A game full of hacks: Whether out of spite or a genuine passion for reverse engineering, Sony is now dealing with a surge in hacking attempts against the PS5. This generation’s leading gaming console is being targeted for both non-native code recompilation and firmware exploitation, and developers are making no compromises in either area.
Just a few weeks after the massive “Relapse” exploit incident, someone has apparently already cracked the latest firmware update for Sony’s PlayStation 5. A South Korea-based developer claims to have bypassed security measures in the PS5 firmware version 14.10, which Sony recently released to close the Relapse exploit.
The developer “Gezine” posted a short video clip on X that demonstrates a supposedly powerful exploit for firmware 14.10. The clip shows Gezine browsing the PS5’s “secret” debug menu, which can only be accessed with kernel-level permissions in the console’s operating system.
Firmware 14.10 fixed the vulnerability exploited by Relapse, which could reportedly compromise every PS5 firmware version released up to that point. Hackers quickly got to work on Relapse by decrypting the latest PS5 games and running them on jailbroken consoles. Sony eventually fixed the bug, but consoles with older firmware versions should continue to work fine for the foreseeable future.
As Gezine explained, a working kernel exploit doesn’t necessarily mean that the piracy scene can continue unabated on consoles running firmware 14.10 or later. The “old way” of backing up game data no longer appears to be working, the hacker said. Gezine suggests that a new hypervisor-based exploit will be required to jailbreak a fully updated console.
Either way, a successful exploit affecting firmware 14.10 would once again cause a massive headache for Sony executives. The firmware is reportedly required to run Grand Theft Auto VI, Rockstar’s upcoming blockbuster that the industry hopes will revitalize the video game business. Pre-order numbers are reportedly at an all-time high and the game is not expected to hit PC for another few months.
According to reports, GTA VI will be released without a physical release, which could force hackers to go the extra mile to create a working cracked copy. Sony is certainly trying to mitigate the risks by releasing another firmware update (version 14.20) just days after Gezine’s alleged kernel-level exploit compromised protections in firmware 14.10.
