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Rumor: 'Rebug' custom firmware enabled 'free' PSN downloads, forced Sony's network shutdown
According to PSX-Scene forum moderator, "chesh," the now six-day-long PlayStation Network outage may be the result of a particularly exploitative custom firmware (CFW) modification for PS3. In a post on Reddit, chesh claims that a CFW known as "Codename: Rebug" had given its users the ability to log into PSN as if they were doing so from a developer console (or "debug unit"). As a result, chesh contends, this same exploit could allow its users to add funds from "dummy" credit card accounts into their PSN wallets, ostensibly giving them the ability to "unlock" (read: steal) certain PlayStation Store content. Joystiq's research into the purported exploit has turned up multiple tutorials detailing the process, which appears alarmingly easy to execute on consoles running the Rebug CFW. The hack does not allow its users to access the credit card or other personal information of PSN users, chesh adds. Nevertheless, as we reported earlier today, Sony is working to rule out information theft as part of its investigation during the maintenance outage in which the company is also implementing new security measures. Sony has not yet responded to our request for comment on this story.
First PS3 'custom firmware' working, doesn't allow piracy
Building upon the exploits of the fail0verflow hacking troupe, a tinkerer known as "KaKaRoToKS" has got the first "custom firmware" (CFW) running on PS3. The modification can be applied to any version of the system's official firmware, including the latest 3.55 patch, and simply adds an "Install Package Files" option in the Game section of the XMB. Importantly, this unauthorized option isn't an open flood gate for pirated games, but rather a means by which users could install signed and encrypted executable files -- in other words, "retail" .pkg files like the ones Sony uses for PSN downloads. While no current homebrew application is packaged like this (and therefore compatible with the custom firmware), it would be possible for homebrew developers to re-package their files to be installed through the CFW. (PSJailbreak offers similar functionality, DigitalFoundry explains, but as its name implies, Jailbreak allows for the installation of unsigned, unencrypted code.) "Since the kernel is left unmodified, this means that this custom firmware is really meant for future homebrew installation, and it will not allow piracy," writes KaKaRoToKS in a blog post about the CFW. "I plan on keeping it that way." [Thanks, Roland]
