Database Users

[REQUEST] Password protected recovery image

Hi,
I know this has been requested before for a bunch of other devices and in other forums, but the request was never answered, mainly because other devices had other holes to plug...
basically, my request is to mod the clockwork recovery image in order to protect it with a password. Why, you ask? Simple. The Nexus S has a good protected bootloader (when "oem locked" -- which you can lock while mantaining a custom recovery and/or rooted ROM). When someone steals my rooted phone, the only way to break in is:
- Use the phone normally - PATCHED - I use a pattern lock code;
- Use ADB on the phone via USB access the phone - PATCHED - I disabled usb debugging on the system image;
- Use the bootloader to reflash a new system/recovery image - PATCHED - I "oem locked" the phone so the phone does not accept unsigned images, and also a "fastboot oem unlock" wipes the phone, protecting my private data;
- Boot into recovery - NOT PATCHED - There is no way to password protect a recovery image, as of now.
So, can anyone please attempt this? I'm thinking of trying it myself, but I have very little experience developing for android, and I don't know the source code.
My suggestion is to create a customizable password (maybe a simple 4 to 6 digit PIN code input via the volume keys) on first boot of the recovery image. Then, in subsequent boots, ask for the code before turning on ADB and before giving access to the other recovery options.
If you forget the code, well... you still can reflash a new recovery via the system image. Also you can still fully wipe the phone, so you'll never brick it or anything.
What you guys think? I personally am very sad with this situation. When you root you basically lose all physical security with regards to the data on your phone, I think we can do better.

Sounds like a good idea.
lgrangeia said:
Hi,
"oem locked" -- which you can lock while mantaining a custom recovery and/or rooted ROM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you do this?
EDIT: This is how ... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=931865&highlight=oem+lock

I'll second this request. It will save me the pain of doing the following:
To secure my phone between "maintenance" events, I flash back the stock recovery image while I'm not actively performing "maintenance". Do this via adb while the phone is booted with:
flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery.img
You'll obviously need to put a copy of the stock recovery on your sdcard, along with a copy of clockwork for when you need to do some "maintenance". Note that the flash_image binary isn't present in all ROMs. I know CM7 has it, and in the early days I copied one over from my old Nexus One ROM.
Then turn off USB debugging, OEM lock and password protect your phone.

bubbahump said:
I'll second this request. It will save me the pain of doing the following:
To secure my phone between "maintenance" events, I flash back the stock recovery image while I'm not actively performing "maintenance". Do this via adb while the phone is booted with:
flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery.img
You'll obviously need to put a copy of the stock recovery on your sdcard, along with a copy of clockwork for when you need to do some "maintenance". Note that the flash_image binary isn't present in all ROMs. I know CM7 has it, and in the early days I copied one over from my old Nexus One ROM.
Then turn off USB debugging, OEM lock and password protect your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And you also need one more thing: To be running a rooted ROM. I might want to be running a totally stock rom and use a custom recovery, in order to take advantage of nandroid backup/restore.
If you are running a stock system rom, you cannot reflash recovery from system.
Does anyone know where's the best place to reach the main dev of clockwork mod? is it koush? I might try to tweet him directly to this thread.

I've been thinking about the security of these phones lately as well and it seems there's a lot of holes that a tech-savvy thief could utilize on Android phones... especially one that has custom ROMs.
This suggestion sounds pretty good, but I might be a bit confused. Do you use a terminal emulator on the phone to type in that command to flash between clockwork and stock recovery? Also, if you do a fastboot oem lock when you have a custom ROM, do you have to wipe the whole phone again when you want to fastboot oem unlock to put on another ROM?
bubbahump said:
I'll second this request. It will save me the pain of doing the following:
To secure my phone between "maintenance" events, I flash back the stock recovery image while I'm not actively performing "maintenance". Do this via adb while the phone is booted with:
flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery.img
You'll obviously need to put a copy of the stock recovery on your sdcard, along with a copy of clockwork for when you need to do some "maintenance". Note that the flash_image binary isn't present in all ROMs. I know CM7 has it, and in the early days I copied one over from my old Nexus One ROM.
Then turn off USB debugging, OEM lock and password protect your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

