Hacking GW Team warns against modified launchers

[Normmatt]

There is no timebomb, the memory corruption is in relation to some sketchy copy/pasting with the clones launchers coding

Its actually a check gateway put in to deter modifying their code. It intentionally causes a brick based on the date/time (it seems).

 

[juins]

me thinks the 7.1-14u update did something fishy
EDIT, nvm, or i dont know what to think. misread the date here http://3dbrew.org/wiki/Main_Page

 

[kyogre123]

Its actually a check gateway put in to deter modifying their code. It intentionally causes a brick based on the date/time (it seems).

I would like actual proof rather than another "it seems". Not to be harsh, but I have guessed a lot of stuff as well.

 

[juins]

Its actually a check gateway put in to deter modifying their code. It intentionally causes a brick based on the date/time (it seems).

I would like actual proof rather than another "it seems". Not to be harsh, but I have guessed a lot of stuff as well.

i second this. it would make us all less paranoid in all this different launchers business. Also, which specific version introduces this. I myself am on v3.2 3dslink and everything is smooth.

If it actually DOES turn out to be true, i wouldnt say that it was a bullshit move by GW team but idk, its a double edged sword move by them.

Fine, we get it, if u clone u risk losing functionality the original will have maybe, but to go as far as bricking the consumers products? wow, thats kind of extreme.

 

[enarky]

So far we have no evidence for Gateway being involved in those brickings. Do we even have evidence for those bricks occuring, besides some obscure spanish speaking links?

Normmatt, profi200, I am highly disappointed seeing two respected members of the handheld community being involved in such baseless speculation.

 

[mathieulh]

Its actually a check gateway put in to deter modifying their code. It intentionally causes a brick based on the date/time (it seems).

That's also what I've come to believe, I've taken a closer look at their code yesterday and it's filled/riddled with checksums performed all over parts of their Launcher.dat which didn't exist before 2.0b1.
It seems the bricking isn't due to "memory corruption" but rather intentional, I haven't found the piece of code that causes the actual bricking as it doesn't seem to explicitly write to the eMMC so they've hidden it but I am fairly confident that it's there and most likely cleverly designed not to cause a brick 100% times.

You also have to consider that the change Normmatt has performed is a very small change to their overall code that wouldn't/shouldn't on its own cause any brick whatsoever, it is however likely to trigger their routine as the hashes do not match what's expected from their checksum.

Of course I could be wrong considering I haven't found the part that causes the bricks (in fact it isn't part of the initial ARM9 payload) and the checksums could be totally unrelated, that seems however unlikely, we'll know for sure once either I or someone else finds the actual piece of code causing the eMMC corruption.

 

[juins]

So far we have no evidence for Gateway being involved in those brickings. Do we even have evidence for those bricks occuring, besides some obscure spanish speaking links?

Normmatt, profi200, I am highly disappointed seeing two respected members of the handheld community being involved in such baseless speculation.

i think these guys are just trying to connect the dots. of course they´re just rumors and theories (AFAIK) but maybe a bit more information can shed light on something crucial. We´re just recovering from gbatemp being down, lets just hope this isnt the case.

 

[tomiga]

If this whole "GW timebomb" thing ends up being true, then maybe it's time for somebody to create an entirely new launcher, not based off of Gateway's code. Possibly one that just starts out simple, doing something like region free or taking screenshots, and building it up from there.
I dunno. I'd do it but I have no idea how to do that sort of thing.

 

[mathieulh]

Is it not strange, all bricks happened at the same day?

I'm 100% sure they included time related bricking code. And as we know, their hardware diagnostics are not very reliable, the clone detection maybe fails too --> brick, even with the original GW

I am pretty sure it's not related to hardware detection, in fact their checks will pass so long as the Launcher.dat remains unmodified (even if you are using their own Launcher.dat with a clone card, which would't work anyway) their checks fail as soon as the hashes from specific parts of Launcher.dat stop to match, whether this is related to the bricking issue is however not certain at this point.

