We’ve announced a few days ago that there was going to be a ninja release for Qwikrazor’s exploit. There’s some confusion as to what the exploit will offer, what firmwares it will work on, etc… I’ve received lots of PMs and emails to ask me about it.

In this quick FAQ I’ll try to answer most of the questions I’ve received. Feel free to ask more questions in the comments below, or to me directly on twitter, and I’ll try to answer them the best as I can.

When will the exploit be released?

Exploit releases on the PS Vita (or, rather, the ePSP on the Vita) are a sensitive thing because they typically rely on a vulnerability in a specific game (this is the case here too). People who want the exploit need to purchase the game on the PSN store before Sony realize the issue and pull the game from their store. Because of that, we are secretly giving away the name of the game to a growing number of people on our forums, before we make a public announce. This is with the hope that more people will be able to buy the game in time. We call this process a “ninja release”.

So when do you get to know about the “secret” game: well, register on our forums and you will know before the general public. Or, stay tuned on this blog for the public announce. Remember, once the public announce is made, it is a matter of hours before Sony remove the game from their store.

The only accurate answer to the question is: stay tuned here on wololo.net!

What firmwares will the exploit work on?

The exploit works on firmwares 3.36 and 3.50, as well as lower firmwares, but there is a catch: you need two devices to run the exploit: one that is already hacked (either a PSP or a Vita), and the Vita you want to hack. See below

Why do I need an additional hacked PSP or Vita to run this hack?

As many of you have guessed, the exploit runs through the wifi functionality of the exploited game. You need a PSP running a CFW, or a Vita running an ePSP CFW in order to “start” a malicious multiplayer game that will then inject our payload into the unhacked vita, which will be the “client” of the multiplayer session.

What device can I use as the “second” device?

Any PS Vita running an eCFW (Ark or TN-V), or any PSP running a Custom Firmware on 6.xx, except the PSP E1000. The hack requires wifi functionality, and the E1000 does not have wifi support.

So, do I need the additional hacked device every time I want to start the hack?

Yes an no. On firmwares 3.36 and below, you will be able to create a “bubble” that will then run your homebrew launcher without the need to go through the complicated process. Once the bubble is created, you won’t need the second device anymore.

On 3.50, unfortunately, it is not possible to create “bubbles” (at least not in a publicly known way), and you will need the additional device every time you want to launch the hack again. you can put your device in “sleep mode” with the hack running though. But anytime you’ll turn the Vita off, or switch to an actual Vita game, you’ll have to run the hack with the second device again.

Wait, so, this exploit is useless on 3.50, right?

Well, it is definitely not practical on the latest firmware. It is extremely cool though, to be able to inject an exploit from a remote PSP into your Vita. The experience in itself is worth it, in my opinion. Some of you might remember the Medal Of Honor Heroes exploit, where you had to commit suicide in the game in order to trigger the exploit. Not very practical, but pretty impressive from a geeky point of view 🙂

screenshot thanks to The Zett

I am running on firmware x.yz and I already have an exploit. Should I upgrade to 3.50 to get this new exploit?

It’s really up to you, but given how impractical the exploit will be on 3.50, my personal opinion is to stay on whatever exploit you currently have. The one reason you might have to upgrade to 3.50 is if you badly want to be on the latest Vita firmware, and don’t care too much about your ePSP CFW. On 3.50 you will still be able to access homebrews and backups with this exploit, but it will be more constrained because of the requirement for an additional device.

Will this be a kernel exploit with a CFW, or only VHBL?

Unlike what we said initially, Qwikrazor announced that he will release a CFW (and a kernel exploit) with this exploit. So, this will have the full eCFW functionality you can expect: homebrews, isos, plugins.

Other questions? Ask me on twitter!