Hacking Discussion Will we ever see an untethered Switch hack?

Gep_Etto · Apr 12, 2021

Currently, all the existing CFWs for the Nintendo Switch require that the console be connected to a computer, smartphone or special dongle to inject a payload at the appropriate time and boot the custom firmware. The console has been out for a little over four years now, and nobody has found a way to eliminate this need for tethering. Since newer revisions of both the hardware and the software contain less, not more, exploitable bugs than previous versions, it only gets harder and harder to find a workable exploit, so it seems to me like if we were ever going to get a proper coldboot CFW, we would have it by now. There's buckets of people more knowledgeable than me about the Switch here, so I'm asking you guys for your opinions: will we ever have an untethered Switch hack? Is the dream still alive?

Anxiety_timmy · Apr 12, 2021

yes, and its called, modchips

digipimp75 · Apr 12, 2021

I doubt we'll ever see one. In the meantime, if you have an unpatched Switch you can install a chip like trinket m0 to inject the payload. I installed one a couple years ago and it's the best! It would be nice to have an easier option someday though.

Gep_Etto · Apr 12, 2021

wiiuepiccpu said:
yes, and its called, modchips

digipimp75 said:
I doubt we'll ever see one. In the meantime, if you have an unpatched Switch you can install a chip like trinket m0 to inject the payload. I installed one a couple years ago and it's the best! It would be nice to have an easier option someday though.

Pardon me, I meant on the software side. Many people, myself included, are afraid to mess around with modchips lest we fry or otherwise damage the guts of our beloved consoles.

Anxiety_timmy · Apr 12, 2021

well no, not really. Afaik theres no real way to make a untethered switch hack without a modchip or some extensive exploits

hippy dave · Apr 12, 2021

Pay someone with the skills to install a modchip. Modchip life is good.

Hayato213 · Apr 12, 2021

software probably not anytime soon, there is no bug to allow cold boot permanent cfw without modchip, there are SAMD21 Modchips on the market,

Gep_Etto · Apr 12, 2021

These modchips you're all talking about, what exactly do they do? Do they just inject the same payload as I do on my PC? What if the payload is updated, how do I update it on the chip? Or is it something completely different?

Hayato213 · Apr 12, 2021

Gep_Etto said:
These modchips you're all talking about, what exactly do they do? Do they just inject the same payload as I do on my PC? What if the payload is updated, how do I update it on the chip? Or is it something completely different?

It is semi untethered, it run the payload on on the modchip which you can then run other payloads from SD card.

Gep_Etto · Apr 12, 2021

Hayato213 said:
It is semi untethered, it run the payload on on the modchip which you can then run other payloads from SD card.

Semi-untethered, but it's functionally equivalent to an untethered process, right? That is, if you gave it to an end user and he knew nothing about it, he'd assume it's untethered from the looks of it.

Hayato213 · Apr 12, 2021

Gep_Etto said:
Semi-untethered, but it's functionally equivalent to an untethered process, right? That is, if you gave it to an end user and he knew nothing about it, he'd assume it's untethered from the looks of it.

There is some required knowledge how to use the modchip, how to set an autoboot payload etc, basically it is a payload dongle internally, no need of computer or any other payload injector once installed.

Gep_Etto · Apr 12, 2021

I see. Well, that's about as good as it's going to get, isn't it? Thanks for the lesson. But can you update the payload on a modchip after it's installed?

Hayato213 · Apr 12, 2021

Gep_Etto said:
I see. Well, that's about as good as it's going to get, isn't it? Thanks for the lesson. But can you update the payload on a modchip after it's installed?

yes, the modchip uf2 payload can be updated by pressing the reset button on the modchip twice and restarting the switch to bring up a drive where you can drag and drop file on it, but you need to convert the payload from bin format to uf2, the modchip use uf2 format, technically you don't need to update the one on the modchip, I don't bother to update mine, as I just set the modchip to load the latest hekate on the sd card.

