How to connect to a GoPro Hero 4 Black and get a root shell

TheBasicPilot · Dec 20, 2015

Super Simple way to get to root on your Gopro Hero 4 Black and 3, 3+

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Rich · Dec 21, 2015

Good to know, thanks for sharing this. Now if someone can learn how to change the GoPro lens profile via this hack, it will be very useful!

Dmitry · Dec 21, 2015

Rich said:
Good to know, thanks for sharing this. Now if someone can learn how to change the GoPro lens profile via this hack, it will be very useful!

what line to search?

PdxSteve · Dec 21, 2015

Dmitry said:
what line to search?

Nobody knows yet

pyrate · Dec 21, 2015

CONFIG_LENS_OEM = y
needs to be CONFIG_LENS_OEM = n

TheBasicPilot · Dec 21, 2015

pyrate said:
CONFIG_LENS_OEM = y
needs to be CONFIG_LENS_OEM = n

That is not the answer, that comes from a config file, also in that file are references to Canon and Nikon which have nothing to do with GoPro

Dmitry · Dec 21, 2015

pyrate said:
CONFIG_LENS_OEM = y
needs to be CONFIG_LENS_OEM = n

I connected via SecureCRT
ls
cd /tmp

Where to find the "CONFIG_LENS_OEM = y" ?

pyrate · Dec 21, 2015

TheBasicPilot said:
That is not the answer, that comes from a config file, also in that file are references to Canon and Nikon which have nothing to do with GoPro

news to me, isnt this the mystery switch we have all been looking for?
or did i miss something

TheBasicPilot · Dec 21, 2015

pyrate said:
news to me, isnt this the mystery switch we have all been looking for?
or did i miss something

Did someone actually do the mod with that switch? I think someone found that parameter and crowd hysteria took over and that is now "the parameter" to change. If it were just changing one parameter it would have been done hundreds of times already and fully documented.

I think it's just a parameter in a file on a website that has hundreds of of parameters in it. Most of those parameters are generic and have nothing to do with GoPro. The only way to do this is to connect to a camera that has already be modified and do a "find" of any files modified during the date you had your gopro profile changed.

I would gladly stand corrected if that is not the case.

TheBasicPilot · Dec 21, 2015

Dmitry said:
I connected via SecureCRT
ls
cd /tmp

Where to find the "CONFIG_LENS_OEM = y" ?

So it worked like in the video?

PdxSteve · Dec 21, 2015

TheBasicPilot said:
Did someone actually do the mod with that switch? I think someone found that parameter and crowd hysteria took over and that is now "the parameter" to change. If it were just changing one parameter it would have been done hundreds of times already and fully documented.

I think it's just a parameter in a file on a website that has hundreds of of parameters in it. Most of those parameters are generic and have nothing to do with GoPro. The only way to do this is to connect to a camera that has already be modified and do a "find" of any files modified during the date you had your gopro profile changed.

I would gladly stand corrected if that is not the case.

No, it's how you removed the profile for older gopros before they disabled the ability to run an autoexec.ash file from the gopro memory card, which would run scripts whenever the gopro booted. There are tons of hacks... KonradIT/autoexechack · GitHub

TheBasicPilot · Dec 21, 2015

PdxSteve said:
No, it's how you removed the profile for older gopros before they disabled the ability to run an autoexec.ash file from the gopro memory card, which would run scripts whenever the gopro booted. There are tons of hacks... KonradIT/autoexechack · GitHub

I doubt you will find that particular one on that website. The video I did shows you how to get in. You can run any script you want by putting it in "override.sh" you can see an example if you look in that file.
It makes the telnet daemon executable, then opens the firewall fully then starts telnet. So if you find those elusive commands then you can put them in there.

I just don't think that will work. But I've been wrong before, correct that, I read about a guy being wrong so that's close enough.

TheBasicPilot · Dec 21, 2015

And this is how you do it.
Any commands that you need to run go in the overide.sh
Be sure to test the commands first before editing the override.sh file.

Currently the file does the following:
copies some files to the /tmp directory
sets the executable bit on the telnet daemon
opens the firewall
starts the telnet server.

MikeyM · Dec 29, 2015

Could someone explain what the advantage is to get Root Access? What does that do for you, or what are you trying to control or accomplish?

TheBasicPilot · Jan 2, 2016

MikeyM said:
Could someone explain what the advantage is to get Root Access? What does that do for you, or what are you trying to control or accomplish?

There are many scripts available that can be run to get special and extended functions available from your gopro.