In recent times, my mind has been occupied with a pressing question. Detecting jailbroken/rooted devices. Sure, it sounds pretty simple but here’s the catch—it’s actually not.
So, if everyone could chime in on their takes and solutions for detecting jailbroken/rooted devices, I’m sure it would be really helpful in making mobile devices foolproof.
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@raelynn , from my experience working with iOS devices, the most obvious and easiest method to spot a jailbreak is by looking for files or apps that only exist on jailbroken devices. If you find such apps on the device, that’s usually a pretty clear sign that it’s been jailbroken.
@skylar-a , I believe that existence of file paths associated with application packages of applications such as /Library/MobileSubstrate/MobileSubstrate.dylib on iOS devices is also a pretty strong indicator of jailbreaking.
Yes, that’s spot on @timo-liam .
If you’re trying to detect rooting in Android devices, a good place to start is by checking the device for apps like SuperSU, Magisk Manager, or KingRoot. These are commonly used to manage root access. You can also look for certain files and indicators that usually show up on rooted phones like Superuser.apk, /system/bin/su, and /system/xbin.su.
Just to add on to what @skylar-a mentioned, another method you can use to detect jailbreaks is by trying to run the fork() command. Applications on non-jailbroken iOS devices run in a sandboxed environment, which means they’re restricted from doing certain things like creating new processes with fork(). So, if an app tries to call fork() and it actually works, that’s a strong sign the device is jailbroken.
Just a head-up for the readers, there is never a fool-proof method for the detection of rooted/jailbroken devices. So, whichever point anyone comes up with can be easily bypassed in the hands of any individual who possesses the right set of skillsets to make a device jailbroken/rooted and at the same time make them undetected.
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