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TBH, this sounds like nonsense. What kind of ROM? There are not many ROMs in tablet SoCs. And how would it affect Android install in such a specific way? Wipe t

by megous 5y ago

TBH, this sounds like nonsense. What kind of ROM? There are not many ROMs in tablet SoCs. And how would it affect Android install in such a specific way? Wipe the whole eMMC and install a fresh, clean AOSP build and something is forcing a home page in a browser? Without a lot more detail, this sounds all kinds of improbable.

Ccecil 5y ago
I wasn't the one doing the work on it and I may be incorrect about how it was working. It was at a level where it wasn't a simple update software fix...it required more. Asking now to see about specifics. What I do know for sure was it was bad enough that we decided never use them.
vorpalhex 5y ago
Android uses an A/B partition scheme. Either the bootloader can be infected or both partitions can have the malware. With the A/B split, even if you blow away eg B, A can reinfect B. It would be trivial to add extra circuitry to reinfect both partitions as well.
- megous 5y ago
  Right I guess I assumed 'wiping android' meant starting over: erasing the eMMC via TRIM and flashing a new bootloader/repartitioning/etc. via BROM USB mode or something like that. I guess OP might have meant just 'factory reset'. Which is not really 'wiping the android' at all.
mads 5y ago
I worked in a factory, where all the pc’s were infected with malware - at the production line too. This would have the unfortunate effect that when we wanted to flash calibration data to the device, malware would write itself to it because the way we would write the data was to a special section of the eMMC that would get mounted as a drive - malware detected a new drive and copied itself. We only discovered it because sometimes the devices wouldn’t boot - I think it took 3 days of nonstop debugging to figure it out. They thought we were crazy, when we finally tried to convince them that something was not right with their setup. That was a large factory in China. I remember Philips had a production line there also.

by megous 5y ago

Ccecil 5y ago

I wasn't the one doing the work on it and I may be incorrect about how it was working. It was at a level where it wasn't a simple update software fix...it required more. Asking now to see about specifics. What I do know for sure was it was bad enough that we decided never use them.

vorpalhex 5y ago

Android uses an A/B partition scheme. Either the bootloader can be infected or both partitions can have the malware. With the A/B split, even if you blow away eg B, A can reinfect B. It would be trivial to add extra circuitry to reinfect both partitions as well.

megous 5y ago
Right I guess I assumed 'wiping android' meant starting over: erasing the eMMC via TRIM and flashing a new bootloader/repartitioning/etc. via BROM USB mode or something like that. I guess OP might have meant just 'factory reset'. Which is not really 'wiping the android' at all.

mads 5y ago

I worked in a factory, where all the pc’s were infected with malware - at the production line too. This would have the unfortunate effect that when we wanted to flash calibration data to the device, malware would write itself to it because the way we would write the data was to a special section of the eMMC that would get mounted as a drive - malware detected a new drive and copied itself. We only discovered it because sometimes the devices wouldn’t boot - I think it took 3 days of nonstop debugging to figure it out. They thought we were crazy, when we finally tried to convince them that something was not right with their setup. That was a large factory in China. I remember Philips had a production line there also.