iPhone 3G baseband gets hacked - iPhone 3G unlock on the way

The venerable iPhone Dev Team released their new Pwnage Tool 2.0.1 jailbreak solution for all iPhone and iPhone 3G (iPod Touch, as well) handsets. First generation iPhones were fully supported with jailbreak, activation, and unlock software. Unfortunately, The Team wanted to hold off on releasing an iPhone 3G unlock solution until they were able to work out a fool-proof, software-based unlocking process. Much to the disappointment of many an iPhone 3G user, the Pwnage Tool 2.0.1 and subsequent WinPwn 2.0 tools lacked any iPhone 3g unlock support.

Today we have confirmation, from the iPhone Dev Team, of the first real steps in getting a simple, fully-working iPhone 3G unlock solution out to the masses. The latest post on their blog depicts a screenshot of an otherwise out-of-the-box iPhone 3G with an older “beta” baseband radio firmware version. The iPhone Dev Team says that only the iPhone 3G’s baseband radio was modified, everything else was left untouched.

We have accomplished this by being able to execute our own code on the baseband that allows us to circumvent security checks and flash the baseband with older, disallowed firmware. Please note this has been accomplished using software only, the iPhone 3G has not been disassembled or hardware modified in any way.

The baseband radio is what allows the iPhone 3G (and any other handset) to lock on to cellular signals. Now, the code that controls this radio is of interest to anyone looking to unlock their handset to work with any GSM carrier. What the iPhone Dev Team has done is that they’ve flashed the baseband radio with older firmware (the code that controls the radio) that can potentially be unlocked.

What does this mean for all iPhone 3G owners (and hopefuls) out there waiting to free their handsets from whatever evil carrier their currently stuck with? It means that our favorite iPhone hackers on the iPhone Dev Team are one step closer to producing a fully-functional iPhone 3G software unlock solution. To be clear, there is still no working software-based iPhone 3G unlock method, but keep your hopes up!

[Via: iPhoneDevTeam]