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First Wii Mini exploit found

Nintendo-Wii-Mini-Console-FL.jpg

And they said it couldn't be done. Almost seven years after its release, @Fullmetal5 (the same developer behind str2hax and flashhax) has finally managed to find an exploit compatible with Nintendo's so-called "unhackable" Wii Mini and crack it wide open! Instead of using internet browsers or loading code from the SD card slot, both of which are (in)famously absent from the Mini, this new approach takes advantage of a vulnerability found in Broadcom's Bluetooth driver to gain arbitrary code execution and run a payload from the included USB port. This finally lets homebrew enthusiasts have fun with the console, and may also open the door to online play as well with the help of hacks and a LAN adapter!

While the exploit is making good progress, having already reached 90% completion for the Bluetooth stager and also being consistent enough to be called usable, there's still a lot of work to be done before a public release is available. There's also the possibility of HackMii Installer being incompatible with the Mini's version of IOS, in which case further new exploits will need to be found in order to make it work. You can get an idea about the state of the project in the roadmap below, which was written and shared by the dev itself:

Roadmap written by @Fullmetal5 (from the Discord server) said:
Just to give a small roadmap: (So that people can get an idea as to what needs to be done now)

1. Write a bluetooth stager to upload payloads (%50 complete) (Note: this was stated to have reached 90% in later posts)
2. Write something to load larger payloads from usb.
3. See if the HackMii Installer's exploits work against the versions of IOS that are there (If they are similar to the Wii U's then it may already have exploits but it's possible they are different)
4. If the HackMii Installer's exploits don't work then I will need to write my own. (Shouldn't be too bad, IOS is known to be buggy. Also I'll probably do this step anyway for the fun of it.)
Click to expand...

The exploit doesn't have an official name yet, but it's currently being referred to as "bluehax". Right now it's being tested on some specific games, however, there's a real possibility it will work out of the box with the Wii's System Menu alone due to its nature, thus removing the need of a dedicated game. It only takes a computer with a Bluetooth interface to make it work: there's no definitive usage guide just yet, but it should be as easy as running a program on your PC, hitting the SYNC button on the console, et voila - you're good to go! There is a small catch, however: development is targeting just Linux and no Windows version is planned. If you can get behind that, you'll soon be able to enjoy that sweet, sweet homebrew on the tiniest Wii Nintendo has ever made!

:arrow: Source 1 (Twitter)
:arrow: Source 2 (Discord server)
 
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Boured

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Finally some love for the smol boi.

Wonder if Nintendon't would give it GC support. Pretty sure you could install MIOS and BC if needed.
 
eriol33

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Wow this is so cool. I honestly like the simple design, but after reading it's basically dumbed down version, it looks like a dumb anime girl.
 
CaveStoryKing64

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Thanks for making this post! I'm the owner of the discord server, and also made this reddit post. :P The server has been around since November 2017, so I've been waiting for almost 2 years for this moment to happen. When FullMetal announced that he got ACE on the Wii Mini I was excited as hell, and still am. :P Secondly, thank you to DeadlyFoez! While his contributions didn't end up leading to this particular exploit, and we already knew that the SD and Internet IOSes were removed thanks to the people at bitbuilt who soldered on these additions to the Mini, he still did something amazing: this was the first time anyone had successfully done a Hollywood transplant. This allowed him to use Wii hardware on Wii Mini software. This told us some things that they removed in software (as I said before, some people had done similar things before in bitbuilt, but these were individual Wii components soldered to the mini. DeadlyFoez went a step further, and transplanted the entire NAND chip and Hollywood package onto a standard edition Wii.) (He also put a Wii's NAND on a mini, just for fun :P)

Secondly, this is absolutely amazing, even if you don't own a mini and don't care. For one, I'm excited to see what board trims, homebrew made specifically for the mini, etc. are made as a result of this. The idea of visiting the Wii Shop Channel (even though most of its functionality has been taken away) or playing games on wiimmfi on a console never meant to go online sounds pretty fun to me. It'll also help out a lot of people who were mad that, since the SD card slot was removed, they can't get their saves off the console after getting the standard wii model. Once this exploit releases, they will be able to. Most exciting of all though is that once this releases, we will finally get an unencrypted Wii Mini NAND dump, one of the major holy grails of wii content!

