In 2012 the scene has released 6 user mode exploits in PSP Games, that were leveraged to run either VHBL, or, more recently, Total_Noob’s CEF. These releases accelerated recently with the publication of 3 game exploits in the past 3 weeks: Monster Hunter, Urbanix, and Mad Blocker Alpha. Despite this, some people weren’t able to grab the exploits and are asking me when the next one is coming.

There are many things to say about this. First, I want to make it clear that I did not develop any of these exploits myself, and I certainly do not own a patent for the concept of “Ninja Releases”. In other words, anybody with a usermode game exploit could make their exploit compatible with Total_Noob’s CEF, then handle a Ninja Release on their own, or even contact me to handle it.

For those of you who still didn’t figure that out, in order for Total_Noob’s CEF to run, 2 exploits are required: a usermode exploit to be able to run unsigned code (that’s the game exploits), then a kernel exploit to do a privilege escalation (that’s Total_Noob’s exploit). The kernel exploit itself is not tied to a specific game.

I think it is really essential to understand that there is nothing that really makes me necessary in this process at all. Sure, we have a huge community focused mostly on the PSP and the Vita, which makes the Ninja Releases very relevant to guarantee that a maximum amount of people get the information before Sony pulls the game, but what I’m saying is, begging me for a new release is not necessarily the best way to get what you want.

Again, finding usermode exploits in psp games is not difficult, and is well documented (also here). All you need is a hacked psp, lots of free time, and a brain. Some of you might wonder “well duh, if I had a hacked psp, why would  I even want to look for more psp exploits?”, and I will reply that if everybody thought that way, we wouldn’t be enjoying Total_Noob’s CEF today. Others might think it’s too difficult… I am baffled at the amount of people who keep asking me where to find the info to find those exploits, when again it’s relatively well documented, and google is your friend. It’s not like there is a “psp hacking school” or something 🙂

Back to the recent Ninja releases, some people are wondering why we revealed two game exploits for firmware 1.81 (“why didn’t you guys wait for firmware 1.82?”), while others ask if we plan to release more.

As to why we released 2 game exploits for this, there are two reasons. First, the Urbanix exploit was leaked, and we feared the information didn’t spread fast enough for people who would have been interested in Total_Noob’s CEF.

Second, it is really essential to understand here that firmware 1.82 (or whatever comes next) will most likely patch Total_Noob’s Kernel exploit. If we had waited for firmware 1.82 to reveal the MBA exploit, it would have been “less” useful, as people wouldn’t have been able to use Total_Noob’s CEF, but rather something like VHBL, which provides less features. In other words, usermode exploits are less valuable than a Kernel exploit, so it made sense to “waste” a second usermode exploit on 1.81 rather than wait, especially since there are lots of other game exploits lying around.

So, why not release yet another game exploit before 1.82 then? Well, again, I do not control all the releases, and if you have a game exploit that you want to share for this, feel free to release it, or to contact me for a ninja release. But I see several reasons to think it wouldn’t really be worth it.

First, I strongly believe that people who were able to miss 3 exploits (Monster hunter, Urbanix, and MBA) in the past 3 weeks would not be able to catch a 4th one. Seriously, if you didn’t see the previous 3 ones, what makes you think you’ll see it this time?

Then, well, the Mad Blocker Alpha release wasn’t even planned initially, I just decided I’d try to contact Total_Noob and Frostegater on that subject, and they agreed it was a good idea… but my point here, people who ask for a second chance.. well, Mad blocker Alpha *was* that second chance… and technically, if you include all the previous exploits, it was like the 6th chance you had (yeah, Total_Noob’s CEF is still not ported to previous exploits besides Monster Hunter, but I am still convinced this is only a matter of time). Sure, a few people in there were really following all these events, and just got unlucky for various reasons, but the thing is, at this point I believe they probably represent a tiny minority that does not justify releasing a new usermode exploit (unless, of course, one of these guys actually has one and wants to share)

Finally, given how fast Sony removed Mad Blocker Alpha from theirs online stores, and the amount of leaks that happened for this release, I think the Ninja Release concept has shown its limits, and we need to adapt it. At least, we will be revising the list of trusted people more thoroughly.

On that point by the way, several people have contacted me to tell me the ninja release should happen progressively, so that less trusted people get the information after the others. This is already what’s happening, and this is why the information started to leak only days after the Ninja release had actually begun.

Well, I guess that’s what I had to say on this. Bottom line is, no extra Ninja release planned by me so far for 1.81, but of course nothing’s written in stone 🙂