Hacking Blocking Wii U system updates by URL blacklist, possible?

[Helsionium]

Hello,
in theory it should be possible to block system updates by blacklisting the update URL in my router, without having to disable the internet connection entirely.
Does anyone know which URL(s) to blacklist so that system updates are blocked, while affecting as little as possible of the remaining online functionality?
If I blacklist the update URL(s), will that just prevent the update from downloading or will the Wii U never notice an update is even available (because if it does, vWii mode will be disabled, is that correct?)

 

[Pong20302000]

same for every region

http://nus.cdn.shop.wii.com/ccs/download/

 

[Ericthegreat]

same for every region

http://nus.cdn.shop.wii.com/ccs/download/

Interesting, now I can put on my internet connections and not worry about updates?

 

[Pedeadstrian]

same for every region

http://nus.cdn.shop.wii.com/ccs/download/

This is probably not the right place to ask, but since it's relevant, could the same be done for a 3DS?

 

[Helsionium]

Sadly, my router only seems to block plain HTTP connections to the blacklisted servers (access blocked only through the web browser, but not for ping etc). The manual update in System Settings still works without errors (but no update available).

 

[McHaggis]

If you have a router that has or supports an open firmware like DD-WRT, OpenWRT or Tomato; a NAS running Linux with SSH access or another machine running Linux, you can use Dnsmasq on such a device to alter the IP address of the server using the following configuration line:

address/nus.cdn.shop.wii.com/127.0.0.1

You can find full tutorials on using Dnsmasq around. I use it for quite a few things, from mapping my local network's hostnames, to forwarding all netflix.com requests through Unotelly's DNS servers, getting around torrent site blocks and more.

 

[Pong20302000]

thank link should block the downloads

heres a example of what it checks and this is the latest update that runs on a USA WiiU

[check] INFO:Check invoked for dev wiiu region USA
[soap] INFO: Checking for updates...
[soap] INFO: Title ID          Version FsSize
[soap] INFO: 00050010-10000100 2093    131072
[soap] INFO: 00050010-10000200 151e    922004
[soap] INFO: 00050010-10000400 0205    42208
[soap] INFO: 00050010-10004000 0000    791280
[soap] INFO: 00050010-10004009 03ee    16163056
[soap] INFO: 00050010-1000400A 1332    17648064
[soap] INFO: 00050010-100040FF 0456    13564208
[soap] INFO: 00050010-10040100 0047    37978232
[soap] INFO: 00050010-10041100 00c3    70036
[soap] INFO: 00050010-10043100 151e    2888084
[soap] INFO: 00050010-10044100 1300    14619044
[soap] INFO: 00050010-10045100 0030    16285796
[soap] INFO: 00050010-10047100 0048    51708024
[soap] INFO: 00050010-10048100 0046    34930808
[soap] INFO: 00050010-10049100 0045    33161336
[soap] INFO: 00050010-1004A100 0032    81854584
[soap] INFO: 00050010-1004B100 0024    30277732
[soap] INFO: 00050010-1004C100 0035    33128568
[soap] INFO: 00050010-1004D100 0035    29327480
[soap] INFO: 00050010-1004E100 0040    16711780
[soap] INFO: 00050010-1005A100 0013    100302968
[soap] INFO: 0005001B-10042300 0010    70036
[soap] INFO: 0005001B-10042400 0000    26480916
[soap] INFO: 0005001B-1004F000 0023    25696756
[soap] INFO: 0005001B-10050000 0020    136148
[soap] INFO: 0005001B-10051000 0024    987588
[soap] INFO: 0005001B-10052000 0020    3481076
[soap] INFO: 0005001B-10053000 0010    135956
[soap] INFO: 0005001B-10054000 0010    137924
[soap] INFO: 0005001B-10056000 0001    10883524
[soap] INFO: 0005001B-10057000 0000    1773924
[soap] INFO: 0005001B-10058000 0024    725412
[soap] INFO: 0005001B-10059100 0021    3215652
[soap] INFO: 0005001B-1005C000 0010    70068
[soap] INFO: 0005001B-1005F000 0010    5088
[soap] INFO: 00050030-10010109 0000    21069964
[soap] INFO: 00050030-1001010A 0048    21102712
[soap] INFO: 00050030-10011109 0000    4453492
[soap] INFO: 00050030-1001110A 0012    4440884
[soap] INFO: 00050030-100111FF 0010    4448180
[soap] INFO: 00050030-1001210A 0031    50331768
[soap] INFO: 00050030-1001310A 0048    33652836
[soap] INFO: 00050030-1001410A 0034    34275428
[soap] INFO: 00050030-1001510A 0036    34308216
[soap] INFO: 00050030-1001610A 0034    33587300
[soap] INFO: 00050030-10017109 0010    16711780
[soap] INFO: 00050030-1001710A 0044    16547940
[soap] INFO: 00050030-1001810A 0032    18907236
[soap] INFO: 00050030-1001910A 0030    18448504
[soap] INFO: Comparing update with previous...
[soap] INFO: 0 added, 0 removed, 0 changed

 

[Helsionium]

OK, I did now completely block the nus.cdn.shop.wii.com domain the way McHaggis suggested. The block works fine, but the Wii U can still tell that it has the current version installed. Downloading the update may no longer be possible, but the issue is that I heard that vWii mode is locked as long as an update is available, even if it's not currently downloading. Is that true or a misunderstanding?