dinan said:
This suggestion sounds pretty good, but I might be a bit confused. Do you use a terminal emulator on the phone to type in that command to flash between clockwork and stock recovery? Also, if you do a fastboot oem lock when you have a custom ROM, do you have to wipe the whole phone again when you want to fastboot oem unlock to put on another ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dinan, I'm not 100% sure, but I think the bootloader lock/unlock only prevents you from flashing from the bootloader stage. So you can reflash a custom recovery from the system rom while "oem locked", but you cannot do that from the bootloader.
I thought a bit about this, and pluging this hole in the recovery will make the Nexus S very well protected against physical security attacks (especially since it doesn't even have a SD card slot).

So if I had flashed CM7, then reflashed the stock bootloader and did fastboot oem lock, in order to nandroid or flash a new ROM I would have to first flash clockwork recovery back? If that's the case, would I have to flash it through the terminal from the device or can it be done through adb (or ROM manager)?
lgrangeia said:
Dinan, I'm not 100% sure, but I think the bootloader lock/unlock only prevents you from flashing from the bootloader stage. So you can reflash a custom recovery from the system rom while "oem locked", but you cannot do that from the bootloader.
I thought a bit about this, and pluging this hole in the recovery will make the Nexus S very well protected against physical security attacks (especially since it doesn't even have a SD card slot).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

dinan said:
So if I had flashed CM7, then reflashed the stock bootloader and did fastboot oem lock, in order to nandroid or flash a new ROM I would have to first flash clockwork recovery back? If that's the case, would I have to flash it through the terminal from the device or can it be done through adb (or ROM manager)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM7 does not flash your bootloader. Maybe you meant recovery?
you can have an "oem locked" handset and still flash your recovery (or your system) image via both recovery or system, if you have any of those customized/rooted.
What "oem lock" means is that you cannot flash directly from the bootloader (fastboot flash), thats all.
PS: I really have no idea why this was moved to the general forum... this is a development request thread.

In short, what we need is a password protected bootloader which will require password for booting into fastboot or download mode or recovery.

Use Cerberus. Track, remote wipe, take photo, etc. It is embedded into /system and can't be removed with wipe data factory reset. Its all the security you need.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using xda premium

lgrangeia said:
Hi,
I know this has been requested before for a bunch of other devices and in other forums, but the request was never answered, mainly because other devices had other holes to plug...
basically, my request is to mod the clockwork recovery image in order to protect it with a password. Why, you ask? Simple. The Nexus S has a good protected bootloader (when "oem locked" -- which you can lock while mantaining a custom recovery and/or rooted ROM). When someone steals my rooted phone, the only way to break in is:
- Use the phone normally - PATCHED - I use a pattern lock code;
- Use ADB on the phone via USB access the phone - PATCHED - I disabled usb debugging on the system image;
- Use the bootloader to reflash a new system/recovery image - PATCHED - I "oem locked" the phone so the phone does not accept unsigned images, and also a "fastboot oem unlock" wipes the phone, protecting my private data;
- Boot into recovery - NOT PATCHED - There is no way to password protect a recovery image, as of now.
So, can anyone please attempt this? I'm thinking of trying it myself, but I have very little experience developing for android, and I don't know the source code.
My suggestion is to create a customizable password (maybe a simple 4 to 6 digit PIN code input via the volume keys) on first boot of the recovery image. Then, in subsequent boots, ask for the code before turning on ADB and before giving access to the other recovery options.
If you forget the code, well... you still can reflash a new recovery via the system image. Also you can still fully wipe the phone, so you'll never brick it or anything.
What you guys think? I personally am very sad with this situation. When you root you basically lose all physical security with regards to the data on your phone, I think we can do better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's a simple workaround for you, althought less convenient. Once you've made a nandroid backup, move it off your phone. Archive the image with a password and file name encryption on a computer. Extract the image from the archive when you want to restore it, then copy the extracted image to the phone to perform restore.
bubbahump said:
I'll second this request. It will save me the pain of doing the following:
To secure my phone between "maintenance" events, I flash back the stock recovery image while I'm not actively performing "maintenance". Do this via adb while the phone is booted with:
flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery.img
You'll obviously need to put a copy of the stock recovery on your sdcard, along with a copy of clockwork for when you need to do some "maintenance". Note that the flash_image binary isn't present in all ROMs. I know CM7 has it, and in the early days I copied one over from my old Nexus One ROM.
Then turn off USB debugging, OEM lock and password protect your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can extract flash_image from the ROM Manager app. Unzip the apk file and you'll find it in there. Any rooted ROM can then have this file moved into /system/bin for example.
Rem3Dy said:
Use Cerberus. Track, remote wipe, take photo, etc. It is embedded into /system and can't be removed with wipe data factory reset. Its all the security you need.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OP is talking about the security issue, not about the data surviving oem unlock. At the moment, anyone who gets the phone can go into CWM, mount the internal storage, get the image off the phone and extract data from it. The OP is concerned about this security hole.

