back to article Heads up: OnePlus phones have a secret root backdoor and the password is 'angela'

An apparent factory cockup has left OnePlus Android smartphones with an exposed diagnostics tool that can be potentially exploited to root the handsets. Security researcher Robert Baptiste suggested the EngineerMode APK was made by Qualcomm, and was intended to be used by factory staff to test phones for basic functionality …

  1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Windows

    "Angela", eh?

    How fitting.

    Backdoor access to whole subcontinent....

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: "Angela", eh?

      They should have used "Whiterose" for extra lulz.

      (Link in case someone confuses it with the other white rose.)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "Angela", eh?

        'Angela' is actually a code word in the UK, but to share here its meaning and context in which it might be used would defeat its purpose.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "Angela", eh?

          I know something you don't know! Nar nar ne nar nar!!

          1. Sir Runcible Spoon

            Re: "Angela", eh?

            For those who are search-engine-challenged..

            http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/code-word-campaign-bad-dates-alert-bar-staff-a7371171.html

            1. DropBear
              WTF?

              Re: "Angela", eh?

              So is this something that simultaneously everyone should both know (in case they ever feel "threatened" in a bar) and not know (in case they are the cause of said "threat" or just to allow the word to function as the "discreet" glorified euphemism it is apparently meant to be)...? Doublethink: are we there yet...?

            2. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

              Re: "Angela", eh?

              Hmm, that can have unintended consequences.

              Suppose you hear of a new cocktail called "angela" and your partner goes and orders one, then you get a swat team arriving ten minutes later.

  2. Sureo

    An easy access to root would be useful to remove the crapware - as long as you can change the password.

  3. Tim Seventh
    Facepalm

    Root and no root

    When you get free apk to root device, they get raged at for backdoor and insecure.

    When you don't get root access, they get raged at for uninstallable bloatware.

    Just to say, most one click root aim at loopholes to root their devices. So this could potentially make those users who wanted rooted device harder to get root. Not saying the researchers reporting this is bad, but they should have posted it privately and not on twitter. Now all those root loving power-users know who to hate. icon->

  4. Michael Habel

    Mutti letting in undesirables in since 2015!

  5. teknopaul

    thanks for the heads up

    Polite way of saying "you idiot, if you hadnt blabbed on the internet you could have been awarded bounty"

  6. Trigonoceps occipitalis

    "the tool can also allow people"

    "the tool can also allow authorized police and security personnel"

    FYFY, it is a backdoor after all, just like what Amber Rudd wants.

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