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[Dragona Akehi]

So, after the previous thread turned into a piece of shit about accusing people excited about this hack for being pirates, let's try again.

Anyone accusing people of piracy, or saying that this hack is just for piracy is going to get a three month ban.

There are many uses for homebrew on PS3, such as region free PS1, PS2, DVD or Bluray playback. Plus a better media server setup than PS3 MediaServer, which is useless to anyone not on a wired connection (like myself).

So back to the Original Post:

Right, another one of my "PS3 hacked" threads...


This time, the hack is apparently coming from a dude called George Hotz (since he has a big wiki article, that means that he is important).

He claims that he hacked hypervisor.

From twitter:

fine, one tweet... i just hacked the PS3... http://geohotps3.blogspot.com/

I have read/write access to the entire system memory, and HV level access to the processor. In other words, I have hacked the PS3. The rest is just software. And reversing. I have a lot of reversing ahead of me, as I now have dumps of LV0 and LV1.

3 years, 2 months, 11 days...thats a pretty secure system

Took 5 weeks, 3 in Boston, 2 here, very simple hardware cleverly applied, and some not so simple software.

Shout out to George Kharrat from iPhoneMod Brasil for giving me this PS3 a year and a half ago to hack. Sorry it took me so long

As far as the exploit goes, I'm not revealing it yet. The theory isn't really patchable, but they can make implementations much harder. Also, for obvious reasons I can't post dumps. I'm hoping to find the decryption keys and post them, but they may be embedded in hardware. Hopefully keys are setup like the iPhone's KBAG.

A lot more to come...

http://geohotps3.blogspot.com/2010/01/hello-hypervisor-im-geohot.html#comments

 

[SnakeXs]

I, for one, would love to see region free DVD and Blu Ray playback. I wonder if I'm alone in that sentiment.

 

[OldJadedGamer]

Thank you, some people seem to have blinders on with their fingers in their ears and only see the bad in any situation.

I, for one, would love to see region free DVD and Blu Ray playback. I wonder if I'm alone in that sentiment.

I have a lot of PS1 Japanese games that I'm forced to keep my original Playstation launch system cause I can do the disc swap trick to play them but would love to have a wireless controller and be able to play them on my PS3. Region locking of PS1 games and PS2 games are silly considering that PS3 games are region free.

 

[Man God]

Screw the piracy talk, why aren't we all talking about how hypervisor is a kicking rad name for a Super Metroid 2 upgrade!

 

[androvsky]

There are many uses for homebrew on PS3, such as region free PS1, PS2, DVD or Bluray playback. Plus a better media server setup than PS3 MediaServer, which is useless to anyone not on a wired connection (like myself).
:

I'm on a wired connection so I haven't tried it myself, but have you tried limiting the transcode bandwidth to 40 Mbps or so?

 

[Firestorm]

For those skeptical, geohot is the guy who did the jailbreak for iPhone. Checking his Blogger account shows that it is indeed the same person.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

I'd like to see this result in emulation being possible on the PS3 (I want to play my old Master System games, but I can't be assed to dig out my MS and hook it up again).

 

[Xavien]

Region-free blu-ray playback would be awesome, plus i might just be able to get the repeat function working!

Hope it works out.

 

[Kyoufu]

I would be soooo happy for a region-free PSone/PS2 hack. Like, so happy that I would kiss a random man on the street.

 

[Dragona Akehi]

I, for one, would love to see region free DVD and Blu Ray playback. I wonder if I'm alone in that sentiment.

Well it'd be nice to be able to play my original, pristine, already region free Bluray Discs.

This, along with region free PS2 and PSOne gaming, is mainly what I'm after. I'm even hopeing that they might manage to get it going so that you can install PS2 or PSOne games (from your disc) onto an HDD... I'd be able to retire my PS2 HDLoader then!

I'm on a wired connection so I haven't tried it myself, but have you tried limiting the transcode bandwidth to 40 Mbps or so?

Everything looks like crap, and has lovely digital artifacts all over it, and it still manages to be skipping and stuttering. Now, this is on the Mac PS3 MediaServer, so perhaps it isn't fully featured, but it is absolutely useless to me as it stands.

 

[thuway]

So is this hack going to be globally applicable? Will it require extensive work to get up and running? Can Sony block it somehow?

Whatever happens, Sony better figure out some sort of method via firmware update to circumvent this ASAP.

 

[SecretBonusPoint]

Is it out of line to quote the guy on what he said about "the topic that will get you banned"? I guess that would get things off to a bad start, but its a shame he still said it.

Couple of months away from anything concrete I imagine and will be interesting to see Sony's response. Maybe he will find a hidden PS2 emu in there, you never know!

 

[OldJadedGamer]

Well it'd be nice to be able to play my original, pristine, already region free Bluray Discs.

