[Sony Xperia XA1 Guides, News, & Discussion] rocker00:
First of all thank you so much for your awesome tool "Tickle My Android" which i really like it (Y).

i'm about to get XA1 Ultra so sure i'm so curious about root also but i'll try to make it clear,

simply, don't waste your time searching for a root tool because it's impossible to have root without modifying kernel, so, 100% all of these tools are just malware !

in the new devices there's something calls DM-Verity which is a check tool and that means any modification to /system will leads to bootloop,

so DM-Verity must be disabled ( through kernel of course ) & any mess with kernel means you have to unlock bootloader.

another thing, Sony ric which is prevent mounting system, so, any modification must be through recovery or it will leads to bootloop also, so we must also disable it.

fortunately on my xperia z2 there is no DM-Verity and there's a module to disable sony ric through recovery so root was possible without unlocking bootloader but starting from xperia z3+ DM-Verity appeared !

so now root is impossible without unlocking bootloader ( which means losing drm keys forever if you didn't back it up ).

i downloaded the firmware for xa1 ultra through xperiafirm and i unpacked the kernel and tried with these tools to see how its going on:

https://xdaforums.com/xperia-z5/development/root-automatic-repack-stock-kernel-dm-t3301605

&

https://xdaforums.com/crossdevice-dev/sony/poc-real-trim-instead-drm-fix-t3552893

the first one was hanging and i didn't get any information & the second one to be able to use it then you must put your ta.img ( your ta backup ) inside the folder,

i used my z2 ta.img as a test to see the process and the result was pretty good !

i successful disabled DM-Verity and there's no sony ric !!!!! but it's also still not safe and needs to be confirmed because maybe there's a bad surprise which is not clear yet, maybe something like sony ric but new !

so, if it's only the ****ty DM-Verity it's easy to disable it even away from this tool because we can't use it without ta.img, maybe by any script or unpacking kernel and modify it then repacking it this is not a problem at all & after that MAYBE we can flash supersu or magisk via ADB since there's no recovery yet ( completely not sure about this so it needs to be confirmed ) & in this case the choice is between root or drm features but at least root has been achieved.

so now, we need something like this to be able to backup ta without root and after that no problem of unlocking bootloader:

https://xdaforums.com/crossdevice-dev/sony/universal-dirtycow-based-ta-backup-t3514236

or

https://xdaforums.com/crossdevice-dev/sony/iovyroot-temp-root-tool-t3349597

or if it's not possible at this moment to backup ta without root then at least we need something like this to be able to to reactivate drm features such as camera denoise and x-reality...etc:

https://xdaforums.com/crossdevice-dev/sony/xperia-z1-z2-z3-series-devices-drm-t2930672

or

https://xdaforums.com/xperia-z5/development/sony-credentials-restore-unlocking-t3296383

or the worst choice...root without drm & waiting for a fix like those above !

anyway, root is not easy like before but it's still possible after all, i tried to clarify everything as much as i can and i hope there's a solution soon !

[MENTION=4120742]munjeni[/MENTION] we need your help bro, please if you have free time have a look, i uploaded the kernel for xa1 ultra so try to tell us how it's going on & what is new !

https://www.mediafire.com/?bc63fgjw99r785d

good luck for everyone :) .