Hacking Discussion when do you think we will find an exploit for patch switch's

Hayato213

Newcomer
Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2015
Messages
19,727
Trophies
1
XP
20,605
Country
United States
No ETA, Deja Vu was patched in firmware 8.0.0, and no entry point for any firmware above 4.1.0 for patched unit at the moment, you options are to get an unpatched unit, or go the SX modchip route.
 
  • Like
Reactions: battlecatsahead

linuxares

The inadequate, autocratic beast!
Global Moderator
Joined
Aug 5, 2007
Messages
13,134
Trophies
2
XP
17,845
Country
Sweden
but how do the modchips work? don't they rely on an exploit, too?
It's a glitch chip sort of speak. It try to inject code before the Switch starts up. So it's own payload gets loaded. So it's using an exploit but that isn't reliable.
 

peteruk

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2015
Messages
3,002
Trophies
2
XP
7,275
Country
United Kingdom
In my experience with these things there's always someone sitting on something and when all else looks hopeless up they pop with something sweet. Usually towards end of life but not always.

Could be that people are sat on something nice just waiting for whatever the new console will be before releasing anything.

Just my thoughts, nothing of factual importance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ragestaker21

The Real Jdbye

*is birb*
Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2010
Messages
23,207
Trophies
4
Location
Space
XP
13,732
Country
Norway
I hope, I have Been keeping myself from looking at what home brew apps are on switch so when I hack my switch I can just have so much fun at once
We might not be lucky enough to get another RCM exploit if Nvidia did their job properly. So we might be relying on software exploits in the future, which quickly get patched by Nintendo, and are often patched before they're even released. That means staying on the lowest firmware you can is recommended and always updating to the latest firmware is basically a death sentence for any future exploit.
The problem with software exploits is that we don't have much of an attack surface, we're basically limited to the browser (games are not really exploitable due to ASLR) and that makes it much harder. So it might take years, and the Switch 2 might be out by the time another exploit is released. I'm sure one will be found eventually, though. If time has shown anything it's that everything gets hacked eventually, and Nintendo don't have the best track record when it comes to security.
 
Last edited by The Real Jdbye,

Silent_Gunner

Crazy Cool Cyclops
Banned
Joined
Feb 16, 2017
Messages
2,696
Trophies
0
Age
29
XP
4,727
Country
United States
It will...one day.

I mean, if all you want is the better battery life the Mariko offers, you could just get a pre-Mariko Switch and something like a Gulikit battery off Amazon that latches onto the back. The battery should be priced reasonably.

As for the pre-Mariko Switch...you're at the mercy of eBay on that one.
 

dangopig

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2020
Messages
119
Trophies
0
XP
201
Country
Congo, Democratic Republic of the
It's a glitch chip sort of speak. It try to inject code before the Switch starts up. So it's own payload gets loaded. So it's using an exploit but that isn't reliable.

Is it possible for a hardware exploit like the mod chip to be patched out in a future update?
 

Silent_Gunner

Crazy Cool Cyclops
Banned
Joined
Feb 16, 2017
Messages
2,696
Trophies
0
Age
29
XP
4,727
Country
United States
Is it possible for a hardware exploit like the mod chip to be patched out in a future update?

Hardware exploits, by their very nature, can't be patched out. The reason the pre-Mariko Switch units are so easy to hack that one could use a paper clip is that bridging the pins on the right Joy-con rail puts the Switch into a recovery mode not unlike that of what you'd see on a smartphone/tablet.

It's in this recovery mode where, when hekate is applied, that allows one to use the Switch itself to launch CFW that allows for stuff like running Ubuntu or other Switch homebrew on Horizon (the Switch OS for the noobs jumping on this train just now). This was a fuckup on Nvidia's part, and is out of Nintendo's control when it comes to these particular Switch models.


