PS4 PPPwn exploit update: improved stability, new firmware support + some leads for people having trouble running the exploit

GoldHEN running on PS4 11.00, screenshot by mbcrump

PPPwn is now compatible with new firmware: FW 7.00/7.01/7.02 added by EchoStretch. Perhaps most importantly, some minor modifications have been made to the compilation settings of the exploit (by developer jakiki6) to improve stability and reduce the risk of crashes (commits here And here. These are for Stage1.bin and Stage2.bin so we hope to see similar fixes ported, for example to Stage2.bin which GoldHEN uses).

In parallel, it should be noted that many people still face great difficulties in running exploits on their devices. It appears that some specific PS4 models may present an issue for exploitation. For those of you who find yourself in this situation, Zikoxao is it Discuss this here For example.

What is PPPwn for PS4?

PPPwn is a PS4 jailbreak series released by TheFloW. It’s based on a surprisingly old public vulnerability in one of the FreeBSD network drivers (sppp). Apparently the vulnerability was never patched for the PS4, or was incorrectly rolled back at some point. Details can be found on how the vulnerability affects the PS4 in particular hackerone.

PPPwn has been confirmed to work up to firmware 11.00, with current implementations available for firmware 7.00 through 11.00. (People running version 9.00 or lower can still enjoy the previous jailbreak, pOOBs4.)

Some people are stuck on a certain firmware, and cannot upgrade their consoles due to the “NoBD” issue:

Your PS4 is said to be “NoBD” if its BluRay drive is missing or damaged. If you have a “NoBD” console, you probably already know (or will soon find out) that you can’t update your PS4’s firmware anymore. This is annoying for a number of reasons, if only because there is no legitimate technical reason for this limitation on the PS4 firmware. You can still technically use your PS4 for many other things, including digital game downloads, but the PlayStation gods have decided otherwise.

It’s up to the community to fix this mess, and make it technically possible to update your firmware to the latest and greatest, by bypassing some checks during firmware installation. These technologies are commonly referred to as “NoBD modifiers.”

Adding a kernel exploit for lower firmwares, including 8.50, gives users additional ways to eventually upgrade their console if they need to. This is just one of the benefits of porting a particular exploit to multiple firmwares.

In its current implementation, PPPwn is a full jailbreak for PS4 11.00 and earlier, and with the recent GoldHEN custom firmware ported, people using Firmware 11.00 can now enjoy all the benefits of a Jailbroken PS4. For people running on firmware 11.02 or 11.50, here’s the current status.

PPPwn saw several improvements after its release, in particular a C++ port that greatly improved the speed of exploitation, and made it viable from a variety of “attacking” devices, including a Raspberry Pi, or even your TV or router.

GoldHEN on PPPwn

The Sistr0 custom firmware for PS4 was released for PS4 11.00 recently, and it’s probably the first thing you’ll want to run on your newly booted PS4.

GoldHEN is a Homebrew ENabler for PS4, packed with features. For all intents and purposes, you can consider it a custom PS4 firmware. In particular, it offers a remote package installer, an FTP server, and a binLoader, which means it’s the only thing you need to load when jailbreaking your PS4, to have plenty of options at your disposal.

GoldHEN also supports plugins, cheats and patches, with easy access to online repositories of these game mods.

Download PPwn

Specific hardware applications:

Troubleshooting PPPwn

If you’re having problems running PPPwn in general, you may want to try one of the many GUI tools that have been released. I mentioned Modded Warfare’s PPPwn GUI here.