Rem3Dy said:
Use Cerberus. Track, remote wipe, take photo, etc. It is embedded into /system and can't be removed with wipe data factory reset. Its all the security you need.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice. It turns out from little research that both Cerberus and "Theft Aware" have /system support. Call it "root" support if you will.
Now, Theft Aware is far more advanced in this regard in that it also hides the app as a system app with a custom name that you choose. Note that it requires some complexity if you want to uninstall (delete some files manually and stuff).
Theft Aware is also more polished and it seems more effort has been put into the 2.0 version.
Cerberus is more simpler and it feels I can trust them.

mightyiam said:
Nice. It turns out from little research that both Cerberus and "Theft Aware" have /system support. Call it "root" support if you will.
Now, Theft Aware is far more advanced in this regard in that it also hides the app as a system app with a custom name that you choose. Note that it requires some complexity if you want to uninstall (delete some files manually and stuff).
Theft Aware is also more polished and it seems more effort has been put into the 2.0 version.
Cerberus is more simpler and it feels I can trust them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So theft aware is a flashable zip that you flash from recovery?
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using xda premium

Rem3Dy said:
So theft aware is a flashable zip that you flash from recovery?
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has a "setup app" which you install which in turn installs the actual app. If you have writable /system it can install the app there or if you have ram FS then it can install using what you said.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

[Q] Going to be modding a RAZR M in a few hours...

Was wondering if there was any sort of process I should be aware of or anything like that.
From what I understand, I have to have the phone rooted, then run Motopocalypse, and then from there I'll have an unlocked bootloader. From there, I install a custom recovery (going for TWRP) via fastboot, and then choose a custom ROM/Kernel and Gapps to flash.
Now at that point, I'm wondering if I can use a flash drive over USB OTG to flash the files, or if I have to adb push them over.
From there, I simply setup the phone and everything should be fine?
I have experience with custom ROMs on Nexus devices and a few Samsung devices; never really messed with any Droid devices though.

espionage724 said:
Was wondering if there was any sort of process I should be aware of or anything like that.
From what I understand, I have to have the phone rooted, then run Motopocalypse, and then from there I'll have an unlocked bootloader. From there, I install a custom recovery (going for TWRP) via fastboot, and then choose a custom ROM/Kernel and Gapps to flash.
Now at that point, I'm wondering if I can use a flash drive over USB OTG to flash the files, or if I have to adb push them over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the easiest method is to have the files you want to flash on a MicroSD care and have that in the phone. Personally, I copy the files over to the phone before wiping anything, and then install from the MicroSD card. TWRP will see it as 'external1'.

Coronado is dead said:
Well, the easiest method is to have the files you want to flash on a MicroSD care and have that in the phone. Personally, I copy the files over to the phone before wiping anything, and then install from the MicroSD card. TWRP will see it as 'external1'.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, yeah totally forgot about just being able to do that

Soft brick / bootloader acces urgent help please.

I installed a custom rom, decided I wanted to go back to stock by restoring from TWRP, now in bootloop. I can boot into recovery and bootloader via the phone but my PC does not recognise that it is connected via bootloader. Is there a way I can rescue my device?
I have build B29M, and noticed there is a zip version of another build on this forum which I could have installed through TWRP, but would that make things worse?
Thanks for any advice..

Stupid question probably, as you've already installed a custom ROM, but you do have the fastboot drivers installed on your PC?