A software exploit would be like if, say, the Super Mario 3D World port coming to Switch early next year had some glitch that allowed one to exploit some memory bug that allowed them to load/run unsigned code if exploited properly, and, barring a patch from Nintendo, would allow for whatever the error on the software side of things to be used to hopefully run the same kind of CFW on the Mariko Switch as what can be done on the initial set of Switch consoles. Something similar happened with the 3DS and the game Cubit Ninja; it was an otherwise random game that, were it not for the exploit it had, wouldn't have been so sought after back in the day before other solutions came along when it comes to hacking a 3DS.


tl;dr - Hardware exploits can't be patched like software exploits can. The only thing the company could do is to ensure the problem doesn't remain so with later units of a system produced where hardware weaknesses are concerned, and software can always be updated at anytime.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kadji

linuxares

The inadequate, autocratic beast!
Global Moderator
Joined
Aug 5, 2007
Messages
13,134
Trophies
2
XP
17,845
Country
Sweden
tl;dr - Hardware exploits can't be patched like software exploits can. The only thing the company could do is to ensure the problem doesn't remain so with later units of a system produced where hardware weaknesses are concerned, and software can always be updated at anytime.
Correction, some hardware patches can be patched. But very few. If the software in that hardware that is being used is writable, it can be patched.
 

ZachyCatGames

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2018
Messages
3,398
Trophies
1
Location
Hell
XP
4,207
Country
United States
The problem with software exploits is that we don't have much of an attack surface, we're basically limited to the browser (games are not really exploitable due to ASLR) and that makes it much harder. So it might take years, and the Switch 2 might be out by the time another exploit is released. I'm sure one will be found eventually, though. If time has shown anything it's that everything gets hacked eventually, and Nintendo don't have the best track record when it comes to security.
Games can be exploited, but they don't really get you anywhere.
But that's not the main issue, browser/application hax can be "easily" obtained, but getting anywhere past that is not simple.
If you take over a sysmodule, at most you'll only really maybe get userland homebrew, depending on the sysmodule(s).
Nintendo's Kernel and Secure Monitor have zero security bugs, so you can't really get anywhere there.

I would not be confident of that. Nintendo's software has zero significant security issues, and Nvidia, whose mistakes we've been relying on for everything, seems to have gotten their shit together.
 

Silent_Gunner

Crazy Cool Cyclops
Banned
Joined
Feb 16, 2017
Messages
2,696
Trophies
0
Age
29
XP
4,727
Country
United States
Games can be exploited, but they don't really get you anywhere.
But that's not the main issue, browser/application hax can be "easily" obtained, but getting anywhere past that is not simple.
If you take over a sysmodule, at most you'll only really maybe get userland homebrew, depending on the sysmodule(s).
Nintendo's Kernel and Secure Monitor have zero security bugs, so you can't really get anywhere there.

I would not be confident of that. Nintendo's software has zero significant security issues, and Nvidia, whose mistakes we've been relying on for everything, seems to have gotten their shit together.

I have to ask, what makes it suddenly impossible for a console to be hacked? Like, I get that a modern system is going to be more difficult to break through, but even then, where there's a will, there's a way, and I find it hard to believe there hasn't been anything in any form that has allowed someone to bypass the need for the jig, recovery mode, and everything else in between that isn't using, like, a launch console. It always seems like, when given the time and effort, someone breaks through the infrastructure and manages to run unsigned code on all of these devices.

After all, you said that Nintendo has zero "significant" security issues. What about the security issues that are "insignificant?" What if those, in combination with other mistakes, be it in a game, the built-in web browser, whatever, could be exploited?

Nothing is completely secure. Even the Xbox One will probably be hacked one day even though the usual purposes people have for hacking it (emulators and homebrew) is made moot by the ability to pay M$ for Developer mode and being able to simply install RetroArch on there like you bought a Windows license!
 

mikefor20

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2009
Messages
1,920
Trophies
2
Location
Mushroom Kingdom ( o Y o )
XP
3,778
Country
United States
A bunch of fortune tellers. No real answer. Find a hackable system or mod it. I stayed on 1.0 until 3.0.1 was released waiting for an exploit. No Zelda DLC. No SMO. I complained and people said "Sucks to be you."I owned them but waited. Then Scires said "cold boot will possibly exist on 3.x and that a tethered solution would be possible. So i updated to 3.0.1 and got the DLC and played through SMO. Waited for months after that for SXOS. Then Atmosphere. Now you are waiting. Glad it doesn't suck to be me this time. :D
 
