Japanese PSP scener Mamosuke announced today on his blog that he was able to confirm a “Hello World” running on the PS Vita through the embedded PSP emulator. The exploit was made by developer teck4, and most likely relies on one of our good buffer overflow friends. and for those who are wondering “is it real?”, my current answer is that I haven’t tried it yet, but knowing Mamosuke fairly well I can tell you it’s true.
Technically, the idea behind the hack is simple but brilliant: the PS Vita has a PSP emulator, and we have plenty of PSP game exploits lying around… can we assume they will work on the emulator? That’s what teck4 tried, and the answer is yes, so he managed to run unsigned code on the PS Vita.
For those who join this blog for the first time, basically how this works is that a special save data file is crafted for a specific game. When the game is asked to load the save data, through a flaw in the game code we manage to re-route the game into executing code that we wrote ourselves. That code is usually very simple, displaying a simple message (typically “hello world”, hence the name).
From there, what happened for the PSP was that we integrated these exploits into our homebrew loading tool, Half-byte Loader, which allows people to load more interesting homebrews such as emulators, etc…
That’s the theory. Practically, although this is good news, there are a bunch of obstacles which will probably not make the exploit so interesting for most users (at least not yet): First of all, the exploit happens within the PSP emulator on the Vita, and will not directly give access to the Vita hardware or features. So this can theoretically only allow to run PSP homebrews on the vita (which, to me, is already fairly nice), and also, only User-mode ones ( a game exploit does not give access to the PSP kernel mode, so some tools and functionality is missing, which prevents emulators such as Daedalusx64 for example to run at full speed).
The second issue, and we ran into the same type of problem with the PSP, is that Sony will probably stop distributing the flawed game as soon as they know which game it is, and/or patch the game or the emulator. That can probably be tampered by the fact that there are numerous vulnerable games on the PSP, and so a “cat and mouse game” could start, assuming Sony cares about protecting the PSP emulator against user-mode homebrews
The third issue, and that might be the worst problem, is that copying PSP savedata from your computer to the PS Vita requires to go through a tool named the “contents management assistant”, which could easily be blocking the crafted savedata. Worse, copying any file to the PSP emulator has to go through this assistant, which means if we are to copy/load homebrews using this trick, they would probably have to follow a very specific format, and be all able to run from within the game’s savedata folder (most homebrews expect to run from the PSP/GAME folder, and half byte loader itself expects to be living on the root of the PSP, but the contents management tool will only copy files to the game’ savedata folder). Eventually tools will probably be built to overcome this limitation, but it sounds like Sony could patch that kind of stuff fairly easily in the future (and prevent copying anything that’s not recognized as some savedata, for example)
As a conclusion there are lots of obstacles to turning this in a useful system for the end user, so as mamosuke states, this is not even step1 for the Vita hacking. But it’s still interesting news, running a hello world on Day1 on Sony’s new console is still heart-warming and could lead to more interesting discoveries, so congrats to teck4, and a personal message to mamosuke and teck4: if you are looking for help to port HBL to this, please contact me. I’m kind of always busy, but of course very interested to see where we can go with this 
I’m also thinking that somebody with enough free time could use this to run PSP homebrews through HBL on the PS3…
If you’re interested in discussing this hack further, feel free to join the discussion on /talk!
Thanks to Abdullah for the tip! Two in a row, thanks a lot man
Even if it performs how far that the brittleness of PSP as which Hello World is displayed is only reproduced and displayed, and that it is, it is only a reappearance display, and a possibility that the system domain of Vita can be trodden in from here is zero mostly.
That is, it is not the first step of hacking, either.相当な時間がかかります
I agree, this is only a “ray of hope” to show that we have attack vectors, but as you say, I expect the Vita to be fairly secured, and this kind of PSP game exploit will not allow us to reach the Vita functionality, as I wrote in the article
Storming a fortress is never easy… I just hope Sony
doesn’t guess what game is the trump card
Well the 3ds was able to still be hacked in ds mode which is enough for me. And just being able to run homebrew on the vita is mainly what I want. I only dread having to play the dony upgrade your firmware game.
From what’s been going on with the PSP for years and the PS3 just a few months back, it’s going to be far from a cake walk.
wololo if you read this, please tell teck4 and mamosuke to hold off on releasing any info about the exploit until the North American vita release..
I would be frustuated if this gets patched before our release..
thanks again for the update
Wololo , as far as i know , i think you arein Japan ,right??
if yes then did u buy a vita??????He says he will get tomorrow.
Sorry, He will get tonight.
Yep, I hope the post will bring it tonight, maybe tomorrow
lolz win ahahah
Some posts ago the vote about Linux on PS3 got a final hit in court. I hope this will remain private and not get the emulator deleted from psp VITA.
On the other hand, this is not a “hello world” like we are used to, I think you should clarify it a bit more. To not get people start asking when the next cfw gone be :p
this is the first time for some months i haven’t been reading yours post and im very first news i read here
Well I follow mamosuke and other hackers as well as they follow me.
J416DY: NGP CFW https://twitter.com/#!/j416dy/status/148314569918521344
PS Vita kxploit to run Homebrew full speed and ISO https://twitter.com/#!/j416dy/status/148289509325406208
More news for you!
And you are welcome about the tweets.nothing to see here as far as I can tell, a moot discussion about the possibility of a CFW on the Vita… 1 year before it was released…
Oh ok. Thanks
Why do all my comments await moderation?
