ***holes they are, I'm done with their upgrades once my phones are done with paid for. Hopefully their is a developer out there that has the motivation not to let at&t beat us and is diligently working on a perm root. I don't need an update just a pleasant shocking joy it has been accomplished. Please everyone do not reply with the silly comment root has been accomplished as temp root is not root PERIOD!!! as it disappears once phone boots.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] elliwigy:
you my friend are confused as to what root really is if you think it has not been rooted at all because of WP.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] Reinaldo33897:
I know what root is this is not my first rodeo, thank you for stating what I asked not to be stated in a different format. Let's just drop it so that thread does not go off tangent. If your a kingroot supporter enjoy it, I won't waste my time with it. I Will not respond to anymore comments to keep thread on course.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] DroidHelp101:
I have a nexus 6. Root is the bomb. Like good pussycat
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] elliwigy:
i have root on my vzw s6e lol. an unlocked BL is another story of course
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4] stealyourface1:
unfortunately no s6 root 4 me anymore[emoji19] ...but it's running 5.1.1 now and wow what a trade off [emoji23] [emoji53]