This question might not be entirely relevant to this subreddit, but I’d appreciate your advice and insights.

Here’s a brief background: There’s a miner on the market, the KS0 Pro, which currently lacks root access. Only two individuals or groups have succeeded in gaining root access via SSH.

I believe they achieved root access to the miner by extracting information directly from a chip. However, my aim is to accomplish this without removing the chip from the board.

To my knowledge, the KS0 Pro operates on a XILINX ZYNQ XC7Z010 chip and runs Petalinux. The machine lacks standard ports and only has an RJ45 (Ethernet), an SD Card slot, and a reset button.

I have a theoretical question: Is it feasible to develop custom firmware for this board, load it via an SD card, and then boot the system?

My ideal scenario involves creating a Petalinux with a custom command that would transfer an SSH key to a specific directory, followed by a system shutdown, all without altering the existing system.

What I’m trying to say is that there could be a boot script which is the first one to execute. I can add my command or a custom script to that boot script. This would allow me to execute my command, and then shut down the system to prevent any firmware installation.

I’m eager to hear what you think about this.