• News

Hackers bypassed Oculus Quest 2's Facebook Login by gaining root access

The fight for your Right to Repair continues as hackers look to virtual reality and extended reality.

Sam Chandler

October 26, 2020 9:50 PM

2

Some researchers from the virtual reality community have managed to circumvent the Facebook login requirement of the Oculus Quest 2. This was achieved by the users gaining root access to the device.

How, exactly, these researchers were able to gain root access to the Oculus Quest 2 is currently unknown. However, the recent uproar about the Oculus Quest 2 requiring a Facebook account to function has set the internet ablaze with concerns over privacy. This ability to bypass the login requirement is sure to spark a wave of interest as more users opt out of having a Facebook account.

But with hacking electronics comes the inevitable discussion of the Right to Repair. The Right to Repair allows consumers to tinker with and repair their own electronic devices. In the age of virtual reality – also referred to as extended reality (XR) – the team at the XR Safety Initiative (XRSI) are at the forefront of ensuring consumers are protected, by law, for whatever they choose to do to their own devices.

Right now, with word only just surfacing of this Oculus Quest 2 root access hack, the team at XRSI are looking to help protect those who are tinkering with their own electronic devices. As it stands, the laws and rules governing the Right to Repair currently do not cover extended reality in a satisfactory manner. As Kavya Pearlman of Ready Hacker 1 puts it:

Extended Reality(XR) devices directly interface with our bodies, gathering signals, and input from our eyes and body movements.  A clear distinction needs to be made regarding the legality of tinkering with augmented and virtual reality devices. Such distinctions would protect curious minds from putting themselves at risk of ending up in jail.

It’s 2020, and as our private lives are slowly spilling into the latest social media platform, it’s good to know there are groups out there fighting for our rights to repair – or physically research – our own electronic devices.

Sam Chandler

Guides Editor

Hailing from the land down under, Sam Chandler brings a bit of the southern hemisphere flair to his work. After bouncing round a few universities, securing a bachelor degree, and entering the video game industry, he's found his new family here at Shacknews as a Guides Editor. There's nothing he loves more than crafting a guide that will help someone. If you need help with a guide, or notice something not quite right, you can message him on X: @SamuelChandler