Good news for AT&T and Verizon customers who want to root their Galaxy S5 devices: renowned XDA developer Geohot, the guy who unlocked the first iPhone and hacked the Sony PS3, has released a new tool called Towelroot that can help you root your S5 (and other Android devices) easily.
Towelroot exploits a Linux kernel vulnerability, which was recently discovered by hacker Pinkie Pie, involving an issue in the Futex subsystem that in turn allows for privilege escalation. The tool should work with any device that's running an unpatched kernel – basically a kernel from before June 3rd.
Besides the Galaxy S5, Towelroot been tested and found to work with the Nexus 5, Galaxy S4 Active, and AT&T and Verizon variants of the Note 3.
Using Towelroot is rather straightforward if you're familiar to downloading apps from non-official sources. Simply head to towelroot.com, click the lambda icon to download the APK file, and install it on your device. From there just run it and after a reboot your device's bootloader will be unlocked.
Being a one-click APK, it's advisable that you only download Towelroot from the official page, otherwise you could be exposing yourself to hackers modifying the package with malware. Geohot is releasing the tool for free and accepting donations for his work via PayPal and Bitcoin. Keep in mind is that the tool will probably void your warranty, however.
You can also use Towelroot to root the Amazon Fire TV.