GitHub · Meta · Android · Ars Technica
In 2021, Meta’s then-CTO John Carmack released an official “full root access” update for the Oculus Go
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QuestStack author starseed12345 speculates on GitHub that a similar exploit could probably enable root access on Quest 2 headsets running older firmware versions but that currently “the chance of bricking outweighs the benefit of unlocking the bootloader.”
Key facts
- That includes activating the 90 Hz refresh rate that John Carmack admitted in 2019 was being held back to 72 Hz in the OS for performance reasons
- Meta seems to hope you don’t, since the company officially stopped supporting the wireless VR headset in 2023 to focus on the more popular Quests 2 and 3
- In 2021, Meta’s then-CTO John Carmack released an official “full root access” update for the Oculus Go, the Quest’s wireless predecessor
- Remember the original Quest headset that Meta (then Oculus) trumpeted back in 2019
Summary
Remember the original Quest headset that Meta (then Oculus) trumpeted back in 2019? The QuestStack project integrates previously known vulnerabilities in the Quest’s Android fastboot process into a privilege escalation chain that leads easily to full root access on the device. With this exploit, the original Quest hardware can now be officially divorced from any reliance on Meta’s servers or services to be useful. Tinkerers are also in the early stages of figuring out how root access can unlock previously unavailable features on the Quest hardware. In 2021, Meta’s then-CTO John Carmack released an official “full root access” update for the Oculus Go, the Quest’s wireless predecessor.