Knox Security enabled firmware has now been out on the
Galaxy S4 for some 3 months now and remains un-crackable in terms of re-setting the Knox warranty void flag mentioned in post
#1. The bounty on this now stands at
US$2,282,
here.
As mentioned in
#1.0, Knox enabled firmware is now being rolled out to other Samsung phones, notably the
Galaxy S3, and their owners are now waking up to this. However, I am given to understand that it is implemented slightly differently to the
Galaxy S4.
The advice remains the same... if you are rooted, or are thinking of rooting your phone...
DO NOT UPGRADE TO ANDROID 4.3. It is a one way trip as you cannot successfully return to
Android 4.2.2 without screwing your phone up. See
#1.1.
Whilst it is possible to gain root access without tripping the Knox flag it is a minefield and in any case, flashing a custom recovery or ROM will trigger the Knox flag. See your phone version's, All Things Root forum, for details of these methods.
It is still unclear from reports,
here, if tripping the Knox flag, apart from rendering the phone useless as a secure BYOD, actually affects your warranty rights, with reports of repairs carried out, hardware being covered but not software, etc; etc: Please read the linked xda thread for more details.
Knox enabled firmware means just that... it has the prerequisites for Knox Security, a locked bootloader and Knox flag. The actual Knox app is downloaded from the Play Store via an icon on the phone, if required.
If you are on pre Knox firmware, there are a number of custom ROMs that offer
Android 4.3 and even
4.4, (
KitKat), that are Knox free and use your unlocked,
4.2.2, bootloader. See your phone version's, All Things Root forum, for details of these.
See post
#1 for the latest, up-to-date, details on Knox firmware.