A few days ago, PS4 hacker SpecterDev revealed that an exploit for PS4 firmware 5.05 will be released “in the weeks to come”. (I personally trust SpecterDev so much that I jumped the gun and got myself a PS4 Pro “god of war” special edition. It shipped with firmware 4.73, for those who want to know.)

In addition to a full kernel exploit, the developer announced that this release will include development tools and more. Over the past few days, a few details and rumors have been circulating.

Mira Project – the PS4 Homebrew platform

Hacker Mathieulh has confirmed that the Open Orbis hacking team is a thing, and they will be releasing the “Mira Project” simultaneously with the 5.05 hack (the github was formerly confirmed to be real by Abkarino). This was also confirmed by famous PS3 hacker Rogero in the same thread. Qwertyoruiop also explained this release will be more than what former PS4 jailbreaks have been.

The github for the Mira project is a trove of information. First of all, we learn that Mira will include the components for a PS4 Custom Firmware. Before everyone jumps the gun, this CFW will be closer to what we typically call a “HEN” around here*, as in, a Custom Firmware that you’ll have to re-launch after a reboot of the console (note: after years of using such tools on the PSP and other consoles, I’ve actually grown to prefer HENs to “full fledged” custom firmwares, as I like very much the idea that all traces of the hack are gone if I reboot my console. Just a personal preference).

I’m thinking kernel plugins, and of course, homebrews becoming easier to install, customization of the console, etc… could come to the PS4 as developers get to understand how to work with the Mira CFW.

Open PS4 SDK incoming for homebrew development

Additionally, the Mira project will come with a libc implementation for the PS4, and the linker to come with it. This will basically give us the base for an SDK for the PS4, and should be enough to create basic homebrew. This father of 3 wishes he had more time to get back into homebrew development.

It is unclear at the moment if advanced features such as perfect controller APIs or GPU support will be here, but as more libraries of the PS4 get reverse engineered, it should be possible to add them and build an SDK with additional features.

PS4 Mira project: All-stars team of contributors

The Mira project readme gives an impressive list of hackers who have contributed to the project, although I assume some of these contributions are indirect. But basically if you’re thinking of a PS4 hacker who has majorly contributed to the PS4 scene recently, their name is probably on the list of credits for the Mira project.

PS4 5.05 Exploit – release when?

Rumors state that the 5.05 exploit release could happen around 20th of May. That guess is as good as any, honestly, as I don’t think any of the major hackers involved in this exploit have given any precise date yet. (Correct me – with source – if that’s wrong)

* People will probably disagree with my choice of words here, but I’m used to that. A HEN is a “Homebrew Enabler” while a custom firmware is typically more structured and lets you do more advanced manipulation such as replacing modules, etc… in practice, there’s usually no difference to the end user because the underlying kernel exploit pretty much lets you do whatever you please on the machine. In the PSP scene hackers have used the word “HEN” to mean “a Custom Firmware that you lose at each reboot”.