It's been a while without any major exploits in the Wii U scene, so I present to you:

USB Descriptor Parsing Is Hard (UDPIH)​

An exploit for the Wii U's USB Host Stack. Pronounced like "mud pie" without the M.

The write-up can be found here!

What does this mean?​

Since the USB Stack is running before anything on the PPC side of the Wii U is booted, this allows unbricking things like CBHC bricks without any soldering!

Supported devices:​

• Raspberry Pi Pico (W) / Pico 2 (W)
• Raspberry Pi Zero (W) / A / A+ / Zero 2 W / 4 / 5
• Steam Deck
• Espressif ESP32 S2 / S3
• Nintendo Switch capable of running udpih_nxpayload

Instructions​

Device Setup​

Follow the setup guide for the device you want to use below:

• Raspberry Pi Pico / Pico 2
• Raspberry Pi Zero (W) / A / A+ / Zero 2 W / 4 / 5
• Steam Deck
• Espressif ESP32 S2 / S3
• Nintendo Switch

Booting the recovery_menu​

Important notes for this to work:

• Make sure no other USB devices are attached to the console.
• Only use USB ports on the front of the console, the back ports will not work.
• If your console has standby mode enabled, pull the power plug and turn it on from a full coldboot state.

• Copy the latest release of the recovery_menu to the root of your FAT32 formatted SD Card.
• Insert the SD Card into the console and power it on.
• As soon as you see the "Wii U" logo on the TV or Gamepad plug in your prepared UDPIH device.
  This timing is important. If you're already in the menu, the exploit won't work.
  Depending on the device, you might have to plug it in sooner or later. This might take several attempts.
  If you get no video output or a distorted screen, your timing was most likely wrong.
• After a few seconds you should be in the recovery menu.

So what's this recovery menu? The recovery menu allows you to fix several bricks:

Wii U Recovery Menu​

A simple recovery menu running on the IOSU for unbricking.

Options​

Set Coldboot Title
Allows changing the current title the console boots to.
Useful for unbricking CBHC bricks.
Possible options are:

• Wii U Menu (JPN) - 00050010-10040000
• Wii U Menu (USA) - 00050010-10040100
• Wii U Menu (EUR) - 00050010-10040200

On non-retail systems the following additional options are available:

• System Config Tool - 00050010-1F700500
• DEVMENU (pre-2.09) - 00050010-1F7001FF
• Kiosk Menu - 00050010-1FA81000

Dump Syslogs
Copies all system logs to a logs folder on the root of the SD Card.

Dump OTP + SEEPROM
Dumps the OTP and SEEPROM to otp.bin and seeprom.bin on the root of the SD Card.

Start wupserver
Starts wupserver which allows connecting to the console from a PC using wupclient.

Load Network Configuration
Loads a network configuration from the SD, and temporarily applies it to use wupserver.
The configurations will be loaded from a network.cfg file on the root of your SD.
For using the ethernet adapter, the file should look like this:

type=eth

For using wifi:

type=wifi
ssid=ssidhere
key=wifikeyhere
key_type=WPA2_PSK_AES

Pair Gamepad
Displays the Gamepad Pin and allows pairing a Gamepad to the system. Also bypasses any region checks while pairing.
The numeric values represent the following symbols: ♠ = 0, ♥ = 1, ♦ = 2, ♣ = 3.
Note that rebooting the system might be required to use the newly paired gamepad.

Install WUP
Installs a valid signed WUP from the install folder on the root of your SD Card.
Don't place the WUP into any subfolders.

Edit Parental Controls
Displays the current Parental Controls pin configuration.
Allows disabling Parental Controls.

Debug System Region
Fixes bricks caused by setting productArea and/or gameRegion to an invalid value. Symptoms include being unable to launch System Settings or other in-region titles.

System Information
Displays info about several parts of the system.
Including serial number, manufacturing date, console type, regions, memory devices...

Load BOOT1 payload
Loads a payload from the root of the SD Card named boot1.img and executes it from within boot1.
If the file is named boot1now.img it gets loaded automatically when starting the recovery_menu after a 5 second timeout.

Credits​

• @Maschell for the network configuration types
• @dimok789 for mocha
• @hexkyz for hexFW
• @rw-r-r-0644 for the lolserial code

Special thanks to Maschell, rw-r-r-0644, QuarkTheAwesome, vgmoose, exjam, dimok789, and everyone else who contributed to the Wii U scene!

 

[ploggy]

It would be pretty petty for Nintendo to release an update now that nerfs all the exploits, especially since they were the ones that killed the WiiU.

 

[Trashfire]

So does this exploit work with Wii Us that are connected using AV? (gamepad isn't synced so I can't use that)

It turns off like it's supposed to if I don't have the SD card in, but with it in, it remains on the Wii U logo.

And if it doesn't support AV, would it be too much an ask to get a build compiled that changes coldboot to USA Wii U menu and then powers off?

 

[BaamAlex]

So does this exploit work with Wii Us that are connected using AV? (gamepad isn't synced so I can't use that)

It turns off like it's supposed to if I don't have the SD card in, but with it in, it remains on the Wii U logo.

And if it doesn't support AV, would it be too much an ask to get a build compiled that changes coldboot to USA Wii U menu and then powers off?

For the case it wouldn't support av...where is the problem to get an hdmi cable? A few posts earlier is a build which "supports" tv output. Otherwise you can navigate blind through the menu using this issue.

 

[leseratte]

Have you ever checked if the Wii might be vulnerable to the same / a similar exploit? That could be useful to fix a bunch of 003-bricked or bannerbricked Wii consoles, too, if that's the case.