Yes it all worked before, I think it's because the phone must have defaulted back to not being in Debugging mode, and I can't access the OS to enable this mode.

leicablue said:
Yes it all worked before, I think it's because the phone must have defaulted back to not being in Debugging mode, and I can't access the OS to enable this mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, if you can reach recovery, flash another custom ROM to get the phone usable, then flash back to stock, looking at points 11 and 12.

I managed to fix it, for anyone who may encounter similar issue in the future...I tried restore again from TWRP but this time did not select Vendor Image, only Vendor.

I have this same problem, my PC doesn't see the phone when I go to bootloader and I can't fastboot at all. I can use my phone regularly copy files over. I already flashed to a new ROM from cataclysm to purenexus but still can't fastboot.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Is it OK to clean flash Factory Image in TWRP?

I want to make a clean Install of factory image (Android 8.0 Oct) on my Nexus 6P with TWRP.
Should wipe Dalvik, Data, System and Internal storage, then move the stock zip file (That I downloaded from google's web) from my computer to my phone and just install in TWRP? Will it work?
Device is unrooted, only has an open boot loader, I just want to make a clean install of Android 8.0

If you wipe your internal all your downloads and your factory image are gone.
Sure you can flash the unpacked *.img with twrp, but don't try to flash the bootloader or radio with twrp.
If you really want a clean start and wipe everything, then you should flash the factory image with fastboot. This will update your bootloader and radio too.

coremania said:
If you wipe your internal all your downloads and your factory image are gone.
Sure you can flash the unpacked *.img with twrp, but don't try to flash the bootloader or radio with twrp.
If you really want a clean start and wipe everything, then you should flash the factory image with fastboot. This will update your bootloader and radio too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi coremania, I have a few questions towards this method.
1. If the stock image is stored in either external SD card OR USB OTG, even then will there be any problem installing the the stock rom back using TWRP?
2. If the boot loader is unlocked, should one has to re-lock it first before reinstalling the stock rom either thru' TWRP or thru' Fasboot commands?. and finally,
3. Is it not advisable to flash the stock rom from the full factory image using TWRP rather than Fastboot?
(As I think it is easier to flash thru TWRP than typing those ADB commands in Fastboot).
Thank you for your inputs.

AndroMani said:
Hi coremania, I have a few questions towards this method.
1. If the stock image is stored in either external SD card OR USB OTG, even then will there be any problem installing the the stock rom back using TWRP?
2. If the boot loader is unlocked, should one has to re-lock it first before reinstalling the stock rom either thru' TWRP or thru' Fasboot commands?. and finally,
3. Is it not advisable to flash the stock rom from the full factory image using TWRP rather than Fastboot?
(As I think it is easier to flash thru TWRP than typing those ADB commands in Fastboot).
Thank you for your inputs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you decide to flash and test some stuff the bootloader should be always unlocked. If anything will went wrong and your bootloader is locked you're mostly f***ed. Never relock your bootloader until you want to sell your device.
I mostly use flashfire to flash stock and custom roms, TWRP is ok too, but it's easier to keep root and TWRP with flashfire by flashing stock images. Do not flash bootloader and radio with flashfire, never ever !!! There are TWRP flashable zips for bootloader and radio here on XDA, you only should use these with TWRP, but the safe way for bootloader and radio is fastboot for sure. Fastboot is the safest way for flashing stock,
but not absolutely necessary, you have to decide this for yourself.
Edit: to your first question, I never flashed with USB otg on the n6p, but I think yes it should be fine.

I hope someone here can help answer this question. I also want to flash factory image version 8.1.0 on my nexus 6P. But somehow my phone is not recognized by any computers I tried to plug it in. When I plug in the usb cable to the phone, it doesn't pop up the usb notification to choose MTP for file transfer. Then I try with Developer tab in Settings to choose it manually (USB debugging is enable) but it still doesn't work. My laptop has been updated with android usb drivers and other stuffs. I have a second phone (Oneplus 1) and it's recognized by my laptop the moment I plug it in. Please suggest any solutions to fix this. Thanks everyone.

