Amazon’s Kindle devices run a custom Linux distribution that’s locked tightly to Amazon’s ecosystem. But jailbreaking a Kindle opens the door to installing third-party software that can change the behavior and add functionality.

While Amazon doesn’t make it easy to do that, a new tool called WinterBreak takes advantage of a security vulnerability in Amazon’s software to let you jailbreak most recent Kindle devices. Released on New Year’s Day, WinterBreak works with pretty much every Kindle released since 2012 running firmware versions 5.7.2 or earlier.

There’s some risk involved in Jailbreaking a Kindle device – don’t expect any support from Amazon if you break your eReader during the process. But the installation instructions are pretty straightforward – basically you just need to put your Kindle into airplane mode, plug it into a computer so it shows up as a storage device, and then extract a file downloaded from the KindleModding site to your Kindle, reboot, and follow some instructions.

That said, you need to do this every time you reboot your Kindle unless you also install a “hotfix” that makes the jailbreak persistent. And once your device is jailbroken, you’ll also probably want to install a few more tools including the Kindle Unified Application Launcher and MobileRead Package Installer to simplify the process of installing and running third-party applications.

Finally, you may want to disable over-the-air updates, because there’s a good chance that Amazon will try to push a firmware update in the future that will patch the vulnerability exploited by WinterBreak. If you have no interest in jailbreaking your device, that’s probably a good thing – Amazon should be patching security vulnerabilities. But if you’ve got a jailbroken Kindle, the easiest way to ensure it stays jailbroken is to prevent your device from installing Amazon’s official firmware updates.

So what you can do with a jailbroken Kindle? Among other things you can install third-party eBook readers to add native support for EPUB of other file formats, manga readers, music or audiobook players, third-party games like chess or NetHack, or even an alternate operating system such as Duokan.

You can find a list of things to do with a jailbroken Kindle in the Kindle Hacks page of the MobileRead Wiki.

via HackerDude at MobileRead Forums