 

[GaryOderNichts]

Have you ever checked if the Wii might be vulnerable to the same / a similar exploit? That could be useful to fix a bunch of 003-bricked or bannerbricked Wii consoles, too, if that's the case.

From checking IOS58's EHCI and OHCI0 module with my limited Wii knowledge it seems like the vulnerability is not present there.
As far as I know Fullmetal5 also confirmed this.

 

[N7Kopper]

From checking IOS58's EHCI and OHCI0 module with my limited Wii knowledge it seems like the vulnerability is not present there.
As far as I know Fullmetal5 also confirmed this.

Isn't the sysmenu IOS 80 (for 4.3 anyway, and there's no reason not to be on that these days), not 58? Don't think the USB code is different enough for the vuln, mind.

 

[godreborn]

Isn't the sysmenu IOS 80 (for 4.3 anyway, and there's no reason not to be on that these days), not 58? Don't think the USB code is different enough for the vuln, mind.

iirc, IOS58 governs usb, yes.

 

[GaryOderNichts]

Isn't the sysmenu IOS 80 (for 4.3 anyway, and there's no reason not to be on that these days), not 58? Don't think the USB code is different enough for the vuln, mind.

Uh yeah, you're right.
IOS80 doesn't have the vulnerability either though.

 

[syboo]

My bad, network.cfg was created in UTF8 it must be in ANSI. Solved.

After that, i download parent.xml file ("/vol/system/proc/prefs/parent.xml"), search for pin_code, and finally i have my console again!

Forget mkey site, if you don't have internet on in your Wii U, this is the easy way.

Thanks for @GaryOderNichts

@GaryOderNichts what an amazing tool that you created ! You saved my Wiiu
I try to set up a wup server but with no skills... would you be able to send me a network.cfg file or drive me to a step by step quick tuto? Thanks again.

 

[syboo]

My bad, network.cfg was created in UTF8 it must be in ANSI. Solved.

After that, i download parent.xml file ("/vol/system/proc/prefs/parent.xml"), search for pin_code, and finally i have my console again!

Forget mkey site, if you don't have internet on in your Wii U, this is the easy way.

Thanks for @GaryOderNichts

@GaryOderNichts what an amazing tool that you created ! You saved my Wiiu
I try to set up a wup server but with no skills... would you be able to send me a network.cfg file or drive me to a step by step quick tuto? Thanks again.

 

[Girtana1]

Wow this is awesome, gives me reason to dust off my WiiU after all these years
Thank you very much for forking hekate with this as that's much more practical for me, is there or will there be any way of running Mocha or applying other patches with this though?

 

[Mc123]

Would it be possible to use this to directly load Homebrew Launcher or another homebrew app? Maybe even use this to directly load RedNAND.

 

[GaryOderNichts]

Wow this is awesome, gives me reason to dust off my WiiU after all these years
Thank you very much for forking hekate with this as that's much more practical for me, is there or will there be any way of running Mocha or applying other patches with this though?

Would it be possible to use this to directly load Homebrew Launcher or another homebrew app? Maybe even use this to directly load RedNAND.

This is mostly meant for unbricking, booting into homebrew or mocha is not a planned feature.
RedNAND would be interesting for people with dead MLCs though.

 

[meeeow]

So, in principle, would it be possible to load a MLC backup (e.g., dumped via NandDumper) in case you do not have a RedNAND on a SD card already (which I have but have never used it)?

edit:
okay, I checked it: sdio nand manager can write a dump to SD card, thus creating a RedNAND...

 

[CMDreamer]

Wow, Gary implements a feature many people asked for and this is your reply? Just buy a PI zero / pico for $5 in case you don't own a unpatched switch. ‍
Now this is also too expensive for you? Then just pretend this USB exploit doesn't exist. It's really not Garys fault for hardware costing money.

//EDIT: Seriously, why do people like you show no respect to developers doing all this in their free time but want more and more instead? Gary had no reason to even release this to the public, could have opened a Wii U repair business and asking $100 just for executing the exploit on your console instead. Is this what you want? All open source devs feeling pissed so they stop doing things for free?

And that's why I added this guy to my ignored users' list. I don't care about whatever he has to say. I recommend you to do the same.

*On topic*
This method has so many possibilities, and if you're (anyone) not able to see it like so, then you should do something else. One thing it is missing though is the possibility to make a NAND dump, hope we get it soon -if possible at all-.

 

[pudzz]

gud day can u make a full tut video using nintendo switch unpatch.

 

[BaamAlex]

gud day can u make a full tut video using nintendo switch unpatch.

Wat? Why? Ask in the switch forum for that. There are already well written guides out there.

 

[godreborn]

Wat? Why? Ask in the switch forum for that. There are already well written guides out there.

I think he's talking about using udpih with the switch. I think it's supposed to work with all switches now, including mariko units.

 

[BaamAlex]

@GaryOderNichts is it possible that the size of the sd card is important? The thing is, I can't boot the recovery menu anymore with my pico. And i have a 400GB card in the console.

 

[godreborn]

@GaryOderNichts is it possible that the size of the sd card is important? The thing is, I can't boot the recovery menu anymore with my pico. And i have a 400GB card in the console.

I have a 256GB, but I would agree that it's a major pain getting into the recovery menu. sometimes it doesn't work, sometimes black screen, sometimes a garbled message. I think you need to put it in when it says Nintendo on the gamepad, but it's hard to time when you don't really know when to put it in. when the wiiu text displays on the tv screen seems to be too late.