Last edited by mikefor20,

ZachyCatGames

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2018
Messages
3,398
Trophies
1
Location
Hell
XP
4,207
Country
United States
I have to ask, what makes it suddenly impossible for a console to be hacked? Like, I get that a modern system is going to be more difficult to break through, but even then, where there's a will, there's a way, and I find it hard to believe there hasn't been anything in any form that has allowed someone to bypass the need for the jig, recovery mode, and everything else in between that isn't using, like, a launch console. It always seems like, when given the time and effort, someone breaks through the infrastructure and manages to run unsigned code on all of these devices.

After all, you said that Nintendo has zero "significant" security issues. What about the security issues that are "insignificant?" What if those, in combination with other mistakes, be it in a game, the built-in web browser, whatever, could be exploited?

Nothing is completely secure. Even the Xbox One will probably be hacked one day even though the usual purposes people have for hacking it (emulators and homebrew) is made moot by the ability to pay M$ for Developer mode and being able to simply install RetroArch on there like you bought a Windows license!
Because there's no bugs that can be used to get anywhere? You can't exploit something if there's no bugs/issues to exploit...
It always has been and always will be a matter of if, not when.

The insignificant issues are browser hax and whatever.

Having completely secure software is possible and has been done.
 
Last edited by ZachyCatGames,

The Real Jdbye

*is birb*
Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2010
Messages
23,207
Trophies
4
Location
Space
XP
13,732
Country
Norway
Games can be exploited, but they don't really get you anywhere.
But that's not the main issue, browser/application hax can be "easily" obtained, but getting anywhere past that is not simple.
If you take over a sysmodule, at most you'll only really maybe get userland homebrew, depending on the sysmodule(s).
Nintendo's Kernel and Secure Monitor have zero security bugs, so you can't really get anywhere there.

I would not be confident of that. Nintendo's software has zero significant security issues, and Nvidia, whose mistakes we've been relying on for everything, seems to have gotten their shit together.
Zero significant security issues *that we know of*. Remember how long it took for ntrboot to be discovered on the 3DS. It was so well hidden that nobody even knew it was there, much less knew that it was exploitable.
 

fvig2001

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2006
Messages
920
Trophies
1
XP
2,876
Country
Philippines
I'd guess someone would be curious enough and find a way to hack it like way past its supported life time like the red wii minis since Nintendo stepped their pussy's up this generation or a reliable browser method comes out.
 
Last edited by fvig2001,

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    We just question @AncientBoi
  • ZeroT21 @ ZeroT21:
    it wasn't a question, it was fact
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    He said he had 3 different doctors apt this week, so he prob there. Something about gerbal extraction, I don't know.
    +1
  • ZeroT21 @ ZeroT21:
    bored, guess i'll spread more democracy
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    @K3Nv2 one more time you say such bs to @BakerMan and I'll smack you across the whole planet
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Make sure you smack my booty daddy
    +1
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    telling him that my partner is luke...does he look like someone with such big ne
    eds?
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    do you really think I could stand living with someone like luke?
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    I suppose luke has "special needs" but he's not my partner, did you just say that to piss me off again?
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    besides I had bigger worries today
  • LeoTCK @ LeoTCK:
    but what do you know about that, you won't believe me anyways
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    @BigOnYa can answer that
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    BigOnYa already left the chat
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Biginya
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Auto correct got me, I'm on my tablet, i need to turn that shit off
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    With other tabs open you perv
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    I'm actually in my shed, bout to cut 2-3 acres of grass, my back yard.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    I use to have a guy for that thanks richard
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    I use my tablet to stream to a bluetooth speaker when in shed. iHeartRadio, FlyNation
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    While the victims are being buried
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Grave shovel
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Nuh those goto the edge of the property (maybe just on the other side of)
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    On the neighbors side
    +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Yup, by the weird smelly green bushy looking plants.
    BigOnYa @ BigOnYa: Yup, by the weird smelly green bushy looking plants.