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Xbox 360 Backup Discs Bootable

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the new-milestone dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The firmware of the Xbox 360 DVD drive has been hacked, allowing users to boot backups of games on the new Microsoft console. A group of hackers on the xboxhacker.net forum managed to trick the DVD firmware into reporting a recordable disc as an original Xbox 360 disc. This means that it will not allow booting of unsigned homebrew code (like Linux), as the signature check is not bypassed. This hack will just trick the Xbox 360 into thinking you inserted an original Xbox 360 disc, so it'll only boot unedited executables. A video has been released, the hack has not been released to the public (because it will be mainly used for piracy), but all the research of the last few months is publicly viewable."

27 of 287 comments (clear)

  1. "we don't want to support piracy" by Quick+Sick+Nick · · Score: 5, Funny

    yeah, and I read playboy for the articles.

    1. Re:"we don't want to support piracy" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I read Playboy mainly for the page numbers, and the index. I mainly enjoy looking up a random page in the index, and then finding it in the magazine by binary search. I've written a program in Perl that helps me train; I type in the number of pages, and then it selects a random page for me, following a gaussian distribution (I don't want to have to find the index! lol!) and then I navigate to it. After a few years practice, I've got down to an average of less than two seconds for any given page number. I've got my girlfriend doing it now as well, we can sometimes spend entire evenings sitting down with my Linux box, seeing who can get to page 58 first! Its absolutely fantastic.

    2. Re:"we don't want to support piracy" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually, Playboy articles are pretty good, providing good analysis of all the hot topics, like global warming, politics, religion, law, freedom, etc., etc.

    3. Re:"we don't want to support piracy" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      You are winner of Slashdot!
      This website can now close down.

    4. Re:"we don't want to support piracy" by wheresdrew · · Score: 3, Informative
      "AFAIK, nobody has managed to backup and burn GameCube discs."

      Gamecube games can be backed up and burned with very little trouble. Stick in a modchip and buy a custom case to allow the Cube to hold full-sized DVDRs and you're all set.

  2. firmware check on new games? by Brit_in_the_USA · · Score: 3, Interesting

    how long until a game is released that checksums the DVD firmware and "updates it" to soemthing more secure?

    ( + reporting to MS Live if you have a hacked verison and cancelling your account? ala Blizzard?)

    1. Re:firmware check on new games? by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 4, Funny

      How long until they hackers then change the checksums or add the obvious GOTO 30 line?

      Yes, but Microsoft is cunning you see, they number their program lines one by one instead of 10 by 10, so you can't insert a GOTO line. And RENUM is disabled. Clever I tell you!

      --
      "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    2. Re:firmware check on new games? by hazem · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Isn't that just a really bad "security" model... that any old game you put in your system has the ability to re-write the firmware? Isn't that just asking for trouble?

  3. better video by Quick+Sick+Nick · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you don't want to wait 30 seconds to download the video, stream it here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyZQ4k7Bi-8

  4. Ability to boot non-Microsoft code more useful by Animats · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is the "piracy" hack. A way to cleanly boot non-Microsoft content would be more useful. Microsoft probably couldn't do much about that legally; if you own the unit, you have no obligation to play only approved content.

    1. Re:Ability to boot non-Microsoft code more useful by Aranth+Brainfire · · Score: 5, Funny

      The DMCA always means something, even if it's just "Haha, boy am I glad we don't have a law like that here"

      --
      "Quoting yourself is stupid." -Me
    2. Re:Ability to boot non-Microsoft code more useful by Gadzinka · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, but booting non-MS code is much more difficult than booting copied discs. All you need to boot copies of retail games is DVD-ROM telling xbox, that it's xbox360dvd in the drive.

      In order to run unsigned binaries you have to crack several levels of protection, some of them embedded into the processor itself. And these are not your garden variety propriety measures hackable in an hour by sophomore CS student.

      So, you still can't run XBMC (NG) on Xbox360, but you can play all the pirated games you want. Weird, isn't it?

      I own original Xbox modified with DuoX modchip. Of course I have several pirated games installed on my (upgraded) HD. I would have bought some games I love (like burnout 3, 4), if it weren't for extremely stupid, suicidal policy of MS to ship Xbox with defective DVD drives that don't read DVD-R etc disks[1].

      So, for me it's funny... MS is doing anything it can to make Xbox 360 unatractive to me and to prevent me from ever buying legal copies of games for either its old or new system... ;)

      Robert

      PS If you want to condemn me as unwashed pirate, bugger off. I have a DVD collection bought legally, exceeding 300 DVD-s. Give me fair deal and I'll make your toilet solid gold. But if you want me to bend over for marginal gain, you must have been smoking something very strong all of your life.

      [1] You see, me and my wife are compulsive sci-fi/crime series watchers. Unlike me, my wife can't really comprehend them in English, so whenever I buy dvd set I process it to add Polish translation. But -- in order to play those remastered DVDs -- I had to change the Xbox DVD drive to PC DVD drive, to read DVD-R. And PC DVD drive won't read original xboxdvd discs...

      --
      Bastard Operator From 193.219.28.162
  5. drm sucks by MikeFM · · Score: 4, Insightful

    DRM is a stupid idea. It never stops hackers but it stops the average consumer from having the full use of the device they've legally bought. Making backups should be a fully protected right. Not a limited number of backup copies - as many as I happen to want to make. If I make a backup and then run it over with my car it shouldn't matter because my original is in a safe location and I can just make a new backup.

    Of course 'backup' for the copy you're using isn't a very good term.