This, along with region free PS2 and PSOne gaming, is mainly what I'm after. I'm even hopeing that they might manage to get it going so that you can install PS2 or PSOne games (from your disc) onto an HDD... I'd be able to retire my PS2 HDLoader then!

Since my PS2 gets constant disc read errors the HDLoader has been the only way I can play games on it. Full install of PS3 games will be great too, considering how the majority of the problems with broken PS3's tend to be the laser this would extend the life of the system.

 

[Majmun]

I would be glad if I somehow could get rid of the Ps2 region lock on my Ps3.

 

[androvsky]

So is this hack going to be globally applicable? Will it require extensive work to get up and running? Can Sony block it somehow?

Whatever happens, Sony better figure out some sort of method via firmware update to circumvent this ASAP.

There's no details, and the hacker hasn't even gotten at the keys yet, so neither homebrew nor piracy is possible yet. Supposedly there's no preventing through firmware update, so it'll probably require a modchip.

 

[hteng]

region free PS2 games yes please! probably wishful thinking for software emulated BC PS3s

 

[jett]

So is this hack going to be globally applicable? Will it require extensive work to get up and running? Can Sony block it somehow?

Whatever happens, Sony better figure out some sort of method via firmware update to circumvent this ASAP.

There is no "hack" yet. Whatever this guy is doing he's still far, far off from properly hacking the PS3 to run unsigned code.

 

[iconoclast]

God damn I would love region free PS2 playback on my PS3. Hope this works out.

 

[Dragona Akehi]

Is it out of line to quote the guy on what he said about "the topic that will get you banned" in so far as nothing homebrew has even been mentioned yet though, and "that other topic" has?

It's a brand new hack, there are no apps written for it yet. As mentioned, he hasn't retrieved the keys yet, so it's entirely possible we might have to wait another year or two (though he certainly works fast!) before this becomes useful at all.

When Team Twiizers announced they hacked the Wii, it took quite a long time (I think about six months?) for them to get a working version of HBC released to the public, and even longer for there to be apps to be converted over to its format, or created in the first place.

I'm sick and tired of the knee-jerk reaction of "OMG THIS IS JUST FOR PIRACY", because it isn't. As has been mentioned, only recently has the 360 managed to be hacked for homebrew, allowing full access to the hardware, which this hypervisor hack would also allow for.

As for the other thread, I'm going to be going through it and anyone who needs to be banned for promoting piracy, will be shortly.

 

[Vorador]

Hopefully the hack will allow for region free ps2 gaming. Also being able to load ps1/ps2/ps3 games off the HDD (or even a USB one!) would be sweet.

 

[aeolist]

A Boxee port would make my day

 

[red shoe paul]

Hopefully the hack will allow for region free ps2 gaming. Also being able to load ps1/ps2/ps3 games off the HDD (or even a USB one!) would be sweet.

I'm sure a HDD loader would immediately be in the works for when this is finalized. I think this only because I'm sure it popped into 99.9% of the people's heads.

 

[Elan tedronai]

It's a brand new hack, there are no apps written for it yet. As mentioned, he hasn't retrieved the keys yet, so it's entirely possible we might have to wait another year or two (though he certainly works fast!) before this becomes useful at all.

When Team Twiizers announced they hacked the Wii, it took quite a long time (I think about six months?) for them to get a working version of HBC released to the public, and even longer for there to be apps to be converted over to its format, or created in the first place.

I'm sick and tired of the knee-jerk reaction of "OMG THIS IS JUST FOR PIRACY", because it isn't. As has been mentioned, only recently has the 360 managed to be hacked for homebrew, allowing full access to the hardware, which this hypervisor hack would also allow for.

As for the other thread, I'm going to be going through it and anyone who needs to be banned for promoting piracy, will be shortly.

well going by his comments on his own blog i think geohotz is not doing this for homebrew but for the other 'thing'

i think thats why alot of people were mentioning the other 'thing' more than homebrew in the other thread

 

[Geneijin]

I eagerly await something similar to HDL on the PS2. It's the greatest reason why I love my PS2 the most.

Spoiler

I still wonder if the PSX emu project on it ever took off.

 

[Mama Robotnik]

As I said in the other thread, the PS3 would be a mighty powerful homebrew machine.

My understanding is that the Linux installation that originally came with the PS3 had limited access to the hardware. It would be nice to see that unnerfed.

 

[distantmantra]

I've got a Japanese PS2 slim for my JP PS1/PS2 games, but I'd love to have region-free capability on my 60GB hardware BC PS3.

 

[itxaka]

A Boxee port would make my day

Isn't Boxee just a XBMC skin and some mods? I rather have XBMC, the original one but the original team but I don't think they are really interested into porting it to PS3.

