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A YouTuber with over half a million subscribers, Dammit Jeff, (in partnership with Louis Rossmann's FULU Foundation)has offered a substantial bounty for the release of a significant PS5 exploit. In a video posted to his channel yesterday, he detailed his plan to revolutionise the hacking scene for the console in response to Sony's much maligned decision to go fully digital in 2028. He also gave instructions on how to keep the console on the lowest possible firmware by disabling updates, along with a scathing rebuttal to Sony's talking points regarding the shift.

"This feels like it's only a net benefit for Sony. That's it. The only thing we get out of this is, 'Oh, well... It's a little more convenient.' ... I keep seeing the same statistic everywhere- Yes. 85% of PlayStation game sales were digital last year, that is correct. But- And this is important- Adoption does not equate preference. ... How many people do you think chose the disc version of the PS5 over the digital version of the PS5? 82%. ... Clearly consumers still want at least the choice to decide where and how they buy their games."

Both Dammit Jeff and the FULU Foundation put up $10,000 each, and small dollar donations are coming in steadily. The bounty is totalled at $32,572 at the time of writing, while the largest payout Sony has ever made for the disclosure of an exploit was $20,000 to TheFloW's exploit from 4 years ago. There are significant conditions attached to receive the bounty, however.

The disclosed exploit must:

• Demonstrably allow for the modification or bypassing of the PS5 hypervisor to the extent that an alternate OS can be booted (Stability of the alternate OS is not required)
• Either be a one-off implementation, or an implementation that takes no more than 10 minutes to execute if it needs to be repeated
• Work on firmware version 13.42 or newer (The most recent firmware at the time of writing)
• Be able to access the PS5's primary computation, memory, and graphics hardware on the alternate OS
• Allow the PS5 to continue to be capable of being booted into its original operating system, with the capability to play PS5 games

On top of that, if the modification is a hardware modification, it must also not require hardware that costs a meaningful percentage of the PS5's cost, and be able to be carried out by someone with only basic soldering skills and equipment.

It was reported at the beginning of the month that Sony anticipated the negative backlash toward the decision to cease producing physical games, and while a huge backlash continues to flood their social media pages, the company has remained steadfast in its decision-making. Weaponising crowd funding is just the latest in a long line of schemes to strike back at the company, but this has gotten significantly more traction than any of the previous ones. Links are below if you want to contribute.

Source
Bounty Page
Discord Server
FULU Foundation Website

 

[Darth Meteos]

hey ma, i did it again

 

[ov3rkill]

I wonder if $ony's bounty will increase their current bounty program is only up to $50k.

Or imagine if someone is already preparing their exploit and will release it for free in the wild just to pissed off $ony.

 

[TheStonedModder]

I’m close to this bounty I can taste it.

I got a lot of special bits dumped and decrypted with a custom HV

 

[ertaboy356b]

I think Louis Rossman also did a bounty.

 

[Blythe93]

I think Louis Rossman also did a bounty.

He's behind the FULU Foundation, no?

 

[ZeroT21]

With the measly bounty Sony offers after signing a NDA on top of it, they might pull it off

 

[xbmcuser]

confused, I thought the PS5 and pro have already been hacked. Allowing warez, linux and homebrew.

what have I missed?

 

[TheStonedModder]

confused, I thought the PS5 and pro have already been hacked. Allowing warez, linux and homebrew.

what have I missed?

Up to latest fw is the important part

You can’t do Linux on new firmwares

 

[Axido]

Okay? This is the exact same bounty Louis Rossmann has been promoting.


Can someone please inform me why this here news article ties it to a different person now?

I think Louis Rossman also did a bounty.

It's the exact same bounty that has already been posted on the PS5 Exploit Guide thread five or so days ago.

I don't know how these two people are connected, but reading the news article I found it weird that someone other than Louis gets credited for the bounty. There might be a good reason for that. The initial fund of $10.000 and the matching fund of $10.000 leave enough room for possible explanations, but why speculate if you could just as well get it explained to you by someone who already knows the definitive answer?

Would be cool if OP had done the proper research beforehand.

