News has been slow on the “PS4 Jailbreak” front lately. Hacker Cturt had taunted that maybe something was coming, by claiming he has received a significant $10’000 bounty from Playstation. But that was a month ago, and things haven’t significantly moved since then. However…

PS4 Scene: nothing confirmed on the Horizon

It’s worth reminding everyone that CTurt has not promised any kind of release at no point in the whole process. A lot of what we can read on popular scene sites (here included) is mostly speculation. Now, speculation itself is based on our collective experience as a hacking scene, so it’s not completely baseless, but it remains at the “hope” level for now.

With this being said, what has changed since Cturt’s ominous tweet last month? Not much, but enough that we should summarize the current status for those of you stuck on PS4 firmwares 8.xx or 9.xx and eagerly waiting for a Jailbreak.

CTurt’s HackerOne exploit confirmed, TheFloW hints at…something…?

HackerOne have now added an entry related to CTurt’s exploit. It confirms PlayStation have paid him a $10’000 bounty for (what we can assume is) a PS4 vulnerability. $10’000 implies this is a “high” or “critical” vulnerability, which probably means Jailbreak-level.

However the status of the bounty is currently “closed”, and it’s very possible it will stay this way forever, meaning no disclosure is on the way. We’ve heard everything and its opposite on the HackerOne process. Some people tell us once a vulnerability is marked as closed, it’s game over. Others tell us there is still a chance it could ultimately enter a “disclosure” mode. I personally have yet to see a bounty go from “closed” to “disclosed” on HackerOne, but maybe I’ve just not been paying attention (and I would love to be proven wrong)

So from my perspective, there’s a growing concern that Cturt’s hacks will not see the light of day.

In parallel, a few hours ago, TheFloW has posted a very cryptic tweet that got the whole scene on fire again.

😏😏😏

— Andy Nguyen (@theflow0) September 23, 2021

TheFloW knows exactly what he’s doing here, so it’s clear he’s hinting at something big, and everyone’s bet is that this is PS4 related. But we could be wrong. Either way, once again, even if it turns out to be an actual PS4 hack, there’s no guarantee or promise that the hacker would release it to the scene, we’ll have to wait and see.

I’m on 8.XX/9.xx. What does this all mean to me?

The only guaranteed way to Jailbreak your PS4 currently is to get your hands on a PS4 running firmware 7.55 or lower. For all intents and purposes, there is no* way to downgrade a PS4, so if you’re stuck on firmwares 8.xx or 9.XX, the most immediate solution for you is to try and find a second PS4 with a lower firmware.

From my experience in the scene, I’ve never felt such a low confidence in a future Jailbreak release. Hackers are dropping light hints at a very measured pace, and as far as I’m concerned this is not a good sign. It does not mean a Jailbreak won’t be released for recent firmwares, but at the moment it would be very hard for anyone to make a guess as if it will happen in the next few months or if you might have to wait for more than a year.

Stay tuned, of course once actual progress is made it will be all over the scene, including here at wololo.net.