Mostly because they contain links, I think
Probably because I have a lot of links in the comments.
Thank you wololo ^_^
An emulator within an emulator! We have to go deeper…
This is just like the Nintendo 3DS hacking at the moment. DS Mode has been hacked but 3DS Mode still awaits to be hacked. PSP mode has been hacked by a User-mode exploit while the PS Vita Mode still awaits to be hacked.
good for vita-easily port homebres.(even if sdk is there)
good for psp…developers make psp games and easily port to vita….Hence psp users happy too.
worst for psp..since vita can play psp iso’s due to some unethical hackers..developers stop making any game.
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so its not good at all MR ABDULLAHWhen did I say that I was on the side for piracy? I hate piracy!
the second link regarding iso support
That doesn’t mean that I like piracy or pirate! I’m only summarizing what J416 said!
OH SIZZZ >.>
so it does have psp emulation? let me guess, if we want our games to the psvita we need to buy them again. am i right?
you are right. psvita iso can wait , i only wish we could play our psp games with out pay again.. thats it all.. saludos =)
i’m still waiting for release in europe and you in 1 day of digging you can say HELLO WORLD. maybe tomorrow you can say more but just keep digging and secret ok.
I don’t get it :S Why in the picture does it say “for PSP firmware 6.31″??
The hack was written for a psp game when firmware 6.31 was the latest psp firmware. Since the exploit was never made public, it still works on 6.60, and therefore on the vita emulator too
So does this mean that the exploits you mentioned in a thread a while ago containing unreleased exploits may still have a use? (Sorry this was explained badly, I am currently writing from my PSP!)
Yes, potentially
If this can somehow help us launch HBL on the Vita it’s awesome news
It’s interesting but simply a psp exploit, not a native vita ARM binary, very interesting news but now the hello world that we will see later that is ARM native and really able to take advantage of VITA features not just psp emu. : )
Still cool news though!
Regards,
npt
Interesnting…
I wonder what options Sony has and if they will do anything.
This could make for an interesting series of events.Interesting*
Pingback from PlayStation Vita hacked on December 19, 2011 at 10:49 am
hacked on the first day this must be a new record
Pingback from Unboxing the Playstation Vita · Wololo.net on December 19, 2011 at 3:31 pm
Beautiful. Admitted it’s like posting a sticker on a fortress. But it’s one big frikkin sticker. Let the games begin.
I love this “sticker on a fortress” comparison
Thanks. I just made it up too. I love metaphors lol. But for real I have high hopes for this
I would love to contribute but I have very little free time nowadays. And btw I was just wondering what should be on the sticker. Any ideas? xDPWND!!!!!
Yeah that definitely works xD
It shouldn’t be too hard to bypass the program required to copy games from your computer to the PS Vita. The PSP/PS Vita aren’t the only products that use a Sony Memory Stick. Also you can buy adapters. Also I am sure one of these: http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=110092&r=GOOG
could be used to make it easier to connect to your computer. I know it will cost more money but people were willing to buy Pandora Batteries and Magic Memory Sticks on the old PSP’s.The vita does not use memory sticks, it uses a new proprietary format of memory cards.
Fake!!ส็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ส็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ส็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ส็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ส็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ส็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ส็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ส็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ส็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ส็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ส็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ส็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็
im lmfao Sony shall of known about the “exploit ” They are a big company wanting money leaving doors open just makes end users want the product! They know some of us won’t want vita as we have hacked Psp’s!!!! but how many of you are now wanting Psvita after seeing Psvita running none Sony code!!! All they did here was let u see vita running none Sony code so we all think off them. Also What we have all seen shall get allowed for now its how business works
Thanks for the easy-to-understand explanation of how this actually works! I am kind of interested in possibilites to manipulate this hardware, but I have no technical knowledge. So reading your blog entry helped me a lot. I am wondering how far this will go in the future, since I read somewhere that Sony is desperatlely trying to stop piracy this time. And let’s face it: There are always people that are interested in getting games for free rather than actually improving the possibilites of the new hardware.
I for myself buy the games I want to play but I am hoping for some tools (e.g. email client, better browser) for the Vita that Sony is not likely to provide…so I am looking forward to how this turns out
hahaha wololo’s new names! asshololo , trololo , dickololo hahaha!
Your name should be trololo because you’re trolling right now! Get lost!
I wonder if the PSP api can access the Vita’s filesystem(ie. if sceIoOpen from the emu can open an actual file in memory card).
Has anyone tried running signed PSP homebrew on the Vita?
There is no way to copy the homebrews on the vita in the first place, this is one of the challenges that need to be solved
Wait a minute ARM based,why?
Because it uses an android system also android can easily grant you access in most cases to root files etc.
Well is usually the case.
Or has Sony just used the base code or portions of android to run android applications as well as Sony’s PSP apps from PSN running in there PSP emulator.
I haven’t been paying much attention to the PSP/Sony scene of late so please amend and answer to my errors and questions thanks.Pingback from [RUMOR] Primo Hello World su PSV on December 24, 2011 at 11:32 am
Pingback from Anonymous on December 26, 2011 at 6:04 pm
so the hacke psvita can play the psp iso files?
Pingback from A FAQ for HBL on the Vita · Wololo.net on January 10, 2012 at 4:08 pm
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