Sprint's HTC Hero rooted, promptly patched over-the-air
By Chris Ziegler 
posted June 7th 2010 9:59AM
posted June 7th 2010 9:59AM
Great news: the original Android 2.1 firmware for Sprint's HTC Hero was recently rooted. Bad news: Sprint and HTC were entirely too quick about fixing it, pushing out an over-the-air update this weekend that patches up the so-called "security vulnerability" without a new root yet in sight. Owners of rooted devices are naturally being advised not to pull the trigger on the new build at this time; too bad HTC couldn't have shown this kind of hustle with the 2.1 upgrade in the first place, isn't it?[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
I like the little quip at the end.
Why is this still a battle.. its like good guy (google) bad guy (phone company).. but then again its HTC that is fixing the root issue.. I wasnt aware root was an issue.... Hey I thought that was the point. So your saying what google says is ok, the providers say is not and HTC agrees with the provider because they are buying the phones off them... but the overall idea is that modding is what your supposed to do on android so underneath it all its just the same as everything else in America with double standards depending on the crowd your in.. geez
@no6969el No, I think the point is two-fold. First, there *is* a security vulnerability that let hackers gain root. It's a security hole, period. Not that they got root, but that there's a vulnerability that can be leveraged, and one outcome is to gain root on the device.
The second issue is that root users can tether and do what they want with the device, and with Sprint now getting into the business of selling tethering as an option, they want to plug that up.
@Student Driver
I know but I guess the issue is that they always have the root vulnerability even after the rom has been on OTHER phones... its like they leave it open on each phone first.. then patch.
those who upgraded to the last build and still desire root, can roll back to the 1st official build using the ruu that can be found on xda (the new one is already posted on Sprint's and HTC's site). root the .5 build and decline the .6 build using the work around on xda by Regaw
@troyboytn
so in reality its just like the g1 and every other version... where they hint root so you can get it. then cover it up... strange.. its like they all have root access first on purpose.. then patch.
they had the root fix on the Evo ready for release date.. And the new Moment updater doesn't allow unofficial Roms to be uploaded. Sprint knows how powerful the devs are and are trying to keep inexperienced users from cheating the system by making it tougher.
On another note I can confirm 4g was on yesterday in downtown la moving at 4.6bmbps...
HTC/Sprint should be THANKING the devs at xda rather than irritating them. If it wasn't for the dev community they wouldn't have as many customers, not to mention devs/flashers wouldn't be fixing things they haven't or won't fix in a timely manner.
@rawbros I agree absolutely, I wouldn't have an Android phone if it weren't for XDA, that is to say, it wouldn't be worth buying.
Good thing I didn't switch from my rooted, Sprint-app-free version of 2.1 to the official version!
mv /system/etc/security/otacerts.zip /system/etc/security/otacerts.zip.bak
After doing this, the OTA updates WILL still download, BUT they will not pass signature checks to flash. Got to block them updates son.