Apple's new Rootless security system makes iOS 9 jailbreaking impossible?

Apple's proposed security enhancements for iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 are widely speculated to make jailbreaking extremely difficult if not impossible, according to recent reports making waves on the internet.

One of the key changes in iOS 9 involves a new security system called Rootless that could prevent root-based exploits from being used in iOS

According to 9to5Mac, Rootless is a huge kernel-level feature for both OS X and iOS that is designed explicitly to preserve the security of sensitive data and increase the safety of extensions as well as prevent malware intrusions.

It is ascertained that Rootless will even thwart administrator-level users from being able to access protected file systems on Apple devices, while unconfirmed sources have told the publication that the new security system will deal a major blow to the jailbreak community as it makes the task of finding exploits a bigger challenge for hackers and veteran jailbreakers alike.

Nevertheless, the report confirms that the Rootless feature could be disabled on OS X, without divulging any information on how this could be accomplished.

Besides, the sources have clarified that the standard Finder-based file system will not be affected with the advent of the Rootless feature in iOS.

What this means to the future of jailbreaking?

iDownloadBlog sounds positive about the future of jailbreaking, as every single major version of iOS has been jailbroken till date and the last three kernel exploits didn't even use root.

It may be recalled that the only jailbreak that made use of root kernel exploit was evasi0n7, in the winter of 2013. So, effectively iOS can still be jailbroken without access to root apps or root-based exploits.

iOS has thrown several challenges in the past few years including the introduction of Apple implemented ASLR in iOS 4.3, which reportedly made it more difficult to access a particular exploited function in memory. But, the jailbreaking scene continued to prosper.

On the downside, the Rootless security system could clearly render root apps and/or root-based exploits unusable. For instance, Cydia and iFile apps make use of root access and since Rootless will block these kernel modifications at boot, the jailbreak community will have to find a way to circumvent this roadblock.

Consequently, the Rootless security system will bring new challenges to hackers and that could drive them to go the extra mile in their bid to crack the puzzle as well as steal the spotlight and fame that comes with it.