Exploiting a Bug in Google's Glass
A few days ago, I posted to Twitter a picture I took of a Google Glass unit running software that I had modified. I did this while in the Bay Area after picking it up from Google's headquarters in Mountain View. I was unable to provide many more details …
Context & Ripple Effects
Google is handing out Explorer Edition Glass units directly from Mountain View, and the device's software story has been loosening fast: Sergey Brin began letting outsiders wear the hardware back in May 2012, and just two days before this report Google published the Glass kernel source under the GPL, inviting developers into the stack. Against that backdrop, a security researcher who picked up a unit exploited a bug to run modified software on the device — the first concrete crack in what had been a tightly Google-controlled experience.
First-order effects
- The researcher demonstrates that Glass's software lockout is bypassable, meaning modified code can run on Explorer Edition hardware without Google's approval.
- Google now faces an immediate choice for every shipped unit: patch the bug and re-lock the device, or tolerate a modding community forming around Explorer hardware.
Second-order effects
- Developers who find the sanctioned tooling too narrow gain a workaround path, pressuring Google to accelerate its official SDK and shape which Glassware categories get blessed support.
- The exploit lands amid unusually broad pickup — Engadget, The Verge, Forbes, The Register and SlashGear all carried the story — raising the reputational stakes for how Google responds.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, wearable platforms inherit the smartphone jailbreak cycle: open-source kernel obligations coexist with locked consumer experiences, and independent researchers become the de facto testers of what the hardware can do beyond the vendor's intended surface.
The trend: Always-on wearable hardware is entering the same lock-versus-openness struggle as smartphones, with GPL kernel releases and researcher exploits setting the terms.