Evolution of iPhone Baseband and Unlocks

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Posted May 24, 2012 at 3:25pm by Shalom Levytam

MuscleNerd presented on the evolution of iPhone baseband and unlocks at HITBSecConf in Amsterdam today.

Since the first iPhone in 2007, the baseband that Apple uses for cellular communications has evolved in terms of both hardware and software. Some of the changes were minor but others were quite drastic and obviously aimed at deterring carrier unlocks. This paper details the most interesting of the changes and what effects they've had on both software-based unlocks and hardware-based SIM interposers. In addition to comparing the most recent baseband against its own earlier hardware and software incarnations, we compare it to other current Qualcomm handsets and discuss the ramifications of changes Apple has made to the traditional Qualcomm baseband boot sequence.

You can download his full presentation slides from here.

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mmc - May 24, 2012 at 10:33pm

Don't forget Geohot also unlocked first iPhone with hardware unlock... So to correct your statement "the only software unlock geohot released was blackra1n"

jsus - May 24, 2012 at 4:57pm

this guy is very sharp in what he does too badhe couldnt find an exploit

Al - May 24, 2012 at 4:51pm

Geohot was awesome, comex too. Without them, there is less progress in the hacking department. There have been no software unlocks since baseband 1.59.00.

Jbrown - May 24, 2012 at 4:04pm

Geohot will always be the king of baseband unlock. Dev team = weak.

zwabbit - May 24, 2012 at 4:29pm

I'm guessing everything is trial and error and things are getting more difficult with time. I think a lot of time LUCK plays a factor...