Nothing Phone 2a Plus KernelSU Rooting

How to root the Nothing Phone 2a Plus using SukiSU Ultra with SUSFS

APatch is now getting detected by my banking apps, and I need money.

APatch still does not have a way to hide root efficiently via the kernel, I tried “Cherish Peekaboo” and “NoHello KPM” and root is still being detected, so it is time to switch to KernelSU.

SukiSU Ultra is a fork of KernelSU with SUSFS (Suspicious File System) built-in.

Fortunately, Nothing Phone 2a Plus uses a GKI kernel, so we can use a patched kernel to our boot.img image. We will install KernelSU in GKI mode.

Prerequisites

  1. Android SDK Platform-Tools
  2. Google USB Driver
  3. SukiSU-Ultra
  4. MagiskBoot

Get boot.img

  1. Update the phone first.
  2. Get your build number. For this example, my build number is PacmanPro-V3.2-250904-1704.
  3. Go to Nothing Archive 2a Plus and find your build number there.
  4. Click OTA Images for your build number.
  5. Download image-boot.7z. Example: PacmanPro_V3.2-250904-1704-image-boot.7z
  6. Extract archive to get boot.img.

KMI matching and download patched kernel

  1. Learn how Kernel Module Interface (KMI) works at the KernelSU guide.
  2. Get your kernel version at your phone settings. For this example, my kernel version is 5.15.167-android13-8.
  3. Go to the SukiSU installation guide and choose your kernel flavor. For this example, I will use MiRinFork.
  4. By matching the KMI version with the original version and the patched version, you will find out that my example matched 5.15.185-android13 in the MiRinFork.
  5. Download the matching kernel. For this example, I will download android13-5.15.185-2025-07-AnyKernel3.zip.
  6. Extract the archive to get Image, this is the patched kernel.

Patch kernel inside boot.img

  1. Create a folder and place magiskboot.exe and boot.img we got earlier.
  2. Execute magiskboot unpack boot.img to unpack the boot.img, this will output a kernel file, which is your stock kernel.
  3. Delete the kernel file, and then put the Image file we got earlier. Rename the patched kernel to kernel.
  4. Execute magiskboot repack boot.img, this will output new-boot.img, this is your new patched boot.img to be flashed via fastboot.

Unlock bootloader

If you already unlocked the bootloader since you are migrating from APatch, skip this step.
Back up your files; this will erase all of your data.

  1. Enable USB debugging and OEM unlocking in Developer options.
  2. Connect your phone to your computer.
  3. adb devices to allow ADB access.
  4. adb reboot bootloader to reboot to bootloader.
  5. fastboot devices to verify if the phone is connected.
  6. fastboot flashing unlock to unlock bootloader. (This will factory reset your device.)
  7. fastboot reboot to reboot device.

Flashing

  1. Connect your phone to your computer.
  2. adb reboot bootloader to reboot to bootloader.
  3. fastboot getvar current-slot to get current active slot.
  4. fastboot flash boot_[slot] new-boot.img to flash the patched boot.img. Example with slot B: fastboot flash new-boot.img
  5. fastboot reboot to reboot device.
  6. Open SukiSU Ultra and verify if root is working.

Post-installation

  1. Install metamodule for module support. Recommended: Hybrid Mount
  2. Reboot.
  3. Install Tricky Store, Tricky Addon, and Play Integrity Fork.
  4. SUSFS will work automatically, no need to configure SUSFS unless needed.

OTA Updates

  1. Disable all modules. Delete all modules if upgrading to a major Android version.
  2. Restore your original boot.img using fastboot.
  3. Perform the OTA update.
  4. Patch your boot.img.
  5. Flash your new new-boot.img.
  6. Enable your modules.

Fastboot device can’t be found

  1. Go to Device Manager.
  2. If the driver is in warning, update the driver using the android_winusb.inf.
  3. Select “Android Bootloader Interface”.
By Shawn M.
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