 

[Noctosphere]

Wow, nice. But I guess Sony wil just increase the bounty they offer instead. 100k, 200k, 500k, 1M, that's still pocket change to them (and they can still pay only a fraction of it if they want to)

Btw, are they doing the same for Nintendo?

 

[MrQQ]

Yeah this isnt going to happen and even if it does it wont stop sony doing what they are doing. Discs are going....end of story

 

[SecureBoot]

Okay? This is the exact same bounty Louis Rossmann has been promoting.


Can someone please inform me why this here news article ties it to a different person now?
It's the exact same bounty that has already been posted on the PS5 Exploit Guide thread five or so days ago.

I don't know how these two people are connected, but reading the news article I found it weird that someone other than Louis gets credited for the bounty. There might be a good reason for that. The initial fund of $10.000 and the matching fund of $10.000 leave enough room for possible explanations, but why speculate if you could just as well get it explained to you by someone who already knows the definitive answer?

Would be cool if OP had done the proper research beforehand.

Sounds to me like Jeff got the ball rolling when Fulu.

Or OP saw Jeff's video but not Rossman's.

 

[Karoi]

I think I am one of the few that don't care about this at all. And is okay with it. I love retro games on cartridge and discs but time change. Look at movies and I know some people are way more physical minded because of secondhand and preservation. And I will respect that but for me personally, again, I don't care.

 

[TheStonedModder]

I think I am one of the few that don't care about this at all. And is okay with it. I love retro games on cartridge and discs but time change. Look at movies and I know some people are way more physical minded because of secondhand and preservation. And I will respect that but for me personally, again, I don't care.

Unfortunately that mindset is a big part of the issue

People don’t care until it affects them finally; and more often than not. It’s too late when that finally happens

It doesn’t hurt you, or make your life (anyone reading this) to care about the greater good of the community and future of gaming

You have to think ahead and of the ripple effects. Of what ignoring things will cause

We are allowed to own less and less as it is, and this is only the beginning

 

[SaudiCraft]

I'm also offering a large bounty for playstation's head.

 

[Maq47]

I think I am one of the few that don't care about this at all. And is okay with it. I love retro games on cartridge and discs but time change. Look at movies and I know some people are way more physical minded because of secondhand and preservation. And I will respect that but for me personally, again, I don't care.

To add on to what @TheStonedModder has said, by 'ripple effects', we are talking about some of the stuff that Louis Rossman (CEO of the FULU Foundation, literally it's founder) has posted about in his YouTube videos: Stuff like smart TVs saying that you can't use them unless you update, and said update removing access to functionality (instaling apps from USB) and updating the terms of service to deny you the right to take them to court (and a TON of companies are doing this right now, and 95% of the time it does get them off scott free whenever a case is attempted to be made) in addition to adding into those same terms wording that states that 'unlawful' modification will not just void the warranty but also render the TV useless. Then there's 3D printers forcing their propriety format on you and nothing else with firmware updates. If companies get away with enough of that stuff, it can be used as an excuse to throw out future cases or rule in favor of the corporation (this part sets precedent, and is extremely dangerous), so to avoid this huge can of worm being opened (and it WILL set off an uncontrollable domino effect), we need to put our foot down. This specifically may not affect us, but letting it slide will allow these megacorps to have an excuse to completely get away with stuff that DOES affect us.

 

[cearp]

I read in the terms and conditions that the "claimant" needs to be based in the USA.
I think that's a big restriction...

So it's great to have a bounty, but don't exclude hackers in all other countries lol.
(and difficult to trust / work with someone claiming the money for you, it's a big sum)

 

[Smoker1]

Only problem is, now Sony will begin Monitoring him, and if anything happens, they will do a major Lawsuit, especially since they are a big Company, and will Pay Off to Win...I mean.....Win Legally...yeah....that's it.

 

[SecureBoot]

Only problem is, now Sony will begin Monitoring him, and if anything happens, they will do a major Lawsuit, especially since they are a big Company, and will Pay Off to Win...I mean.....Win Legally...yeah....that's it.

How? Nothing illegal was done