Plus they are probably porting it to 360 right now (I can only hope)

 

[I NEED SCISSORS]

It would be nice if the machine could eventually get ASF support with this. While not absolutely necessary, it would make it the ultimate media hub for me. I agree with region-free PS1/PS2 games too, I missed out on Devil Summoner 2 because of it.

That's all i'll really add to this topic, I made it all clear enough in the last one. Don't wanna gamble my junior status. :S

 

[Psychotext]

I just wanted to post this to answer the "PS3 is the perfect media player, no need for XMBC" argument.

Here's XBMC:

Here's PS3 Media Server (my own screen, looking at a DVD iso):

 

[MasterTeacher]

The PS3 is too much of a beast for him. I doubt he can do any think substantial with his "hack".

 

[fernoca]

Weird question, but..
Since he has been working on it..for 3 years and 2 months and 11 days as he said (back then) it means he has been working on it since launch, either wit ha 60GB or a 20GB model...

Since recent units had some changes, and Linux was removed from the redesigned units..what does it means for new console users? Would it be like the PSP situation were original PSP owners can easily run homebrew and stuff, but current PSP owners can basically just do nothing, because of the changes?

 

[aeolist]

Isn't Boxee just a XBMC skin and some mods? I rather have XBMC, the original one but the original team but I don't think they are really interested into porting it to PS3.

Plus they are probably porting it to 360 right now (I can only hope)

I think the Boxee interface is a lot nicer personally. And since XBMC is open-source someone else can port it to PS3 even if the main dev team isn't interested.

 

[Vorador]

My understanding is that the Linux installation that originally came with the PS3 had limited access to the hardware. It would be nice to see that unnerfed.

Yes, the Linux kernel couldn't get past the HyperVisor to get access to graphics acceleration between other things.

Also the slim ps3 did away with the linux compatibility.

 

[poserdonut]

Isn't Boxee just a XBMC skin and some mods? I rather have XBMC, the original one but the original team but I don't think they are really interested into porting it to PS3.

Plus they are probably porting it to 360 right now (I can only hope)

They are not.

 

[Mama Robotnik]

Yes, the Linux kernel couldn't get past the HyperVisor to get access to graphics acceleration between other things.

Also the slim ps3 did away with the linux compatibility.

Interesting.

What exactly makes the Slim different that it has an incompability? Is it something that could be worked around via a homebrew exploit?

 

[androvsky]

As I said in the other thread, the PS3 would be a mighty powerful homebrew machine.

My understanding is that the Linux installation that originally came with the PS3 had limited access to the hardware. It would be nice to see that unnerfed.

All linux was missing was GPU support. Even the video memory was available as a swap drive, but in three years almost nothing was ported to support the Cell. Codec support sucked (mpeg2 was the only codec that had any sort of Cell acceleration), video scaling support was buggy to the point of generally being useless, and the Opengl Cell port was buggy and sometimes slower than the regular PPC version.

In short, in three years of full, unfettered Cell access the homebrew community completed almost nothing useful.

 

[kamorra]

The PS3 is too much of a beast for him. I doubt he can do any think substantial with his "hack".

Why? Enlighten us.

 

[Geneijin]

NM, wrong.

 

[Wario64]

The PS3 is too much of a beast for him. I doubt he can do any think substantial with his "hack".

If it was such a beast, why did it take him only 5 weeks to hack it?

 

[H_Prestige]

Thank you, some people seem to have blinders on with their fingers in their ears and only see the bad in any situation.



I have a lot of PS1 Japanese games that I'm forced to keep my original Playstation launch system cause I can do the disc swap trick to play them but would love to have a wireless controller and be able to play them on my PS3. Region locking of PS1 games and PS2 games are silly considering that PS3 games are region free.

This. I want this so badly.

Since there is no chance in hell Sony would ever officially allow it, the only hope is for someone to hack the system.

 

[gofreak]

It's a brand new hack, there are no apps written for it yet. As mentioned, he hasn't retrieved the keys yet, so it's entirely possible we might have to wait another year or two (though he certainly works fast!) before this becomes useful at all.

When Team Twiizers announced they hacked the Wii, it took quite a long time (I think about six months?) for them to get a working version of HBC released to the public, and even longer for there to be apps to be converted over to its format, or created in the first place.

Not to mention that I don't think geohot is even as advanced as Team Twiizers was when they made their announcement (i.e. they actually had custom code running at that point - i'm thinking of the lego star wars hack anyway).

It'll be interesting to see if/how he finds the keys required. He says

'I'm hoping to find the decryption keys and post them, but they may be embedded in hardware. Hopefully keys are setup like the iPhone's KBAG.'

But the root key, at least, on PS3 is a hardware one, so I think we may be relying on some slip-up elsewhere along the chain that might expose decrypted keys. If there isn't one to be found, the route to homebrew might be far from 'all software from here on out'.

