security research on the HomePod Mini: from iBoot shell to AirPlay protocol analysis
The Apple HomePod Mini has never been jailbroken. The jailbreak community wrote it off after confirming its S5 chip (T8006) falls outside checkm8’s range (A5-A11 only). This writeup documents what I believe is the first publicly documented non-invasive security exploration of the HomePod Mini via its USB-C port, covering an interactive iBoot recovery shell session, full binary analysis of the firmware, and AirPlay protocol analysis on the running audioOS. Target: AudioAccessory5,1, Apple S5 (T8006), board b520ap, audioOS 26.3 (Build 23K620), iBoot-13822.80.422.0.2. ...