Apple TV AppleTV Question Re: Jailbreaking

[Yebubbleman]

I have a simple "why is it this way?" question and (a) I feel like there'll be a few of you that know the answer to this question and (b) I don't yet feel like asking other parts of the Internet yet.

That being said, it is my understanding that (720P) second generation A4-laden AppleTV's are very much sought after because they can be jailbroken where (1080P) third generation A5-laden AppleTV's can't.

I'm told that a lot of this has to do with the A5 in the third generation AppleTV, but from the standpoint of these being iOS devices in essence, that doesn't make sense at the surface level as people have had no trouble jailbreaking other A5 devices like the iPhone 4S, the iPad 2, the original iPad mini, the fifth generation iPod touch and the 3rd generation iPad (if we're counting A5X in there too).

Given this, can someone please explain to me the technological hurdle at work that prevents third generation AppleTV's from being as jailbreak-able as their second generation predecessors? It'd be great to know.

(Disclaimer for Mods: I'm not looking for help on Jailbreaking; I'm merely looking for information on why one thing works and another doesn't.)

 

[Tmlfan3]

As far as I understand it works on the A4 chips as there's a bootrom exploit available for these. Same reason why you can JB an iPhone 4 on 7.1.1 but not the newer phones.

Without that exploit you need to find exploits in the OS itself and due to the simplicity of the Apple TV OS, there isn't really one. iOS is much more complex and therefore way more opportunity for holes

 

[dhlizard]

Correct - A4 devices are susceptible to Limera1n exploit, A5 and newer are not.

 

[maturola]

As far as I understand it works on the A4 chips as there's a bootrom exploit available for these. Same reason why you can JB an iPhone 4 on 7.1.1 but not the newer phones.

Without that exploit you need to find exploits in the OS itself and due to the simplicity of the Apple TV OS, there isn't really one. iOS is much more complex and therefore way more opportunity for holes

This is correct, however I wouldn't say that "there isn't really one". I'm almost sure there is one somewhere (Always is), we just haven't found it. it is also due to the lack of interest, the community even trying to find any exploit is very limited.