Gep_Etto · Apr 12, 2021

I see. Hmm. I might seriously consider installing one of these things. Or rather having someone who knows what they're doing install one for me since I know nothing about soldering. It shouldn't be too expensive if I supply the Switch and the chip.

DaniPoo · Apr 12, 2021

You never know, it’s impossible to say for sure. But you know, didn’t someone just make a WiiU boot rom exploit? Also someone else just found a new way to soft hack the PS2 recently.
Maybe we will get permanent CFW tomorrow or perhaps in 15 years.. who knows..
But I believe that eventually someone WILL make it happen on Switch... because someone always does in the end, even if it takes many years after the console is no longer supported anymore.

Perhaps once we have a Switch Pro we will see hackers taking another stab at hacking the damn thing

AngryCinnabon · Apr 13, 2021

hippy dave said:
Pay someone with the skills to install a modchip. Modchip life is good.

Modchips are good, i can back that. Trinkets, Cores or lites if you somehow manage to get your mits on them. i can't see any untethered softmods coming through anytime soon though and if they exist secretly (very unlikely), chances are the people holding them are trying to wait for the so called switch pro to come out.

de9ed · Apr 13, 2021

ChaoticCinnabon said:
Modchips are good, i can back that. Trinkets, Cores or lites if you somehow manage to get your mits on them. i can't see any untethered softmods coming through anytime soon though and if they exist secretly (very unlikely), chances are the people holding them are trying to wait for the so called switch pro to come out.

that would be so juicy when they release when the switch pro comes out

paulzheng · Apr 13, 2021

no one can trigger the soft exploit above firmware 4.1, means still based on RCM exploit or SX core/lite exploit.
if you console has RCM exploit. you can take a modchip in it , the name is RCM x86 or named SAMD21 on market.

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Gep_Etto said:
Currently, all the existing CFWs for the Nintendo Switch require that the console be connected to a computer, smartphone or special dongle to inject a payload at the appropriate time and boot the custom firmware. The console has been out for a little over four years now, and nobody has found a way to eliminate this need for tethering. Since newer revisions of both the hardware and the software contain less, not more, exploitable bugs than previous versions, it only gets harder and harder to find a workable exploit, so it seems to me like if we were ever going to get a proper coldboot CFW, we would have it by now. There's buckets of people more knowledgeable than me about the Switch here, so I'm asking you guys for your opinions: will we ever have an untethered Switch hack? Is the dream still alive?

you must trigger the exploit on your switch before using cfw , so it's requited a appropriate way to trigger the exploit then hack system in next step

M7L7NK7 · Apr 13, 2021

pk1ldrhax will get you coldboot, all you need to do is guess the key, shouldn't take you longer than the end of time

Draxzelex · Apr 20, 2021

Gep_Etto said:
Currently, all the existing CFWs for the Nintendo Switch require that the console be connected to a computer, smartphone or special dongle to inject a payload at the appropriate time and boot the custom firmware. The console has been out for a little over four years now, and nobody has found a way to eliminate this need for tethering. Since newer revisions of both the hardware and the software contain less, not more, exploitable bugs than previous versions, it only gets harder and harder to find a workable exploit, so it seems to me like if we were ever going to get a proper coldboot CFW, we would have it by now. There's buckets of people more knowledgeable than me about the Switch here, so I'm asking you guys for your opinions: will we ever have an untethered Switch hack? Is the dream still alive?

Considering how easy and powerful the exploit is, the incentive to discover an untethered coldboot is low to zero. Hackers and developers couldn't care less as long as they get full access to the console. There is more to be gained by discovering an exploit that works on units with Fusee Gelee patched. SciresM himself posted a bounty for a potential untethered coldboot exploit 3 years ago which nobody has followed up on. None of us can say whether we will or will not get an untethered coldboot hack but chances aren't looking good to say the least.

Hacking Discussion Will we ever see an untethered Switch hack?

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