We’re far away from a new Jailbreak release on either the PS4 or the PS5, but the scene has obviously become excited by TheFloW‘s recent disclosure, of a Blu-Ray attack that impacts both consoles. It’s the right time to remind everyone to stay calm and not jump the gun!

PS4/PS5 Jailbreak – The current status

• It is currently possible to Jailbreak a PS4 up to firmware 9.00 included (details here). The PS5 is not publicly Jailbreakable yet.
• Hacker TheFloW has disclosed vulnerabilities that impact the PS4 up to Firmware 9.04 included, and the PS5 up to Firmware 4.51 included. However it is worth reminding everyone that these disclosure do not include proof-of-concept code, and even if they did, they are not accompanied by a Kernel exploit which would be required for a Jailbreak. In other words: we are still far from a Jailbreak release for either console, even though we’re clearly getting closer.

PS4 and PS5 Jailbreak in one word: Patience

The bottom line to modern Jailbreak releases is that they tend to work on older firmwares, and very rarely the latest one. Right now, the consensus seems to be that there is “hope” for PS4 9.03/9.04, and PS5 4.03. In both cases of course, lower firmwares also apply (it’s easy to upgrade from a lower firmware to a higher one, and practically impossible to downgrade).

If you’re above these firmwares, your chances of seeing a Jailbreak soon are getting thinner, but…

No matter what firmware you’re on, the key is to stay on that firmware as much as you possibly can, if you’re hoping for a Jailbreak. Even if you don’t get included in the next release, you’re increasing your chances of being part of the release after that. It’s never a good idea to update your console if your goal is to have a Jailbreak. For many of us, that mean owning two consoles: one for regular gaming, and the other one for Jailbreak purposes. Whether you can financially afford to do this or not, is of course up to you.

In other words: Do. Not. Update.

Keep in mind that it could be months before the next PS4 Jailbreak, and most likely more for a PS5 Jailbreak. If you really can’t wait, your best course of action is to try and find a Jailbreakable PS4. They are getting hard to find new, but should be fairly easy to get on second hand sites like eBay.

PS4 and PS5 Jailbreak – Beware of Fakes

The other important point is that a lot of sites will tell you they already have a Jailbreak, typically they claim they have it for the latest and greatest firmware. Trust one thing: if you don’t see this information on the frontpage of our site (wololo.net), or other reputable scene sites, it’s because it’s fake. You can fairly easily detect these sites, as their download links tend to send you to a site with e.g. a paid survey, or a password-protected file which requires you to visit another site for the password, etc…

Bottom line: they’re taking you into a loop of multiple clicks to maximize advertising revenue on their end, until you give up. Don’t feel bad when you give up: their file was not a Jailbreak in the first place. At best it was just some official Sony Firmware, at worst you downloaded a virus.

Always remember: we’ve been dedicating hours of our days for the past 15 years on this site, digging for this kind of information, to report it on the blog. What are the odds that through a random google search you just happened to find something none of the scene websites are aware of? I’m not saying it will never happen, but consider the statistical chances of that.

Conclusion

Nobody can tell for sure when the next PS4 or PS5 Jailbreak release will be. We understand everybody’s excited right now, but there’s nothing you really need in order to prepare, besides staying put and avoiding updates.