GETTING root ON A SONY TV

The Sony Bravia series of HDTVs are a fantastic piece of kit; they’re nice screens that usually have sufficient inputs for the craziest house theatre setups. These TVs likewise run Linux, however up until now we haven’t seen anything that capitalizes on the truth these screens are wall-mounted Linux boxen. [Sam] sent in an exploit to root any type of Bravia TV – ideally the very first step towards replacing our house media server.

The exploit itself is a routine buffer overflow initialized by a Python script. The script sets up a Telnet server on any type of Sony Bravia with a USB port, as well as provides total root access. [Sam] was able to get a Debian set up running off a USB drive as well as all the Debian programs run correctly.

If you have a Bravia you’d like to test [Sam]’s script on, you’ll requirement a USB network adapter for the TV as well as a Telnet client to check out your TV’s data system. right now there’s not much to do with a rooted Bravia, however at least now running XMBC or other media server on a TV is possible.

If anyone would like to begin porting XMBC to a Bravia TV, [Sam] states he’s more than willing to assist out. We’re not conscious of any type of HDTV modding neighborhoods on the Internet, so if you’re part of one publish a link in the comments.