Solving PwnageTool 2.0.3 permission issues
posted by: Ralf Rottmann | posted @ Tuesday, August 26, 2008 4:01 PM | View blog reactions

Update August 26th 2008: Dev Team has released the updated version 2.0.3.1 of PwnageTool which solves all the below issues. The remarks made in this post with respect to PwnageTool caused problems no longer apply.

 

In case you've updated your jailbroken iPhone to Apple's firmware 2.0.2 recently and used Dev Teams PwnageTool 2.0.3 which has been released on Monday August 25th 2008 you might have encountered a couple of issues. Driven by your feedback this post summarizes in a bit more detail how to resolve these issues.

Before you apply the fixes please note that the Dev Team has acknowledge the problems and announced an immediate update for PwnageTool. In case the issues do not severely affect you I recommend to just wait until they release their update and redo the jailbreak/activation/unlock.

Otherwise just apply the quick fixes outlined in this post.

Here are the symptoms you might be facing:

  • When opening the mail application iPhone repeatedly prompts for the password. Providing the correct password yields a "username or password for account <account name> is incorrect" error.
  • iPhone loses passwords set for protected WiFi networks.
  • Exchange syncing works for Calendar, Contacts and mailbox folder structure but sending/receiving mail fails with the incorrect password issue.
  • iPhone does not allow to set a Passcode Lock. After entering a new passcode twice the Passcode Lock stays OFF.

These issues seem to all be related to wrong file system permissions. One general workaround is to not include the Cydia package manager in your custom ISPW. I'm not going into any detail for this possible solution as Cydia provides much of the value of jailbreaking your device. I don't consider turning down Cydia as a good workaround.

Here is how you fix the permission issues:

  • Install the OpenSSH package via Cydia. Start Cydia, go to the Search tab and search for OpenSSH. It's part of the Telesphoreo source. Install it. OpenSSH is a background daemon which will allow you to log into your device via a secure shell.
  • Make sure your iPhone is connected to your local WiFi network. Find out the IP address of your device: Settings > Wi-Fi > <name of your WiFi network>. Note down your current IP address. For the remainder of this post my IP Address is 192.168.1.115.
  • Next use a SSH client to log into your iPhone from a Mac/PC connected to the same local WiFi network.
    • On a Mac OS X machine open a Terminal.
      • Type ssh root@192.168.1.115
      • If you receive a security note accept it by typing yes.
      • When prompted for the password type alpine.
      • Type chmod 777 /var/Keychains
      • Type chmod -R 777 /private/var/Managed\ Preferences/
      • Type restart
    • On a Windows PC get a free SSH client like Putty.
      • Start Putty. Leave all the settings with their defaults and in the Host Name field enter 192.168.1.115.
      • At the login as prompt type root.
      • At the password prompt type alpine.
      • Type chmod 777 /var/Keychains
      • Type chmod -R 777 /private/var/Managed\ Preferences/
      • Type restart

Obviously for the above steps you've got to substitute my IP address with yours. You might want to consider uninstalling OpenSSH via Cydia or at least turning it off as an open SSH port with the iPhone default password constitutes a security lack. BossPrefs available via Cydia, too, is a great utility which lets you turn OpenSSH on and off easily.

This should fix the mail password, WiFi password and Passcode Lock problems.

comments
Bucho stated:
# re: Solving PwnageTool 2.0.3 permission issues
This fixed those password problems but now when trying to sync iTunes says that the disk cannot be read from or written to... and disk not found.. any ideas???
posted on 8/26/2008 5:24 PM
CharlesJV stated:
# re: Solving PwnageTool 2.0.3 permission issues
I appreciate the steps for sure! fixed my problems
I followed the steps a little bit differently. Here's my approach....

1.) Download Terminal from Cydia.
2.) Launch Terminal
3.) Type 'su root' and hit return
4.) Type 'alpine' and hit return
5.) Type 'cd /' and hit return
6.) Type 'chmod 777 /var/Keychains' and hit return
7.) Type 'chmod -R 777 /private/var/Managed\ Preferences/' and hit return
8.) Type 'restart' and hit return

Thanks again,
CharlesJV - MMI Member
posted on 8/26/2008 5:27 PM
Ralf stated:
# re: Solving PwnageTool 2.0.3 permission issues
@CharlesJV: Yap. This one works using a local terminal. Thanks for pointing it out. Might be even more easy for some users to follow. I prefer having a real keyboard when I'm in a shell environment. :-)
posted on 8/26/2008 5:30 PM
Ralf stated:
# re: Solving PwnageTool 2.0.3 permission issues
@Bucho: I cannot confirm these problems and I've applied ALL of the fixes myself. May be a different root cause?
posted on 8/26/2008 5:31 PM
CharlesJV stated:
# re: Solving PwnageTool 2.0.3 permission issues
Yep.... sure glad this fix has come as quick as it did.... I didn't have any of my contacts this morning due to mobileme not syncing... it was craziness!
posted on 8/26/2008 5:34 PM
Adam Porrata stated:
# re: Solving PwnageTool 2.0.3 permission issues
I was having the Passcode Lock problem when attempting to setup my Activesync account. I did find posts for the first /var/Keychains fix but not the /private one. Thanks for that change which is where the problem was for me. Your last statement about typing "restart" didn't work but "reboot" did.

Not sure if that depends on what version of SSH you're running but I figured I'd let you know.
posted on 8/26/2008 5:47 PM
Audra Flores stated:
# re: Solving PwnageTool 2.0.3 permission issues
CharlesJV I had been searching all over the internet on how to get my email to work as I had the same issue "cannot access incorrect username or password". I finally used the directions you offered that alowed me to do it via iphone instead of the computer as all the other ways I came across! And I have to commend you for it!! I now have my email fixed and am ecstatic! As I have gone without it working for weeks and now I have this! Thank you again for way I appreciate the help on getting my phone to work correctly now! And extremely easy way as well! Thank you again!
posted on 9/26/2008 2:39 AM
fybexksq stated:
# fybexksq
fybexksq
posted on 11/16/2008 6:20 AM
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