You cannot downgrade CMT part of firmware. So if you flash older version of rootfs which is incompatible with new modem CMT part, it will just not work. IIRC there is no exploit for downgrading CMT part of firmware... Also no way for N900!
In my case I downgraded DFL61_HARMATTAN_40.2012.21-3.454.6_PR_454 to DFL61_HARMATTAN_40.2012.21-3_PR_001, so yes, it should be quite possible.