Hacking the Pl3?

It's real. Nearly 4 years after its launch, the PlayStation 3's much vaunted security has finally been completely and unequivocally compromised. Within weeks, or even days, PS3 users prepared to pay an exorbitant premium have the option of copying the whole set of games they own - and any they don't - onto hard drive, and zip stops them from spreading them over the internet. Now you ask ,, just how do Sony fight back? Can new firmware updates keep the platform holder one step ahead of the hackers?

 

As sample "PS Samurai" hardware circulates around shops and modship suppliers worldwide, further details emerge, giving us some understanding of how the system works. From that we can extrapolate the size of the task facing Sony as it embarks on what must surely be the biggest damage limitation exercise in its recent history. This attack on PStation security covers both software and hardware. A USB dongle is connected to the P3, and pressing the eject button on the console while it cold-boots causes the code on the stick to override the console's typical launch procedure. According to views of the XMB witnessed in the now numerous YouTube videos, the dongle seems to inject aspects of debug PS3 firmware onto the retail unit. The option to install PKG files, available only on development and test units, now works on the retail machine. From here, the main tool to "backing up" application is added to the device.

While you might not are familiar with a PKG file before, the it's likely that you've installed lots of them on your Playstation 3. Almost every type of program you download from PSN is in the PKG container. Once downloaded, the PS3 decompresses the data and installs it onto your PS3. On development and test/reviewer units, so-called "unsigned code" is routinely distributed on disc, via download or on USB flash drives in PKG format. The only difference between this and a regular PSN download is that the code is not encrypted, permitting easier distribution of unfinished or review copy games (only Sony's mastering labs can encrypt, or "sign" code). The fact that the Install PKG option now appears on a retail unit gives us a strong indication as to how the new "Jailbreak" works as it's almost certainly not present in the regular firmware. It suggests that aspects of the bespoke system updates used on the debug PS3s are being injected into the memory of the retail unit. But how?

There are two potential explanations here. Firstly, whoever is behind this is extremely clever and has isolated an exploit which allows for the injection of code over the USB port. Rather more likely is that the USB-based tools Sony uses to test and recover PS3s with corrupt firmware have been leaked and reverse-engineered for more nefarious ends. PlayStation 3s locked into "factory service mode" have been popping up every once in a while for many years, and the PC-side software that runs the USB dongle was leaked not long ago.

Now it would appear that the hardware has additionally been "liberated" from Sony's repair and test labs. This might sound somewhat implausible, but in a world where PS3 Slim photos circulate months prior to the launch and final units appear in a Philippines marketplace, anything is quite possible. Besides, the exact same thing happened with the tools used to service the PSP right before the PSP-2000 launch in September 2007. The make-up of the dongle itself, pictures posted online of the internals show a simple USB device - what seems to be like an innocuous 48-pin microcontroller chip on the tiny PCB and not much else. It's quite astonishing to think that the makers are asking for a colossal $130 for such a tiny piece of tech, and it's almost certain to be reverse-engineered, ripped off and duplicated by the Chinese mass-suppliers within days of showing up in market.

The software side of PS Samurai is publicly available to download, installs onto a debug PS3 and throws up few surprises. It's quite a basic tool that rips off each file on a game disc onto the internal HDD or else onto a Usb stick or hard disk drive. It does appear that a few of the encryption Sony uses in the files is stripped away (hashes on encrypted files change drastically), even so the executable still won't work with no USB dongle in place. When picking a game to run, the machine drops back to the XMB. From here on out, we could only speculate but it's reasonable to assume that the chip then diverts all major disc functions to the device in which the game-rip lies. Like a vehicle for piracy then, all bases are covered, but is this really a "jailbreak" in the form recently sanctioned by the US courts? The mere existence of the backup manager - supposedly coded with tools stolen from Sony - indicate otherwise, and if the USB dongle is indeed cloned from the platform holder's own recovery tools, any pretence of legality is surely a joke.

The inclusion of the PKG installation option does indeed imply that the likes of emulators and media players may very well be ported and installed on to the PS3. However, for the moment it's almost certainly the case that Sony's own dev tools would be required to make any kind of useful application, adding to the legality quagmire. All told, it's a nightmare scenario for Sony - but you can be fairly sure that its response is going to be swift. We can easily fully expect a mandatory firmware update to emerge from its engineering labs within days of the firm dissecting the hack, doubtless rendering it useless. Damage limitation could be the key, and just like the OtherOS removal that Geohot's exploit brought about, Sony can be trying to minimise the physical quantity of consoles available capable of running the hack by effectively upgrading them out of contention.

Presuming the memory patch theory does work, the swiftness of the response shouldn't be a problem for Sony's engineers. Changing the make-up of the modules affected will probably be child's play for the platform holder plus it would most likely necessitate a higher effort on the part of the hackers to reverse-engineer the new code and re-patch it. Additionally, on the longer term, there is nothing to avoid Sony from introducing brand-new forms of encryption and execution on the way that future games boot.

However, the properties of the USB dongle itself may well be much harder to defend against. Assuming that the unit itself comes from Sony's own servicing tools, it may well call for a complete, brand new revision of motherboard to successfully defeat. The whole purpose of the dongle is to restore corrupt firmware - the chances are it has to operate on a hardware level that cannot be touched by the updater. We've seen it before on Sony kit - the so-called "Pandora" battery for PSP that flips it into service mode operates on the same principle, and was just defeated by the platform holder when it revised the handheld's motherboard. Nothing could be performed to protect the present devices.

Unless Sony is competent at rewriting the standard low-level code for the PS3's BIOS, there's little it can do today to defeat the USB vector of attack - it's all about preventing the injected code from working. Going forward we can expect the common cat and mouse game between hackers and platform holder to unfold, and it's not beyond the realms of possibility that in the foreseeable future, Sony should be able to detect people that use the tool and rightfully ban them from accessing PSN, similar to the measures Microsoft continues to undertake annually against gamers who flash their DVD drives to run copied software.

The complexity of Sony's security systems suggests that it should be able to keep one step ahead, but there's nothing to stop people utilizing the hack to prevent firmware upgrades from going down. Indeed, the chip itself is said to protect the console from executing system updates. This obviously precludes PSN access, and in the fullness of time this approach will stop newer PS3 games from running as they shall be reliant on software elements found only inside newer firmware. Considering that PS Samurai is retailing for well over $130, there's a very strong possibility that this could be the most expensive and short-lived hack ever made, and factoring in the simplicity of the hardware, the very high price seems almost reminiscent of a smash-and-grab raid on users intent on piracy regardless of what the purchase price. The manufacturers of PS Samurai are charging so high price because the time frame with regards to exclusivity along with the longevity of the hack itself is potentially very small.

That said, the actual properties for the USB stick and how future-proof it is remain unknown. With mass-production of PS Samurai now in motion, and the first retail devices apparently set to ship prior to the month comes to an end, Sony's engineers are doubtless gearing up for the battle coming.

Newssource: Icongamenews