 

[Dust2dust]

If it actually DOES turn out to be true, i wouldnt say that it was a bullshit move by GW team but idk, its a double edged sword move by them.

Fine, we get it, if u clone u risk losing functionality the original will have maybe, but to go as far as bricking the consumers products? wow, thats kind of extreme.

I really doubt they intentionally did this, but you gotta admit this would be a brilliant and bold move (as long as they never admit doing it). The 3DS is bricked, but is fixable, as long as the victim did his nand backup, as he was suppossed to do. Sure, it's a pain in the butt to hard mod the unit and reflash it, but it can be done. Once the 3DS is fixed, the first thing the victim will do is throw away the clone card and get the official Gateway. And the cloners lose big time with all the bad rap they are getting right now. The Gateway team must really be happy about this situation, but they cannot show it (decency).

 

[mathieulh]

If this whole "GW timebomb" thing ends up being true, then maybe it's time for somebody to create an entirely new launcher, not based off of Gateway's code. Possibly one that just starts out simple, doing something like region free or taking screenshots, and building it up from there.
I dunno. I'd do it but I have no idea how to do that sort of thing.

You can just use naehrwert's python scripts with your own ARM9 payload, this uses gateway code only up to the actual ARM9 exploit so anything triggering the brick has to be located after that point.

 

[R4iFanboi]

So flashcard companies are now bricking devices to prove a point?

God Bless America handheld hacking scene.

Yellows8, neimod etc. please consider releasing the exploit atleast now?

 

[juins]

I am pretty sure it's not related to hardware detection, in fact their checks will pass so long as the Launcher.dat remains unmodified (even if you are using their own Launcher.dat with a clone card, which would't work anyway) their checks fail as soon as the hashes from specific parts of Launcher.dat stop to match, whether this is related to the bricking issue is however not certain at this point.

do u think putting your date to an earlier time would decrease chances of a brick?

 

[mathieulh]

I really doubt they intentionally did this, but you gotta admit this would be a brilliant and bold move (as long as they never admit doing it). The 3DS is bricked, but is fixable, as long as the victim did his nand backup, as he was suppossed to do. Sure, it's a pain in the butt to hard mod the unit and reflash it, but it can be done. Once the 3DS is fixed, the first thing the victim will do is throw away the clone card and get the official Gateway. And the cloners lose big time with all the bad rap they are getting right now. The Gateway team must really be happy about this situation, but they cannot show it (decency).

Most people are too stupid to keep their NAND backup.

 

[kyogre123]

I really doubt they intentionally did this, but you gotta admit this would be a brilliant and bold move (as long as they never admit doing it). The 3DS is bricked, but is fixable, as long as the victim did his nand backup, as he was suppossed to do. Sure, it's a pain in the butt to hard mod the unit and reflash it, but it can be done. Once the 3DS is fixed, the first thing the victim will do is throw away the clone card and get the official Gateway. And the cloners lose big time with all the bad rap they are getting right now. The Gateway team must really be happy about this situation, but they cannot show it (decency).

The cloners (R4i) would still be happy that they went away with the money of the customers though.

 

[mathieulh]

do u think putting your date to an earlier time would decrease chances of a brick?

I don't think it's related to time/date at all but I could be wrong.

 

[tomiga]

You can just use naehrwert's python scripts with your own ARM9 payload, this uses gateway code only up to the actual ARM9 exploit so anything triggering the brick has to be located after that point.

I was moreso referring to the actual ARM9 payload. That was the part that I have no idea how to write, I barely know anything about programming.

 

[juins]

I don't think it's related to time/date at all but I could be wrong.

maybe dumping a nand that is already bricked would give a hint in the right direction? its possible via hardware is it not?

 

[mathieulh]

maybe dumping a nand that is already bricked would give a hint in the right direction? its possible via hardware is it not?

Sure but I don't think that'd help.

 

[justinkb]

As far as I can tell, any claims about deliberate sabotage from Gateway team causing this issue are unsubstantiated by any evidence.

I'm not sure what the motivation of those who are claiming this (willy-nilly) is, but I can take a few guesses, none of which reflect well on those accusers.