Release: VitaRW gives us write access to Vita’s protected partitions (where’s my downgrader?)
Major_Tom just released VitaRW, a tool that gives you Read/Write access to the Vita protected partitions (e.g. vs0, sa0, os0, etc…)
What is VitaRW?
An important disclaimer here: used improperly, this tool could let you badly damage your PS Vita, beyond repair. If you mess up with the wrong files, you’ll end up with a permanent brick and your PS Vita will become an expensive paperweight.
If you read the paragraph above, read it again. Then read this: this release is for developers/tinkerers who are aware of the risks. Most people should be patiently waiting for actual tools that have been vetted and beta tested.
With that out of the way, what does VitaRW let you do, technically?
Well, here’s what we know about some of these partitions (from Vitadevwiki):
- os0 found on the NAND is where the “main” OS (aka CoreOS) files are including all the kernel libraries and the most important user libraries. There’s always two copies of this for redundancy and updating will only update the inactive partition and the active flag is swapped.
- sa0 found on the NAND is the “bulky” data like fonts and handwriting information. Why is it a separate partition? Because it makes update files smaller. Your “systemdata” PUP provides the update for this partition.
- vs0 found on the NAND is the rest of the OS including all the system apps, the main shell, and the remaining user libraries
Hopefully this gives you an idea of how dangerous it could be to change these files on your console. With that being said, according to Major_Tom, SMOKE has started modifying some files in vs0 and did not run into any big issue. Then again, proceed at your own risk.
Several people are speculating about what could be done with this.
A PS Vita Downgrader?
One of the main expectations is that this could lead to creating a downgrader for the PS Vita (and for example bring our friends back from 3.61 to 3.60). There’s lots of wishful thinking here and just because we have access on these partitions on 3.60 does not mean hackers are now magically able to craft valid update packages. Sony have stepped their game up since the old PSP days and I’d be surprised if it was easy to trick the PS Vita into a downgrade. (Remember, just because a device can decrypt packages doesn’t always mean it can encrypt them back).
Conversely, this could give us possibilities to spoof firmware 3.61 from firmware 3.60, and give some people access to the PSN again. That actually feels more likely to me than a downgrader, although I’d personally warn people against accessing Sony’s services (including but not limited to the PSN) with a hacked PS Vita. You would be giving them legit reasons to ban your account.
Getting back our PSP Emulator Kernel hacks
KanadeEngel has also tried replacing the PSP Emulator with an older version. Doing so would bring back some of the old PSP Kernel exploits to Vita 3.60, meaning tools such as ARK or TN-V could be brought to the console.. Sadly, KAnadeEngel’s confirmed that the PSP Emulator on the PS Vita refuses to run if the versions don’t match. This could be an easy patch but needs to be investigated more. Arguably, it might be easier to just patch the PSP emu in RAM from HENkaku, to bypass the need for a PSP exploit in the first place.
In other words, this release opens lots of opportunities, but do not expect a downgrader just now, to me that’s just wishful thinking.
Download VitaRW
You can Download VitaRW from the developer’s github here. Major_Tom intentionally did not include a binary release (a .vpk) so that only people with the appropriate dev environment play with this, with the intent to help filter out “stupid mistakes” for the time being (until someone releases a compiled binary, that is <– update: well, I wasn’t even done writing this article that .vpks started surfacing on various sites. Handle with care!).
To install & run, please note that you will need to have a PS Vita running firmware 3.60 with the HENkaku hack. To install HENkaku, please check our PS Vita CFW page.
Looking for more? We have a full list of Emulators for the PS Vita, an up to date list of Homebrews for the PS Vita, and an All in one guide for Vita 3.60 describing everything you can do with your hacked PS Vita.
Source: Major_Tom
Last
You deserve a slap!
Kudos to you! I hadn’t thughot of that!
Hi Michelle! I do giveaways once a month so the next one will probably be mid-April. You never know when it might happen so keep checking back. And don’t forget you can always purchase one from me as well!Thanks for the comments, guys. Bobette’s was really fun. I can’t wait to get the Butler Family Photography header online soon, too!
It’s a real pleasure to find someone who can think like that
een budget merk op je blog! zie je ook niet vaak dit is zeker een leuk merk, maar vooral voor hele jonge meiden die met make-up willen experimenteren
Thanks Peter.It would be annoying if it were true that the scratches are arising from within the camera. I will try with my Yashica T5D (a motor-driven camera) for a while, using the same lab and see whether there are still scratches.BestJo
If I communicated I could thank you enough for this, I’d be lying.
Exquisite new punch!
One Ban Man!
You I like
Love you guys <3
I wish there is a way to downgrade to 3.60, my little brother update the Vita by mistake.
Wish you all the best guys <3
Lol
Love your flppy bird homebrew game. One of the best LUA games I have ever played
WOW! First
Someone made a good point on Reddit, will this allow write access to gro0:? If so, that would be amazing.
I kind of doubt it, but wouldn’t hurt to ask. I have a feeling it will eventually be possible, but might not be as easy as this method.
What’s in gro0:?
Physical game cartridge.
I doubt it. Think of it like non-rewritable CDs. It’s most likely a hardware limitation (hence the “ro” in gro0:).
Aren’t there a few games that keep save data on the cartridge? I’m willing to bet at least those particular games could be written to.
Exactly this, this is the only reason I was thinking it could maybe be possible.
these are more than likley a seperate partition on the cartridge itself (or even a completley different chip on the cartridge)
Games that save in the cardtridge have a ROM and a small re-writeable memory for the savefile only, so you could write in there…
So you wouldn’t be able to write in the whole cardtridge but just the savefile, which there are save editors released already already.
