UDPIH: USB Host Stack exploit + Recovery Menu

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:

Booting the recovery_menu​

warning
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:
screenshot

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:
Code:
type=eth

For using wifi:
Code:
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​

Special thanks to Maschell, rw-r-r-0644, QuarkTheAwesome, vgmoose, exjam, dimok789, and everyone else who contributed to the Wii U scene!
 
Last edited by GaryOderNichts,
Do you know what Google is? First three google results for "switch patch SN check":
https://damota.me/ssnc/checker/
https://www.partitionwizard.com/partitionmagic/is-my-switch-patched.html
https://gbatemp.net/threads/online-tool-to-check-switch-serial-numbers.528180/

... BTW: I saw a switch on eBay some month ago. The seller didn't know what treasure this is but had an image with the SN visible in the description... It was freaking 80 € but I had just 75 € on my bank account... This f***s my mind till today... :sad:
That sucks, you almost hit the jackpot. $600 console for $100... Though it seemed a little bit too good to be true.
 
Though it seemed a little bit too good to be true.
I know but it was real! Really sorry for going off topic that much but after this thing was selled I tried to reach the one who purchased it. This ofc. was a lot of work but at the end the guy told me "that purchase was insane! Less than 100 € for such a beast!".. So yea:
you almost hit the jackpot.
... Almost... All I was missing where frekaing 5 €... And not even this: 5 € on my bank account. So I had this money in my hands but my bank is an online bank, so you can't just go in an say "here are 5 €, transfair them to my bank account, please".
 
thx for you links V10lator! Can I contribute to your paypal account for 10€? please sent me your account via MP....When I will be a millionnaire, I will hire a brain like yours ;)
 
Last edited by mrmagicm,
Can I contribute to your paypal account for 10€? please sent me your account via MP....When I will be a millionnaire, I will hire a brain like yours ;)
Haha, nicely said. The donate link is right at my signature: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=XLZ5VV3N4T3CS&source=url ... I'm getting like 5 € all ten years through this link (except for @huma_dawii who donated all the money for a new SD card when mine died... Really, really thanks to you @huma_dawii, you're the best!).
This "people want anything for free but nobody donates" probem is btw not only mine. There are pros like @Maschell an @GaryOderNichts who deserve such donations way more than me. So please donate to them before spending money on my end. :)

//EDIT: And sorry to Maschell and Gary for me not spending to you. I'm a Harz 4 piece of ****... So I really would love to donate to you but I can't.

//EDIT²: My email post box is full of job offerst from Microsoft & co, so I don't even want to know what offers you guys (Maschell and Gary) have... Still there's a reason we don't accept these offers but live like we do, right?

//EDIT³: OMFG, you really donated $10? That money will flow directly to Gary (cause as I said: These guys deserve such spenings way more than me) but thanks anyway! This is something I won't forget! :)
 
Last edited by V10lator,
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There are pros like @Maschell an @GaryOderNichts who deserve such donations
Back in April 2020 I donated $100 to the 4TU Open Collective and in those 2 years only $53 was spent by the team. I also donated to some of the devs on Kofi and I also donated a total of $100 worth of eShop gift cards, although I found out that eShop gift cards are region locked so many of the devs I reached out to couldn't even use them unfortunately. Some still accepted them and donated them to their friends in the US. Not looking for recognition but just know that some people DO donate to these devs for their hard work. Unfortunately I'm not currently in a position to donate much but I will be donating to Gary very soon what I can. 🙂
 
It's not that I have a bricked Wii U but that I wanted to get my hands on a Raspberry Pi Pico anyway. Two of those microcontrollers just arrived, and it took about 5 minutes to flash udpih.uf2 onto one of them and then boot the recovery menu from the Wii U's SD card.

Thank you, Gary! It's so amazing, yet so simple to use
 
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My Wii U is bricked, stuck on the formatting console screen. I didn't have the backed otp to try other solutions. I'm glad I just didn't throw this bricked Wii U away.
 
Do you know what Google is? First three google results for "switch patch SN check":
https://damota.me/ssnc/checker/
https://www.partitionwizard.com/partitionmagic/is-my-switch-patched.html
https://gbatemp.net/threads/online-tool-to-check-switch-serial-numbers.528180/

... BTW: I saw a switch on eBay some month ago. The seller didn't know what treasure this is but had an image with the SN visible in the description... It was freaking 80 € but I had just 75 € on my bank account... This f***s my mind till today... :sad:

//EDIT: Not to mention that I helped crowed-funding mod chips which never ever fruited... So a lot of wasted money and when there finally was a chance to finally grab a unpatche Switch for cheap all that was missing was 5 €... :wacko:
Don't feel bad, I paid for a Wiikey U preorder waaaayyyy before any softmods we're out for backup loading from modchip central. That ended up being smoke and mirrors as we all know. Long story short, they wouldn't refund me except with store credit which I did end up using to get some 360 stuff but still. Gotta be real careful what you put your money into
 
That sucks, you almost hit the jackpot. $600 console for $100... Though it seemed a little bit too good to be true.

It just looks ridiculous because they‘re expensive where you live, looking on ebay where I live you can get used unpatched units without accessories for sub $200 USD buy it now. This is when specifically searching for unpatched units, you can probably get cheaper if you search generic listings with the serial number.
 
got my pico in the mail, and I just flashed it. :) don't need it right now, but it's here just for a safeguard.
 

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