Amazon Fire TV Cube and Fire TV 3 have been Rooted

A group that goes by the name Exploitee.rs is claiming to have rooted the Amazon Fire TV Cube and Amazon Fire TV 3 (pendant). The exploit, colorfully named FireFU, has not yet been verified to work by anyone outside of the group, but their explanation of the exploit and their instructions are quite thorough, so there isn’t any reason to believe that their claims aren’t genuine. Unfortunately, the rooting method they’ve come up with is unlikely to be performed by many people because it relies on using a microcontroller, such as an Arduino or Teensy board, to force the Fire TV Cube or Fire TV 3 to enter a firmware upgrade mode by communicating over their HDMI connection. Read more ›

Posted in Article Tagged with: , ,

Amazon Fire TV Stick 1 running software version 5.2.1.1 has been rooted

As the title states, the 1st-generation Amazon Fire TV Stick running software version 5.2.1.1 has been rooted for the first time. XDA forum member tehlers, along with the help of forum member Spider1996, have successfully used the Dirty COW vulnerability to root that specific Fire TV Stick model running that specific software version. The reason this rooting procedure only works on that specific device and software is because unlike most rooting methods which inject the SU binary into the existing operating system, this rooting procedure overwrites the entire system partition, which contains the operating system, with one that is pre-rooted. So the files used must be tailored made for each device model and software version. Read more ›

Posted in Article Tagged with:

How to automatically enable USB OTG support on boot on a rooted 1st-gen Fire TV Stick

The 2nd-generation Amazon Fire TV Stick has USB OTG support enabled by default from the factory. This allows you to use a USB OTG cable to connect USB peripherals like keyboards and ethernet adapters. If you have a 1st-generation Fire TV Stick that has been rooted, you can also enable USB OTG support, which I’ve covered here and here. The issue is that OTG support on the older Fire TV Stick gets disabled again every time the device is restarted. This guide shows you how to configure a Fire TV Stick 1 to have OTG automatically enabled by default on boot as it powers on, so you don’t need to do it manually every time. Read more ›

Posted in Article Tagged with: ,

How to automatically run shell script files at boot on a rooted Amazon Fire TV or Fire TV Stick

Shell scripts are simply text files that contain a series of commands. Those commands can be entered manually into a shell prompt on a Fire TV device, but placing them in a script file gives you an easy and convenient way to run several commands at once. It also allows you to automate the running of those commands. This guide will show you how to configure a rooted Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, or Fire TV Edition television to run shell scripts you add at boot up as the device powers on. Read more ›

Posted in Article Tagged with: ,

Hulu and HBO apps not working on rooted 2nd-gen Fire TVs

Several people are reporting that the newly updated Hulu and HBO apps are not working on rooted 2nd-generation Fire TVs. Whatever the issue is, it seems to only be affecting that Fire TV model, since rooted 1st-generation Fire TVs and Fire TV Sticks seem to work fine with the new apps. Rbox is aware of the issue and is working on a fix, but needs people willing to test a potentially dangerous fix. Read more ›

Posted in Article Tagged with:

Amazon Fire TV rooting guides updated and revamped

I have been meaning to revamp my main rooting starters guide that walks you through the steps of rooting all the different software versions of the different Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick models. Since I needed to update it anyway with the new rooting information for the Fire TV Edition televisions, I spent a couple of days redoing the whole thing. The new rooting guide is at AFTVnews.com/root and covers every known rooting method for each device’s software version. Read more ›

Posted in Article Tagged with: ,

Don’t expect Custom Recovery and Pre-Rooted ROMs from Rbox for rooted Amazon Fire TV Edition televisions

It has become almost certain that every device running some form of Android will at some point be rootable. In the case of the Element Fire TV Edition televisions, it happened quicker than you’d expect because, as it turns out, the software version that the TVs ship with from the factory is rootable. It’s always great to have the option to root a device, but before you jump at the opportunity to root your Fire TV Edition television, you need to know that the release of custom recovery, like TWRP, and pre-rooted ROMs from rbox for these TVs is very unlikely. Even more important is understanding how that’ll affect the TV in the future if you do root it. Read more ›

Posted in Article Tagged with: , ,

Element’s Amazon Fire TV Edition television has been rooted

A reader of AFTVnews named Brandon Hammer has sent me a video showing that his Element Fire TV Edition television is rooted. Brandon says he was able to successfully root the device using the latest version of the KingRoot rooting utility, which is currently version 5.2.0. Brandon’s TV is running software version 5.2.5.0, which is not the latest software version for the Fire TV Edition televisions. Read more ›

Posted in Article Tagged with: ,

Fire TV mod “Playing with Fire” adds Android TV interface and Google Play Store without losing Amazon Appstore

A very impressive new mod for the Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick has been released that adds some of the best aspects of the Android TV operating system without losing access to the Amazon Appstore and standard Fire TV apps. The mod is called “Playing with Fire” and was created by a reader by the name of SimLynks. It allows for the use of the Android TV home screen launcher as well as the Google Play Store on a Fire TV device. It even lets you use Google’s Live Channels app and a connected USB Tuner. Read more ›

Posted in Article Tagged with: ,

Google Play Store now gives apps the option to block rooted devices

Earlier this week, it was discovered that the Netflix app on the Google Play Store was preventing users with rooted devices from installing the app. It was assumed the block was caused by changes to the app’s DRM. Android Police has discovered that it’s much worse than that. Google is now giving app developers the option to prevent rooted devices from installing their apps. Read more ›

Posted in Article Tagged with: , ,

Get AFTVnews articles in your inbox!

Get an email anytime a new article is published.
No Spam EVER and Cancel Anytime.

FOLLOW