IIRC, there’s actually a separate RW partition on the carts for this purpose.
That is another partition i gues , grow or grw or something like that
Those games use a separate read-write partition for saving data (hence the “rw” in grw0:). See the Vitadevwiki article linked in the blogpost.
Those have a different partition for the save area, i believe its called grw, for read/write, its going to be a small space and not really of massive value
The reason non rewritable CDs work that way is because of the material it is made of. That’s not the case with Flash memories, and the save partition is another proof of that. It’s simply a “partition”, certainly not a whole new “volume”.
Just had a look and it’s giving “failed to retrieve directory listing” in filezilla rather than showing the encrypted files.
Doing a full dump to my PC now just in case I *** something up while I’m exploring, plus I’ll be able to see which transfers still fail
This is awesome!! Another stepping stone to a CFW
Hello hello… just when I think all the good HENkaku stuff is out, this little gem drops on us.
So, a sign we’ll finally be able to get “under the hood” and change critical system files, eh? Well isn’t that nice. The moment pspemu (with PSP and PS1 support) is back, I’m upgrading my main Vita to 3.60, no question. The fact this article has posted when early attempts have been made is just hugely encouraging.
I look forward to the next updates on this rolling out… thank you to Major_Tom. Use HENkaku and may Yifan’s love be with you eh? (Ugh that’s a forced reference if ever there was one *groan*)
Wololo, we love you, but please don’t delete replays! I hope Majot Tom does not share the fate of Hykem!
I will have wet dreams when AVLS can be permanently turn off 😀 Stupid *** from Sony (AVLS) makes me angry every time when I turn on Vita 😀
I hope this will result in a perm-Henkaku.
Jammed my Vita in the toaster. Did not downgrade it either in any way. Please donate for a new Vita
You fool, you forgot to throw it in the washing machine first and put it in the oven to try after. If you miss those steps of course finishing it up in the toaster won’t work… People have also mentioned drilling a hole through the screen had the best chance of success but I haven’t tested yet.
LOL
Omg i hope sson we can play ps1 and psp games :3
OhohOHOH THIS IS FUC*ING AWESOME!!!
wash your hands please, i can see that white liquid
Keeps getting awesome. First ?
downgrader?? nice……update to latest, download games from psn, play online, downgrade again and play homebrew ! XD
we going some where know .
keep up to good work guys
I don’t know about a downgrader but, this ought to lead to other interesting things.
, i found this episode memorable both for the Chicago Gangsters and the Fizzbin which i still find amusing and like Monica said, i think that what makes the Original Series good (well good to watch if not always a good episode) is because of that ridiculousness being a part of its charm.
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I agree with MM26, and I’ll add I don’t think help coming from a base an hour away would have helped. They needed assets from a lot closer. I don’t know how long the siege lasted, but I would guess the whole thing took all of 20 minutes at the most. Coordinated attacks like this are guerilla moves, in and out fast.
Behold, a new wave of bricked vitas!!!!
And banned psn accounts!!
I’d verntue that this article has saved me more time than any other.
I do like the manner in which you have framed this problem plus it does offer us some fodder for consideration. Nonetheless, from what I have observed, I really trust as other commentary pile on that men and women continue to be on issue and not embark upon a tirade involving the news of the day. All the same, thank you for this superb point and while I can not agree with this in totality, I regard your perspective.
This “free sharing” of information seems too good to be true. Like communism.
I just badly want to play MH3P on my vita. My work takes me on the road often and I love MH, would be a match made in heaven.
:0 i have the japanese version for the road but would be nice to play it in english again. Its the first game i am gonna download to my vita when it becomes possible. Just like it was my first ever psp game i played for 20 hours straight…
I hope someone tries to place older pkg installer, pspemu, and maps onto 3.60. Would be interesting to see if it would have an effect.
I think someone has already tried doing it with the pkg installer and it didn’t work. It’s most likely that the limitation comes from elsewhere in the system.
Dang, looks like we passed one limitation and ran into another.
Nicely Done Major 😀 We Salute you 😀
Custom xmb mods here we come
Its just like having the hammer, nails, saws and wood. But you need the carpenter to build the house for you.
That’s cool. Does that mean we can run linux on vita?
I doubt it highly, but that would be cool.
I was thinking new exploite comes from the gr0. So maybe the cartridge could be replaced with another game. But, wait.. piracy born from this method probably?????
Keep it up.. great job Major Tom.. let’s take one step at a time.. no hurry.. u guys have till Christmas for the vita cfw.. XD
Or maybe re-enable old eploits?
thank god, ill be waiting in that psp emu going to be back again now using that new discovery. i just want to play Initial D Street Stage on my vita so bad. keep up the good work you guys!
when they believe they will come out tn-v, or ecfw ark?
“There’s always two copies of this for redundancy and updating will only update the inactive partition and the active flag is swapped.”
Any way we can manually swap the active flag?
This could potentially allow ‘Downgrading’ to the previous firmware version?
Flipping to a lower firmware and updating would potentially then update only the inactive partition?
This way we could keep a low firmware version for Henkaku and an updated firmware for PSN Access?
I don’t know if that’s a good idea. We’d need someone to make sure that the configuration for the newer firmware is compatible with the older one. You don’t want to brick your Vita now do you? I don’t think it’s as simple as swapping flags. Updates exist for a reason, and we don’t know how the Vita will react to configuration files doing things that don’t exist in older firmwares. Of course this can be fixed if developers look into it with care, but just swapping back and forth sounds like a bad idea.
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