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PSP Firmware Downgrader Released
roka writes "SonyxTeam has just released a downgrader for the PSP using the toc2rta 2.0 overflow in libtiff. This has been tested and found working by PSP news sites. This is basically opening all sold models of the PSP to homebrew applications and will boost homebrew software development for Sony's handheld."
Er. I guess you missed the xbox buffer overflows used for the same purpose?
I want a new world. I think this one is broken.
Welcome to the world of Homebrew and Emulation on the PSP, theres emulators for most of the popular systems and nearly 150 games, demos, multimedia and apps for the PSP Emulation and Homebrew scenes, the 2 sites to visit to get all of these are http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk/ & http://psp-archive.de/ Be sure to pay em a visit One quick comment i hope Sony havent noticed that a certain PSP site (pspupdates) are hosting the firmware file which im sure is illegal, oh well its up to them i supose. Thanks to Yoshihiro and JohnMPH for this great release :)
I don't see how that's flamebait. I visit video game forums all the time, and never once have I met someone who actually wants to play homebrew games on the PSP -- they're talking about homebrew for emulators. A visit to any PSP development site pretty much confirms that the development exists for emulation, not actual new content, as the emulation sections are huge, with constant updates, while the "games" sections usually consist of a basic line game that serves little more than a proof of concept.
Actually, it's not the first time. When Texas Instruments released the TI-92, it only came programmable with a crappy version of BASIC. Then, some hackers figured out that if you used an overly large firmware image with their system restore tool, you could insert instructions into the calculator that let you execute arbitrary code on it. Someone built a hook that let you upload your own assembler instructions, and TI-92 homebrew took off.
The hack was so popular that Texas Instruments ended up releasing an assembler application so that people didn't have to hack their calculators to run their own custom code.
Yoshi, the ex-member of WAB who recently got kicked out for mischievous activities including stealing money in a PayPal SCAM and ripping off code from other authors now states on his new page that he created the PSP v2.0 Downgrader with MPH and that MPH simply "forgot" to include that in the readme. With his past history and apparent lack of ability to spell correctly I highly doubt that he had anything to do with this downgrader, but until MPH responds or if they don't respond we'll know who is telling the truth or not. UPDATE: MPH has just spent some time online and didn't mention a single word about Yoshi's involvement. Guess Yoshi is trying to take credit for something he had no part in afterall. UPDATE: www.wab.com the group Yoshi was kicked out of has an information article about Yoshi and the fact that he didn't have anything to do with the downgrader.
[ brakken ]
It is only an overflow bug in a library, Sony will certainly patch it in the near future and the PSP will become increasingly tougher to crack open.
AFAIK, the PSP is the first major proprietary system with user-uppgradable firmware. In any case, the 1.00-2.00 trend indicates that Sony does not intend to let the PSP remain crackable indefinitely if it can do something about it... and fixing the exploit sounds like minimal effort.
I am betting that the PSP firmware and/or SDK has provisions for triggering automatic firmware upgrades when a disc containing a newer valid firmware is first loaded. Throw in firmware signature checks in new games and this either makes PSP hobbyists lives increasingly less convenient or forces them to choose between hobby and running Y2K6+ games.
Sony is in the business for profits... and profits come from title licenses for commercial PSP media. To get media endorsement for the PSP, Sony has to demonstrate that the media and platform are a perfect lock-in solution. Exploits like these un-upgrade hacks put a dent in Sony's PSP lock-in desires so they need to be ironed out to make content providers happy and keep the license money flowing in.
Does it suck? Yes. But that is how this particular business model works.