(But it wouldn't surprise me if there is an exposure somewhere else...all the decryption stuff is MEANT to be isolated in the sealed-off SPU so even a compromised hypervisor can't snoop on it, but the silliest of mistakes somewhere along the line could 'fix' that...)

 

[Gaz Pwnage]

Unless I'm mistaken, I believe he claims he did it in 5 weeks.

Yeah, he did, he hasn't been working on it for that long. The video i watched / article i read said that his friend from Brazil had sent him a PS3 as a gift to hack and he was "Sorry he had only just got round to it"

EDIT - oh there it is in the OP. He isnt saying it took him 3years, hes saying thats how long its taken any1 to crack the system

 

[thuway]

Not to mention that I don't think geohot is even as advanced as Team Twiizers was when they made their announcement (i.e. they actually had custom code running at that point - i'm thinking of the lego star wars hack anyway).

It'll be interesting to see if/how he finds the keys required. He says

'I'm hoping to find the decryption keys and post them, but they may be embedded in hardware. Hopefully keys are setup like the iPhone's KBAG.'

But the root key, at least, on PS3 is a hardware one, so I think we may be relying on some slip-up elsewhere along the chain that might expose decrypted keys. If there isn't one to be found, the route to homebrew might be far from 'all software from here on out'.

(But it wouldn't surprise me if there is an exposure somewhere else...all the decryption stuff is MEANT to be isolated in the sealed-off SPU so even a compromised hypervisor can't snoop on it, but the silliest of mistakes somewhere along the line could 'fix' that...)

English plz?

 

[fernoca]

Unless I'm mistaken, I believe he claims he did it in 5 weeks.

Yeah..now reading it again, seems as he's saying that it took "someone " 3 years to hack it and openly say it, yet he did it in 5 weeks.

Though still wonder if it was a "fat" or a "slim"..or if one is hacked the other one can be too.

 

[Geneijin]

Yeah, he did, he hasn't been working on it for that long. The video i watched / article i read said that his friend from Brazil had sent him a PS3 as a gift to hack

Ahh, really? I thought I was wrong about my reading of it because he said he was given a PS3 a year and a half ago.

And yeah... I just assumed. I see now (laughs at self) :lol

 

[ymmv]

In my opinion the bad outweighs the good.

I've enjoyed the fruits of the hacking scenes numerous times. I softmodded my PS2 and can now run my games from HD with the added benefit of finally being able to play US games that never made it to European shores. I've modded my PSP so I can play games from memory stick instead of UMD. I've enjoyed dabbling with all kinds of Wii mods and can now play games from a USB HD. It's absolutely fun to do tech stuff like that, but it was also nice to have at least one console on the market that wasn't hacked yet.

No matter how cool some homebrew can be (XBMC is the best example of this, I bought and modded an Xbox just for XBMC), the majority of people profiting from hacked consoles will ultimately be pirates, not people looking for legitimate uses of such hacks like region free gaming or emulation. I'd rather have none of the good things that homebew brings than have piracy. There's nothing I dislike more than cheapskates enjoying every game on the market for free while I pour hundreds of euros into my hobby each year buying original games and yet have to pick and choose which games I'll buy and play.

I hope Sony will be able to fix the loophole in their current protection scheme with a firmware update. I'm not gonna try any of these hacks just like I did with the 360.

 

[Vorador]

Interesting.

What exactly makes the Slim different that it has an incompability? Is it something that could be worked around via a homebrew exploit?

The PS3 Slim is a major cost reduction involving many changes to hardware components in the PS3 design. In order to offer the OtherOS install, SCE would need to continue to maintain the OtherOS hypervisor drivers for any significant hardware changes - this costs SCE. One of our key objectives with the new model is to pass on cost savings to the consumer with a lower retail price. Unfortunately in this case the cost of OtherOS install did not fit with the wider objective to offer a lower cost PS3. We'll see if we can get the offical OtherOS page updated with something to this effect so that an official explanation is provided.

It's simply lack of interest of Sony.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Region Free gaming here i come baby.

 

[noire]

deleted

 

[Acosta]

If it was such a beast, why did it take him only 5 weeks to hack it?

Five weeks my ass. He has the system for one year and half, and there is a lot of previous work he surely profited to get to that point, assuming that he is not full of shit (ok, he is respected and I know he wouldn't put his rep at a stake, but he presents absolutely no proof and we don't know any detail of the method and it´s validity).

In any case, the hypervisor is just a part of the puzzle, without access to the SPU he has nothing that couldn't be achieved through Linux and there are no warranties he can get the keys to it. So the PS3 security is still strong for itself.

Dragona, I don't get it very well your problem with worldwide Blu-Ray, my PS3 reads them without problems, what is your model?