When Sony released PS3 Firmware 4.90, we mentioned that updating was a dangerous bet, considering that all “official” unofficial tools for the console were down, in particular the popular PS3 Toolset “BGToolset” by bguerville et. al. The PS3 Scene hacker has however solved some of the issues with their host, and not only is PS3 Toolset back, the latest update, v1.2.006, brings support for Firmware 4.90. In other words, we’re back in a world where you can safely hack your PS3 even on the latest firmware 🙂

What’s PS3 Toolset and what happened to it?

Long Story Short, among other things, PS3 Toolset lets you install a Custom Firmware on your PS3 (if it’s compatible. PS3s that cannot install a CFW can still run PS3 HEN).

This tool is closed source and was initially hosted by the PS3Xploit team.

Unfortunately, the team lost access to the server (in part due to the content of the site being flagged as “malicious” by some specialized services) several months ago. At that point a bunch of clone websites started popping up. But those were based on incomplete reverse engineered code and led to bricks in some cases.

It took the PS3Xploit a while to get back a server that has PS3-compatible https support. Furthermore, it appears that specialized antispam service Spamhaus considers everything related to PS3 Jailbreak as “malicious” and have threatened the team’s host. The PS3 Toolset is now behind cloudflare and that seems to have mitigated the issue, but Bguerville states the future of the official PS3 Toolset site remains unclear because of that.

PS3 Toolset 1.2.006 – What’s new

Thanks in particular to great work by Esc0rtd3w, this new release brings support for Firmware 4.90. Full changelog:

• Added 4.90 CEX/PEX support
• Added 4.89 PEX support
• Added 4.78 CEX support
• Added 4.76 CEX support
• Added 4.75 CEX support

Where to find the PS3 Hacking tools

• PS3Xploit Team’s official site (now functional again)
• PS3 Toolset

• Is my PS3 Compatible with CFW?
• How to Jailbreak CFW-Compatible PS3 with PS3 Toolset
• How to run PS3 HEN (if your PS3 isn’t compatible with CFW)