 

[McHaggis]

OK, I did now completely block the nus.cdn.shop.wii.com domain the way McHaggis suggested. The block works fine, but the Wii U can still tell that it has the current version installed. Downloading the update may no longer be possible, but the issue is that I heard that vWii mode is locked as long as an update is available, even if it's not currently downloading. Is that true or a misunderstanding?

That's according to something Marcan said on Twitter a while ago. I would presume it to be true but I'm not completely sure. The actual update check may be performed on a different domain or subdomain, but I can't find mention of this anywhere. It may not even be possible without blocking Nintendo Network access entirely.

One way to check would be to enable logging in Dnsmasq. The Wii U phones home once every 24 hours to check for updates, so the logs should give you a good idea of which Nintendo domains are being accessed after a day or two.

 

[Helsionium]

Unfortunately, I can't log with dnsmasq because the feature has been removed from my build of DD-WRT and there's too little storage space to log anyway. It's strange that no one seems to have analyzed the update process yet (or didn't publish it), there were such logs almost immediately after the launch of the Wii and 3DS.

 

[air2004]

I assume that blocking that is also blocking the shop channel as well ?
I have money in my shop channel account.

 

[McHaggis]

Unfortunately, I can't log with dnsmasq because the feature has been removed from my build of DD-WRT and there's too little storage space to log anyway. It's strange that no one seems to have analyzed the update process yet (or didn't publish it), there were such logs almost immediately after the launch of the Wii and 3DS.

That's right, most routers have only 4-8Mb of storage. I guess there hasn't been much interest in the Wii U from hackers, nobody seems to have documented much. As we all know, they've been sitting on a hack for a while and nobody is interested enough to develop it further for public use.

I assume that blocking that is also blocking the shop channel as well ?
I have money in my shop channel account.

The blocked hostname is for the NUS servers, nus.cdn.shop.wii.com. I think the eShop uses a different hostname.

 

[air2004]

ok , I will give it a try , by blocking that host in my router and see what happens.

 

[mysticwaterfall]

It should be noted though if an update comes out you won't be able to use the eshop without updating.

 

[air2004]

the address http://nus.cdn.shop.wii.com/ccs/download/ isn't blocking the check for an update. I blocked this addy in my router for the wii u ip and it still checks and see's that its up to date .
to make sure this test wasn't a false positive I changed the network settings in the wii u and tried the update again after confirming it couldn't get online , when I tried the update again , it says unable to connect.
So in conclusion I would assume maybe the wii u uses a different IP addy to check for updates , or if it cant connect using that web address maybe it has a back up address.

 

[Helsionium]

It should be noted though if an update comes out you won't be able to use the eshop without updating.

Yes, I knew that. I intended to only block the system update temporarily so that vWii hacks can be removed or updated before the system update, in case a future system update checks for or disables vWii hacks.

 

[air2004]

Yes, I knew that. I intended to only block the system update temporarily so that vWii hacks can be removed or updated before the system update, in case a future system update checks for or disables vWii hacks.

I would assume if ninty cares about the vwii hacks it will block them in the next update regardless of whether you uninstall the hack or not.

 

[Helsionium]

There are ways to remove all traces or at least those that Nintendo (hypothetically) checks for, assuming the vWii mode is nearly identical to a real Wii - which I believe to be the case.

 

[Slartibartfast42]

Interesting, now I can put on my internet connections and not worry about updates?

You will need to update as soon as you want to use the e-shop.

 

[air2004]

I tried blocking that address in the router and it didn't work.

 

[SlayeCohen]

Any progress in this matter ?

 

[Kippykip]

Idea, use redirect in router settings and den CUSTOM FIRMWARE EVEN THOUGH IT'S NOT DECRYPTED YET

 

[air2004]

the img isn't showing

 

[Helsionium]

Well, it would certainly help if someone who has a router with logging capability would test:
- which servers are accessed during the manual system update and
- which servers are accessed when turning the Wii U on (and during the next five minutes or so)
- which servers are accessed during standby activity

Nintendo's URLs are usually not completely non-descriptive so it should be possible to find out which ones are used for the automatic system update.