UPDATE: Apparently, reports that Firmware 3.72 patches h-encore² were fake and everybody, including TheFlow, fell for it. h-encore² still works on FW 3.72 so it’s unclear what the update brings!

As said in previous articles about new PSVita firmware updates, Sony certainly never ceases to amaze us as it keeps on releasing PSVita firmware updates with nothing but exploit fixes. This time around, Sony has released firmware 3.72 which patches the just-released h-encore² by blacklisting Bitter Smile’s demo which is its userland entry point.

Sony releases FW 3.72 – What does it bring along? Should I update?

Apparently, Sony has been sitting on a patch for h-encore² for quite a while so it’s anybody guess why they didn’t release the update earlier (Tweet)

To the surprise of many, Sony has apparently broken out of their exploit patching slumber and released an update to break the h-encore² mere hours after its release – this is unlike what happened with FW 3.69/3.71 which were released around 2.5 months after the previous firmware had been hacked. Interestingly enough, the FW 3.72 PUP file (i.e install file) was last modified on August 15 which is 12 days ago meaning that Sony had a patch ready to break any new PSVita hack as soon as it came out.

Unlike other occasions on which Sony releases a new PSVita firmware, this time there seems to be no official changelog on their website confirming the suspicion that FW 3.72 probably brings nothing except a F00D block for Bitter Smile’s demo. Thankfully, this means that the underlying vulnerabilities are probably still there which means that all that’s needed now is another save game exploit for FW 3.72 to be hacked!

Obviously, you should not update to FW 3.72 under any circumstances if you want to hack your PSVita. However, if you want to update for some reason, there’s a bit of good news as Chovy Sign (a hack letting you run dumped PSP games on FW 3.71) still works there as confirmed by SilicaAndPina.

TheFlow currently asking for help in finding a new savedata exploit to be used as a starting point for launching h-encore²

If you want to see FW 3.72 hacked soon and get your name in the credits, TheFlow is currently looking for help in finding another savedata exploit 😉

As Sony apparently did nothing more than just patch h-encore²’s userland exploit, a new savegame exploit is needed for FW 3.72 to get a native hack. In light of this, TheFlow is asking tech-savvy PSVita community members to help out in finding a new userland exploit and has provided an easy-to-follow guide on how this can be achieved.

In a nutshell, the process revolves around installing a DRM Free game/demo/app on your PSVita from this list, checking if it’s statically linked and then fuzzing the savedata by loading junk into it and seeing what happens. If the game crashes, then you have to look into the crashdump and look for specific values that signify whether you found a new user entry point or not. This process is to be done a PSVita that’s already hacked so don’t update your PSVita if you want to embark on some save data exploit hunting!

Conclusion

Like other times when Sony releases a new PSVita firmware, you’ll have to update your spoofing settings in ‘Settings->HENkaku Settings’ to spoof version “3.72” if you want to access PSN from your hacked PSVita.