The hacking of consumer electronics is a common practice that users perform to customize and modify their devices beyond what is typically possible. This activity has a long history, dating from the days of early computer, programming, and electronics hobbyists.

The process of consumer electronics hacking is usually accomplished through modification of the system software, either an operating system or firmware, but hardware modifications are not uncommon.

The legality of hacking consumer electronics has been challenged over the years, with an example of this being the cracking of encryption keys used in High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection, where detractors have been threatened under the basis of legal action. However, some companies have encouraged hardware hacking, such as Google's Nexus and Pixel series of smartphones.

Many modern consumer electronics run either an operating system or firmware. When this is stored in a mutable storage device, these files can be modified to add functionality to the operating system, or to replace it entirely.

Multiple methods are used in order to successfully hack the target device, such as gaining shell access, gathering information about the device hardware and software, before using the obtained information to manipulate the operating system.

Getting access to a shell allows the user to run commands to interact with the operating system. Typically, a root shell is aimed for, which grants administrative privileges, to let the user modify operating system files.

Root access can be obtained through the use of software exploits (i.e. bugs), through the bootloader console, or over a serial port embedded in the device, such as a JTAG or UART interface.

In the case of gaining root privileges on an Android device, the process is known as rooting.