Geohot Towelroot Exploit Roots Galaxy S5 Devices On AT&T And Verizon

The Towelroot Android rooting software has been released for the Samsung (OTCMKTS:SSNLF) Galaxy S5 for AT&T (NYSE:T) and Verizon Wireless by George Hotz, also known as Geohot, a developer known for his role in creating jailbreak software for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS devices.

On Sunday, Hotz unveiled his Towelroot rooting software, which enables users of Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system to bypass software limitations on their Galaxy S5 smartphones. Towelroot, which is available through a website established by Hotz, was designed to root the Galaxy S5 specifically, but Hotz says the rooting tool may also work with many Android phone devices such as the Galaxy S4 Active, Nexus and others running Android software builds released before June 3.

Hotz further explains that Galaxy Note 3 devices from AT&T and Verizon may have some trouble running the Towelroot software but are somewhat compatible with Towelroot.

According to a report by Digital Trends, Hotz was able to create Towelroot through a Linux software bug that was recently patched on desktop versions of the OS but which remains in the Android OS, which is a variant of Linux.

As the first developer to release rooting software for the Verizon and AT&T Galaxy S5, Hotz is entitled to an $18,000 bounty pledged by members of the XDA Developers forum, who found the variants of the S5 incredibly difficult to root upon their release. But unlike crowd-funding solutions from Indiegogo and Kickstarter, Hotz will have to collect the money that was pledged from each individual user who said they'd give money to the rooting effort.

Hotz has previously released a number of software exploits, including the 2010 Limera1n iOS jailbreak, enabling iOS users to run unapproved software on their iPhones. He is also responsible for hacking Sony Corp.’s (NYSE:SNE) PlayStation 3, enabling it to run software unapproved by Sony.

Note: International Business Times is not responsible for hardware or software damage caused by utilizing unapproved software on your device. Proceed at your own risk.

Those looking to use the Towelroot software can download it from its official website.