Yesterday, a functional kernel exploit was released for the PS5, the first since the console was released 2 years ago. Between the excitement of the possibilities this brings, and the confusion with the hack’s significant limitations , some people are wondering whether they should jump the gun and hunt for a (potentially expensive) 4.03 or 4.50 PS5. We’ll try to answer that.

Important update: in an earlier version of this article, we recommended to buy the Horizon Forbidden West bundle, which was allegedly shipping with Firmware 4.50. It seems recent revisions of this bundle now ship with Firmware 5.xx, so we cannot recommend this bundle as a “safe” way to ensure firmware 4.50. The article has been significantly changed from the original publishing to reflect that.

PS5 Kernel exploit – The current status, and its limitations

A Kernel exploit was released for the PS5 yesterday. Traditionally, on older generation consoles, this would be enough to claim victory for most people, with the possibility to run homebrew games and, yes, pirated games most likely. This is not the case here. The PS5 has additional security measures that prevent the current exploit from doing much.

In particular, The Hypervisor (HV) on the PS5 means all applications run in some Virtual Machine, which could honestly be enough for some homebrew environment, but will not let hackers access and patch kernel functions, the holy grail for a true Jailbreak. In parallel, eXecute Only Memory (XOM) prevents from reading (and therefore dumping, let alone reverse engineering) the kernel from within the context of the exploit. It also means we cannot run any arbitrary code outside of the contest of the ROP chain for now.

In other words, this isn’t a full Jailbreak, and for the end user, in its current state, this exploit most likely doesn’t bring anything useful. On the other hand, the scene has never been that far in exploiting the PS5, and it’s pretty much guaranteed at this point that firmwares 4.03 and 4.5 will be at the front of investigations by multiples hackers, digging for more exploits or functionality inside the console.

Should you buy a 4.03/4.50 PS5?

So what to do if you’re thinking of buying a PS5 in this context? Here’s my educated guess.

Please keep in mind that the following is just my personal opinion, ultimately you decide what to do with your own money.

On the one hand, it’s possible nothing significant will come out, or not on this firmware. For a while, PS4 1.76 was super expensive because it was “the” hackable firmware. Nowadays nobody cares and everybody’s looking for a PS4 9.00.

On the other hand, if any significant progress is made on this firmware, the prices of these PS5s could increase even more. So, PS5s are expensive, but those running on 4.03/4.50 could become even more so if we end up being able to run more than ROP code on them. And given the difficulty hackers have had investigating the PS5 so far, I would bet that firmwares 4.03/4.50 will be very valuable for quite some time.

In the end, the decision is yours, as long as you understand that in its current state, the hack does pretty much nothing for the end user, but that if and when it does, it will practically be impossible to buy a 4.03/4.50 console.

Where to get your hands on a 4.03 or 4.05 PS5 console

So, if you’re looking to buy such a console, where would you look?

Disclaimer: eBay/Amazon links below are affiliate links. If you buy through our links, you don’t pay anything additional but we get a small commission on the sale.

First of all, forget about mainstream stores such as Amazon or Walmart: PS5s sell like hotcakes, so the models they have are most likely newer firmwares by now. The exception being the Horizon Forbidden West bundle if you can get one (see below)

Are any PS5 bundles shipping with firmware 4.50 or lower?

In the PS3/PS4 era, we would look for specific bundles that were known to run a specific firmware. There haven’t been that many bundles for the PS5: The Ratchet and Clank bundle was one of the exceptions, and if you can get your hands on a (sealed) one it is pretty much guaranteed to ship with a low firmware. We haven’t been able to find it on the usual marketplaces though, and the few claiming they have a “bundle” are actually just selling a recent PS5 with the game, which is not what we’re looking for. So we can’t easily recommend that as a feasible option.

If the PS5 box doesn’t have this image, that’s not the bundle

The Horizon Forbidden West bundle used to ship with firmware 4.50. Unfortunately multiple users have reported that it now ships with firmware 5.xx or higher. You might try your luck in a local store, but that seems like a losing proposition at this point.

The horizon Forbidden West bundle used to ship with Firmware 4.50, unfortunately recent revisions are shipping with 5.xx. Available on eBay or Amazon but we don’t recommend it anymore as a foolproof way to get 4.50

To get your hands on a 4.50 PS5: Dig further

With the lack of reasonable bundles to look for, our best options are to try and look for a launch edition console, or discuss with the seller.

In all cases, make sure what you are getting is a brand new product sealed, OR discuss with the seller to confirm the firmware.

• Hunt down for a launch Edition PS5 (always triple check that it’s sealed, and that it’s really a launch edition, before buying)
  • If you can physically “see” the box (or if you can ask the seller): look for models CFI-10xxx. These are the original models from 2020. Later revisions of the console are CFI-11xx and CFI-12xx, which are more likely to come with higher firmwares. That number is located on the top of the box.
• Find “cheap” PS5s on eBay or other marketplace, and confirm with the seller that the firmware is what you want (4.03 or 4.50)

Once again, in the case of “open” or “pre owned” products, if the seller is not able or unwilling to give you the firmware, do not buy. Most professional stores actually update the consoles before selling them, as part of their “cleanup” process, and they also coincidentally happen to be the ones who refuse to give you more details about the firmware because of “policy”. You’ll be better served by someone who’s willing to discuss.

One last time, set your expectations right: what you’ll get is a somewhat expensive PS5 (although to be honest I was expecting way higher prices), which might or might not have firmware 4.5, 4.03, or lower (depending on how diligent you’ve been and a bit of luck). Having that firmware doesn’t give you much today. So, really, what you’ll get is an expensive PS5, which was a bit harder to buy than your average consumer product. If you’re willing to be at the front of future hacking discoveries, this might be worth it, and the time to act is now, rather than after  (because as we speak, some people are definitely jumping on the remaining 4.03/4.5 consoles, and if/when more potent exploits are released then those will be impossible to find).

Bottom line, you could end up “only” with an expensive PS5 and a story to tell. The choice is yours.

Last but not least, if you don’t want any of these shenanigans but still want to be involved in the future of PS5 hacking, you can do what a lot of us have been doing: buy 2 PS5s. One for gaming, and one that will sit in a closet on its current firmware, until a hack is released for said firmware. This might take months, or even years, but patience is probably the cheapest way to proceed.