Nintendo pushed Firmware 15.0 for the Nintendo Switch earlier today. SciresM said he will update CFW Atmosphère for 15.0 support, while Plutoo has stated this new firmware patches some Kernel vulnerability.

Nintendo Switch Firmware 15.0 – what’s new

From the official changelog:

• The location of the Bluetooth® Audio menu within System Settings has moved.
• Screenshots can be taken using the Capture Button while in the Nintendo Switch Online application found on the Nintendo Switch HOME Menu. Video capture is not supported.
• General system stability improvements to enhance the user’s experience.

One could have expected a bit more pizzazz with a major update, but is is what it is.

Atmosphere update incoming + kernel vulnerability patched

More importantly, it seems the “system stability improvement” actually patches a kernel bug, according to Switch hacker and scene legend Plutoo. He says:

One of my kernel bugs got fixed :(((

If anyone wants it: in the early days TLS pages were heap allocated and thus refcounted, but after a while they moved it to the slab allocator but forgot to clear the IsRefCounted attribute. So it’s accidentally had the wrong attribute up till now 

Whether that bug was important for a potential firmware hack of the Nintendo Switch, remains to be seen. Of course, in 2022, if you own one of the early, hackable, Switch models, a kernel exploit might not be super important to you. But for most Switch owners, with hardware hacking being kind of tough and/or expensive, a software exploit could have been a nice way to enjoy homebrew and switch hacks.

In parallel, SciresM has stated he will be working on an update to popular Custom Firmware Atmosphère, to make it compatible with 15.0. Stay tuned!

I’ll be working to get Atmosphere updated for 15.0.0 as soon as I possibly can. https://t.co/k1jDhmD2h5

— Michael (@SciresM) October 11, 2022