Changes made to the Android Open Source Project master tree have revealed that there are upcoming changes to the Android security model, which means that a large number of root apps could be rendered unusable in future releases of Android, potentially as early as Android 4.4.3.
Rather than an active attempt to break root apps, it appears that this change is the result of newly implemented security measures, but it could have (un)intended consequences. Well known Android hacker and developer Chainfire has taken to Google+ to share what he’s found:
https://plus.google.com/113517319477420052449/posts/Lyhjzu1z9s1
In essence, prior to this change, root apps had no impediment to executing scripts saved on the /data partition, which many root apps use in order to achieve their functionality. With the change, execution of those scripts will be prevented, which is good and bad. Good, because it prevents malicious scripts from executing and damaging your phone, but bad, because it will prevent benign root apps from working as well.
There doesn’t seem to be a silver bullet yet to work around this change, but there are ways in which developers can work around it if they persist. Hopefully if they act quickly, the issue will be circumvented before it affects end-users.