If you want more info, look at the pins in the discord, or these screenshots:
qcrfidg9eol31.png

i7qmwsytfol31.png

435sw56feol31.png



Some people were asking questions like "can i play gamecube games, what about the fact that there's only 1 usb port, etc." I'll try my best to answer them.

GameCube games:
You can still play GameCube games on the mini without any software modifications because MIOS/BC was never removed. The disc drive just can't read gamecube games. You can replace the disc drive with a drivechip or standard wii disc drive (although it wont fit in the case if you do this) to play gamecube games. Nintendont will be much more convenient though.

Hardware:
Traces exist for the second USB port, GC pads 1 and 4, and GC memory. Those can all be soldered back on and will still work since they were never removed in software. There's not much of a reason to solder the second USB port back on though, as the Wii works with USB hubs. SD Card and WiFi chip traces also exist, but these wont work without softmodding the console as the SD and Internet IOSes were completely removed. (The reason the Internet IOSes were completely removed so you couldn't even use the USB LAN Adapter is because the Wii can only load one IOS at a time, and if it fails to load anything it can't skip it, so if it has the Internet IOS but no WiFi chip or LAN Adapter inserted, it'll boot to a black screen, and appear to be "bricked." Blame broadon for being stupid.)

The Wii Mini sucks! True... if you don't look at the low pricetag! It was only $100 bucks, and included a red Wiimote + Nunchuck, and Mario Kart Wii. Brand new, that Wiimote + Nunchuck + $60 game deal was worth 100 bucks on it's own, making the console essentially a free bonus! It also looks really cool, and personally, I love toploading design.


TL:DR:

This is fucking awesome, can't wait to mod my mini, and to get an unencrypted nand dump!


EDIT: This should also be compatible with all other Wii models, including vWii. People will have yet another exploit option to choose from.
 
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osaka35

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nice!

fun fact, the board for wii mini is a bit smaller than it seems. for some reason, nintendo decided they needed to add a lot of empty space and plastic to the wii mini. I guess they didn't want it to be too mini? or could be for stabilization of the disc drive. not sure.

this will be fun! always good news when we can add functionality.
 
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KonamiKitten

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Since it has no name yet, I think Blue Sea would be a good name for the exploit! Also, I am so surprised by someone making a Wii Mini exploit!
 
Hells Malice

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Chary said:
Okay. I totally expected Foez to open his yap because he went full psycho. But this is just lol-worthy.

Dude contacted me asking if he could have a front page post about his Wii mini adventures. I said it sounded interesting and he could send me a little summary of what he did so I could understand what the topic was. E3 came up mere days later, so I was already had my hands full and was on a plane to LA. Ended up not doing the post because I needed to cover E3, and was far too busy to read any PMs. I have no idea what he’s on about with the N/A thing. I never changed any settings lol. Could just be the inanity talking.

I took a week off to relax after E3, and he ended up contacting me with a frothing furious message about how I’d ruined his only chance of talking to his kids by not talking about the Wii Mini. ??? I owned up to saying I messed up by not posting it, but he already went full psychopath. No way was I going to go back and cover it after he’d gone nutso with screaming and name calling. Then a few random months later he sends like, 4 full drunken wacko ramblings about how much he wishes I would die in another hurricane. Yeah no. That kind of unstable psychotic reaction is disgusting behavior. Cutesy Wii mini soddering tricks or no.
View attachment 179192
Click to expand...

I love that the idiot you replied to tried soo hard to defend Foez and then you just destroyed him beyond space and time and he's now nowhere to be seen.

Also...yay?... Did anyone actually need a Wii mini exploit at this point? I'll never see the purpose tbh.
 
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