My android smart phone has fancy features that I can get if and only if I root it, e.g., free-wifi tethering or Cisco VPN (with group name/password). However, the procedure to root my phone has me questioning the underlying security model.
Specifically, I used a method from http://lifehacker.com/5789397/the-always-up+to+date-guide-to-rooting-any-android-phone that uses an application called "Revolutionary" that first gets the phone into S-Off mode (so you can access the parts of restricted parts of the NAND flash memory). Then it downloads and installs ClockworkMod recovery and installs to the bootloader, from which I can then run to install a superuser.apk (e.g., from here.)
Revolutionary is closed source, so I have absolutely no idea if it does anything extra to my phone; e.g., install a (malicious) rootkit, keylog my activities, using my phone in botnet ddos attacks, etc. I don't have any super-secure data on my phone; but don't want say my gmail/android accounts stuff compromised or let some random person use my phone to do random nefarious activities. I'm also a bit paranoid that revolutionary needs a key that you get from their website if you submit your serial number.
SuperUser.apk also appears to be closed source, but seemingly vetted by the avgfree anti-virus team as well as android marketplace. Though I assume I can use tools like android-apktool to re-egineer the apk. I can't figure out if clockworkmod is open source or not.
None of these applications seem to be open source, so I really have no idea what's going on. I don't use my phone for any high-security applications, but was wondering if any security experts have ever looked into these tools. I've tried running revolutionary through a decompiler/disassembler, but couldn't make any headway. Have there been any published accounts of attacks via this method? Am I being overly paranoid? Or should I worry that one of these apps did something like DroidDream.