sinjok said:
I hope someone here can help answer this question. I also want to flash factory image version 8.1.0 on my nexus 6P. But somehow my phone is not recognized by any computers I tried to plug it in. When I plug in the usb cable to the phone, it doesn't pop up the usb notification to choose MTP for file transfer. Then I try with Developer tab in Settings to choose it manually (USB debugging is enable) but it still doesn't work. My laptop has been updated with android usb drivers and other stuffs. I have a second phone (Oneplus 1) and it's recognized by my laptop the moment I plug it in. Please suggest any solutions to fix this. Thanks everyone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check your cable, or try a different with different port.
In the Dev options you can reset the debugging options, i guess a reboot is necessary afterwards.

coremania said:
If you decide to flash and test some stuff the bootloader should be always unlocked. If anything will went wrong and your bootloader is locked you're mostly f***ed. Never relock your bootloader until you want to sell your device.
I mostly use flashfire to flash stock and custom roms, TWRP is ok too, but it's easier to keep root and TWRP with flashfire by flashing stock images. Do not flash bootloader and radio with flashfire, never ever !!! There are TWRP flashable zips for bootloader and radio here on XDA, you only should use these with TWRP, but the safe way for bootloader and radio is fastboot for sure. Fastboot is the safest way for flashing stock,
but not absolutely necessary, you have to decide this for yourself.
Edit: to your first question, I never flashed with USB otg on the n6p, but I think yes it should be fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the clarification. So, far I have not faced a situation to flash my custom recovery either thru' TWRP or thru Fastboot. Instead, I am using my Nandroid backups taken from TWRP and using it to restore my system after I try a custom rom OR upgrade my system with the latest Magisk version for a systemless root. So far there are no issues. But, I wanted to be aware of the methods to go back to stock (without any user installed apps/data) if need be. I read in some forums that we need to re-lock the unlocked bootloader if we want to go back to stock rom using fastboot. Otherwise, the system will not be installed alright and might cause a bootloop.
That's why I wanted to clarify.
Thanks again for your inputs.

AndroMani said:
Thank you for the clarification. So, far I have not faced a situation to flash my custom recovery either thru' TWRP or thru Fastboot. Instead, I am using my Nandroid backups taken from TWRP and using it to restore my system after I try a custom rom OR upgrade my system with the latest Magisk version for a systemless root. So far there are no issues. But, I wanted to be aware of the methods to go back to stock (without any user installed apps/data) if need be. I read in some forums that we need to re-lock the unlocked bootloader if we want to go back to stock rom using fastboot. Otherwise, the system will not be installed alright and might cause a bootloop.
That's why I wanted to clarify.
Thanks again for your inputs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need to ever relock your bootloader. If you want to try stock and use TWRP try SuperXe 8.1. It's just flaahable stock with some extras you can opt out of your not intereseted.

AndroMani said:
Thank you for the clarification. So, far I have not faced a situation to flash my custom recovery either thru' TWRP or thru Fastboot. Instead, I am using my Nandroid backups taken from TWRP and using it to restore my system after I try a custom rom OR upgrade my system with the latest Magisk version for a systemless root. So far there are no issues. But, I wanted to be aware of the methods to go back to stock (without any user installed apps/data) if need be. I read in some forums that we need to re-lock the unlocked bootloader if we want to go back to stock rom using fastboot. Otherwise, the system will not be installed alright and might cause a bootloop.
That's why I wanted to clarify.
Thanks again for your inputs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't confirm the relock and unlock method to go back to stock. Senseless to me.

Instal twrp without a pc

I made a boo boo...
I wanted to try a different Rom, instead of installing firmware I installed the Chinese miui Rom in twrp, hit reboot and realised I'd just overwritten twrp with the mini recovery.
I have everything on a USB otg that I need but I've no idea how to get twrp back without the use of a pc. I won't have pc access until monday, is it possible to change recovery without a pc? The recovery now is also not in English, I'm not even sure how to change it to English?

Without root access, you can't flash a custom recovery in system...
"Official TWRP App" in Google Play can flash any recovery image if rooted.

is there anyway to root from the china rom?

BJozi said:
is there anyway to root from the china rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Without TWRP or a computer, no you can't...

What about using another phone or tablet?

No, although if you have tablet with Windows (not arm) you can

No just an android tablet. I guess ill just have to wait until I get home this evening and do it from the pc