The end of the year is often a special time for the hacking scene. I don’t know if it’s the holiday spirit, or hackers having a bit more free time to work on awesome stuff, but I always feel they manage to time great releases around Christmas.
Today, it’s Zecoxao (who else) who’s setting the scene on fire with a Tweet that “spills the beans” on what we might be expecting for Christmas. In this article I’m debunking his abject lies, so get ready for some pummeling! (Just kidding sir, I’m only trying to separate the wheat from the chaff like everybody else)
This is what the scene veteran predicts we’ll see by end of year for the PS5:
we should have: sistro’s goldhen sistro’s ps5cheat sleirs ps5 hen with ps5 fpkg support the flow’s userland + kernel exploit and a special surprised for people from other scenes (namely psp and ps2, also maybe ps5 as well)
Keep in mind that no one has a crystal ball, and although Zecoxao undoubtedly has insider information, nobody can tell you exactly when a release will happen (due to technical roadblocks or other issues), or even if a given hacker will change their mind and cancel a release. With that out of the way, let’s go through each one of these predictions:
Rumor #1: PS5 GoldHEN and Cheat support by Sistr0
We knew about this one already, although Sistr0 hasn’t given any information about a release date. It’s not a secret at this point, Sistr0 has been working on Homebrew Enabler GoldHEN for the PS5. How much this will actually support, and whether it will add new features that are not already available to the community, is up to everyone to guess. As a reminder, we already have a competitor “All-in-One” Homebrew enabler for the PS5 now, with LighningMods’ etaHEN.
Verdict: Zecoxao is right that GoldHEN for PS5 is being worked on, however it’s unclear if a release will happen this year. We can certainly hope that, having shared screenshots already, Sistr0 is close to at least a beta of some sort for PS5 GoldHEN.
Rumor #2: PS5 FPKG support by Sleirsgoevy
This one apparently stems from something Sleirsgoevy said about a month ago, that PS5 SELF support is already working, and that FPKG still need to be investigated. Technically, all the tools are in to run PS5 ELF files (such as libhijacker), and combined with Sleir’s Homebrew Enabler and SELF decryption, I can see how basically it “already works” for SELF files. But as far as FPKGs are concerned, the hacker has specifically said he didn’t look into it, and he reiterated that statement a few days ago:
Verdict: (update) This rumor has now been confirmed to be unfounded by Zecoxao after discussion with Sleirsgoevy.
my original guess:
“unless Sleirsgoevy has privately shared information that contradicts what he publicly said a few days ago, it looks like Zecoxao is full of it on this one. Of course, it’s also possible hackers are playing games with us. SELFs already work though :)”
Rumor #3: Userland and Kernel exploit disclosure by TheFloW
Technically, TheFloW has already disclosed a usermode exploit for PS5 up to firmware 7.61, and I’m personally not sure there’s another one. The famous PlayStation hacker has however recommended people do not update their PS5, and has 2 exploits pending disclosure on PlayStation’s bug bounty program. It is believed one of them at least is a kernel exploit for the PS5, as the hacker is pretty much known for dropping huge bombs on the scene now.
Verdict: given what we know, it is very likely TheFloW has something huge in store for the PS5 scene, possibly a new kernel exploit. However the timing of the disclosure is controlled by Sony and their bug bounty program right now, so I doubt anyone on the scene can guarantee disclosure (let alone an actual release) will happen by end of year.
Rumor #4: Special surprise for the PSP and PS2, and possibly something for the PS5
On this one, Zecoxao certainly has some insider information on some relatively big release that could happen for the PSP/PS2 scene. He hasn’t given me more details on that, I assume because he’s sworn to the secret. I’m wondering what remaining secrets these consoles still have to share with the world, given how fully open they’ve become by now. I also fail to understand how some massive breakthrough on any of these two consoles could relate to the PS5, and I think Zecoxao’s “possibly” keyword here is important. I wouldn’t put past him to just try and artificially relate that piece of information with PS5, just to get people excited 😉
Verdict: while there’s most likely something huge incoming for the PSP and/or PS2 by Christmas, it remains to be seen if this will actually be interesting to the end users of these scenes, or just some final “nail in the coffin” of security for consoles that are already pretty much 100% homebrew-able. Interesting from a “scientific” point of view, but maybe not for most end users? Wait and see on this one!
What do you think of these predictions by Zecoxao? Let me know in the comments!