    --
    At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
    1. Re:drm sucks by GlassHeart · · Score: 5, Insightful
      DRM is a stupid idea. It never stops hackers but it stops the average consumer from having the full use of the device they've legally bought.

      I don't like DRM either, but one fallacy among opponents is the distinction between "average consumers" and "pirates". The problem is that average consumers can easily become pirates if various conditions are ripe: the original seems expensive, copying is easy, nobody is ever punished, etc. There are entire countries of "average consumers" who almost never buy original software or music.

  6. Tut, tut, tut... by dwalsh · · Score: 4, Funny

    the hack has not been released to the public (because it will be mainly used for piracy)
    It is sad to see so much cynicism in the world :-)

    --
    ${YEAR+1} is going to be the year of Linux on the desktop!
  7. Surprised it took this long by ryants · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Frankly I'm surprised it took this long, given that the Xbox 360 will boot burned CDs/DVDs for backwards compatibility updates.

    I always thought that was a pretty good area of attack right there.

    --

    Ryan T. Sammartino
    "Ancora imparo"

    1. Re:Surprised it took this long by cnettel · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well, it doesn't help that much, as it's the signature that determines how a valid image may be started (and no commercial game will say "burned booting OK"). Now, all software written by MS really "sees" the disc as a real DVD, completely independent of whether booting from burned DVDs is supported or not. The only way to block this would be to block flashing DVD firmware (wise) or blocking reading burned discs in hardware. The latter would of course make it less usable for playing CDs or video in more or less legitimate ways that MS still wants to support.

  8. Re:Forget Piracy. Solution For Disc Scratching Mes by Ethoscapade · · Score: 3, Funny

    it's not so much "scratching" as it is "burning a series of tiny little rings in these DVDs as if they were vinyls exactly how fast is this thing spinning jesus christ the disc is actually hot"

  9. Citations by OpenSourced · · Score: 3, Interesting

    From the post:
    the hack has not been released to the public

    From Jane Austen's "Emma":
    'It's to be a secret, I conclude,' said he. These matters are always a secret, till it is found out that everybody knows them. Only let me be told when I may speak out.'"

    --
    Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
  10. Re:Morality by Haeleth · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's clear that the submitter of the article doesn't think the moral case for this type of thing is strong enough to stand on its own. He has to help it along, and slightly mislead his audience despite the fact that the vast majority of the copies this is used for will be pirated copies rather than backup copies.

    Huh? The submitter wrote, right there in the summary, "it will be mainly used for piracy". I really don't see how he could have been any blunter about it. It does not look to me like there is any attempt being made to mislead readers in any way whatsoever.

    But I'm not surprised to see a response like yours. However someone phrases it, there's always someone who thinks they should have phrased it more strongly. I expect that even if the submitter had opened the article with "Filthy bloodsucking terrorist pedophile pirates have raped America's freedom once again in a savage assault on the copyright protections that keep our children safe", then someone would still have complained that he was being too sympathetic to them... ;)

  11. One small step by Enselic · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I remember hackers speaking of how easy hacking the Xbox 360 will be, that it will only take hours once it is released.

    Now, 4 months after the release, they manage to hack a disc. Microsoft sure has given them a challenge this time.

    1. Re:One small step by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      to hack a disc? this is the entire disc authentication system completely reverse engineered with little or no understanding of the inner working of the 360 kernel. this is a complete sidestepping of what was probably 3 years of complete tightening of all of the 360s internal communication, integrity checking and copy protection. no one made any claims about it taking a day, and when a loose community does this in 4 months it IS god damned impressive since it is more than most people on this board could do in a fucking lifetime.

  12. LOL by bogie · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "the hack has not been released to the public (because it will be mainly used for piracy)"

    Then why did they bother? Testing XP or linux to see if its security is working is one thing. That has real world consequences. Testing it is a noble cause IMHO. Hacking the firmware of a gaming system make get done to "boot linux" but we all know the real world implication here. I don't frown on this morally one bit but let's not kid ourselves here. Information may want to be free, but people want free games even more.

    --
    If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
  13. Re:Mainly used? by Aneurysm9 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Well, to be fair, killing is not illegal per se.

    Neither is creating a backup copy of software you have purchased, nor is utilising that backup copy. As for the DMCA, there is an explicit exception for reverse engineering for interoperability that does not limit it to interoperability of software with other systems. It could just as easily be read to allow modification for interoperability with other software.

    --
    There was Cowboy Neal at the wheel of a bus to never-ever land.
  14. Re:Bollocks by Dibblah · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Uh.... Huh. You're a man, are you, Mr Anonymous Coward?

  15. Re:Forget Piracy. Solution For Disc Scratching Mes by SpryWeb · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you want to stop scratches on your original games, use d_skin protectors... Every game should have one... http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product_id=801 784

  16. RtFA... by Faeton · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Please read the article!

    This isn't just a "Oh, I'll put this firmware on a disk and load it up and Bam!, insta-pirate!". This is a firmware for the DVD-ROM, which you first have to A) physically open up the XBox360 B) Then remove the DVD-ROM C) then desolder the firmware chip D) then read the firmware and figure out where to edit, because each DVD-ROM has a unique ID tag E) then you have to reprogram the chip using specialized equipment F) reinstall the chip and hope you didn't ruin a $400+ machine G) get a good copy of a game and hopefully it'll work.

    Currently, this is *far* harder than the average modchip. Since each chip has to be custom-programmed, this isn't an easy hack, even if you did have the hacked firmware available.

    Still, hopefully this is a taste of things to come. The 360 has been only out for 4 months, and this is much better progress than with the original XBox.