What is Strictly Enforced Verified Boot in Android Nougat?

After the launch of the newest version of Android. Google has announced that it will enforce strict boot verification, though the feature has existed since Android 4.4 Kitkat in which the user was notified if the device was tempered with.

With the arrival of Android Nougat, Google has taken this feature to the next level but what exactly is Strictly Enforced Verified Boot?

Here is the answer. During the boot, the kernel checks for errors in the system and won't boot if it detects any corruption in the software. Though the feature has been in existence since Android 4.4, it was only made public with the release of Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

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SO HOW DOES IT WORK?

During the boot-up, the kernel dm-verity checks the signature of every block against a signed hash tree to make sure the software is not compromised, should a single byte be corrupted, the entire block becomes inaccessible. A software with corruptions won't boot-up but it will give users the option to boot the system with limited functionality aka safe mode.

Sami Tolvanen, a Software Engineer at Google had this to say.

“Such strict checking, though, means that non-malicious data corruption, which previously would be less visible, could now start affecting process functionality more,” the engineer explains.

THE FEATURE WILL NOT BE ACTIVE ON DEVICES WITH UNLOCKED BOOTLOADERS

Google says, the feature will only be active on devices with locked bootloaders and not on devices that ship with bootloader unloced by default. If you want to root a locked device, it will definitely create problems for you.

WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU WANT TO ROOT YOUR DEVICES?

The answer is, you can't do anything. Devices with unlocked bootloaders will have little to no problem being rooted. Though some devices come with the option to unlock the bootloader but what of the devices that come with no such option. If you do tinker with your device, you will end up corrupting your software.

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SO WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR THE FUTURE OF ROOTING GOING FORWARD?

As it is obvious enough already, Google is slowly moving towards eliminating rooting from Android. As it has been previously hinted with release of Android 4.3 Jellybean and Lollipop. With talented developers like Chainfire, it is safe to say that we will find a way for now but It is evident that Google wants to move forward towards an era with no rooting.

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