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Portables (Games) Entertainment Games

HEN TIFF Exploit Cracks PSP-3000 Open For Homebrew 77

indrora writes "The PSP community was rocked this weekend by the Homebrew Enabler (HEN) from developers Davee and Bubbletune. One of their friends on the Team Typhoon development team posted a YouTube video showing proof of the TIFF Exploit running on Firmware 5.03, changing the firmware version and MAC address for a reboot. This comes after a picture of gpSP running on a PSP-3000 via the HEN exploit. From the QJ.net article: 'First [things] first: No, Davee hasn't finished the HEN yet. Which means it isn't out yet. What we do have today is some visual confirmation that the HEN can indeed run emulators, in this case the GBA emulator gpSP.' And from the more recent article showing the exploit demo video: 'Be patient, everyone. Davee's HEN Kernel exploit will eventually arrive, given time. "This is a demo of the 5.03 firmware running the tiff exploit and booting into a HEN environment on a PSP 2003 (3000 Support also) on 5.03 Official Firmware. This proves that the code survives a reboot and the system software and MAC address can be changed. This is something that only can be done with a kernel exploit. A video launching homebrew will be posted later."' Hopefully, we'll soon have PSP-3000s playing homebrew games and running PSP uCLinux."
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HEN TIFF Exploit Cracks PSP-3000 Open For Homebrew

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  • Cool (Score:5, Funny)

    by Goldberg's Pants ( 139800 ) on Sunday May 03, 2009 @02:33PM (#27808403) Journal

    All 27 remaining PSP users must be thrilled with this!

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Nick Ives ( 317 )

      More like 50m.

      I was surprised when I saw that number a few months ago too but it's true, PSP has 1/3 the handheld market.

      That raises the question, why aren't there any killer games for the PSP? 50m is still bigger than all the next-gen (PSWii60) consoles combined.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        As I said a while back on here, I looked into getting a PSP and planned to hack it, with piracy being a part of it.

        I didn't see anything for the PSP worth pirating. And only one game worth buying. (Football Manager.)

        Of course lately the DS isn't much better IMO. I've largely stopped using mine.

        • i bought mine, hacked it, and recently found it in my dufflebag from the last trip i took... in NOVEMBER. playing PSP =/= priority apparently.
      • Re:Cool (Score:4, Informative)

        by vux984 ( 928602 ) on Sunday May 03, 2009 @04:19PM (#27809213)

        50m is still bigger than all the next-gen (PSWii60) consoles combined.

        Say what now? Wii has 50M pretty much all by itself.

      • This announcement is why there aren't more killer apps on the PSP. Where the piracy potential is high, game developers don't want to take the risk to make high budget games.

        For the record though, God of War was really good, as was Daxter. Personally I thought Patapon was the ultimate in hand-held fun but Puzzle Quest is pretty great too, especially since its easily suspendable when you need to put it down. Suspending Patapon on the other hand is almost always a bad idea (due to the timed input).

        • by Mr2001 ( 90979 )

          This announcement is why there aren't more killer apps on the PSP. Where the piracy potential is high, game developers don't want to take the risk to make high budget games.

          I suppose that's why there are no high budget games for Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, or PC.

        • by Nick Ives ( 317 )

          Where the piracy potential is high, game developers don't want to take the risk to make high budget games.

          Until this announcement (which hasn't been released yet) you had to use a special battery pack to mod your PSP and there was a chance of bricking it.

          Compared to DS, where you can buy R4DS + other brand flash carts from newsagents, at least in the cities here in the UK, and I'd say pirating games on PSP is an order of magnitude harder on PSP than DS. DS still sells boatloads of games though, even though its install base is only double that of PSP.

        • The DS is FAR easier to pirate gam...ahem..."run homebrew" for. All you have to do is plug a card into Slot 1 loaded with software. Really, that's it. There is no battery swapping, tiff expoiting crap to deal with. Also, most DS games are relatively tiny, compared to a UMD. Yet the DS has a million awesome games.

          Because the PSP can do near PS2 quality games, there is a large onus to up the production value. Bigger budgets mean higher risk, and this is probably the real reason why the PSP is pretty barre
    • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Just wondering, is there even 27 games out for it?

      I thought the PSP was nicer hardware overall -- one nice big screen, instead of 2 small shitty screens with a HUGE seam between them like the DS.

      Then I looked at the game selection, and I bought the kids a pair of DS. It was also a lot cheaper (not only the console itself, but the memory cards too)

  • Why.... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Darkness404 ( 1287218 ) on Sunday May 03, 2009 @02:39PM (#27808447)
    Why even include TIFF support in the PSP if you were trying to lock people out of homebrew? TIFF, by nature, will contain more exploitable code then other image formats (based on how the image is stored and other technical specs of the TIFF format), and is much lesser used compared to JPEG, PNG, GIF, and the dozens of other image formats we use on a daily basis. But the inclusion of TIFF seems puzzling, unless by default various Sony products save things as TIFF, there doesn't seem to be any need for it.
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Digital cameras produce TIFFs.

      • Did, you mean.
        Back when people still used flobby disks...

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          Did, you mean. Back when people still used flobby disks...

          Actually, some digital SLRs use variants of the TIFF format to store their "raw" files. They may muck about with the headers and you need to know the RGB response curves to make proper use of the data, but underneath, it's still a TIFF. The Pentax PEF format as produced by the istD family of DSLRs can be rendered by TIFF readers which ignore certain "irregularities" in the header, for instance.

        • by c_forq ( 924234 )
          Almost every point-and-shoot digital I've ever owned uses TIFF for the "raw" files, it is has the option of uncompressed files. Why I would want an uncompressed image from my 2-megapixel POS camera with a crappy lens, I have no idea. My Nikon SLR uses NEF, which is based on TIFF but breaks from the standard in the header and on image tags.
          • Re:Why.... (Score:4, Insightful)

            by fireman sam ( 662213 ) on Monday May 04, 2009 @02:27AM (#27813137) Homepage Journal

            "Why I would want an uncompressed image from my 2-megapixel POS camera with a crappy lens, I have no idea."

            Because it uses the super crappy jpeg compression code which will give even worse results. At least if you can capture in raw you can do post processing with you crappy computer without the jpeg artifacts.

            • by c_forq ( 924234 )
              I don't feel the filesize justifies it though. With my SLR I always shoot in RAW, but I view my point and shoot, like most people view their camera phones, it is going to be a low quality image; so why care? And on "super crappy jpeg compression code", I don't think that is really an issue unless I am compressing it multiple times (infamous seagull example) or am using it for something serious (in which case I would/should be using my SLR).
        • Most digital cameras use TIFF as the file format for RAW files at least, but many also do so for their JPEG files (you can store JPEG in TIFF encapsulation).

          The ones that don't use TIFF seem to use TarGA.

      • by KZigurs ( 638781 )

        About 6-10 high-end models (generally medium format backs).

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Archaemic ( 1546639 )

      Yes, I wonder the same thing about TIFF support on the PSP myself. It was touted as a new feature for the 2.0 firmware, but I don't really see the point, given how insecure it is in general and how rarely it is used. Furthermore, if it is used for a camera picture, it's pretty useless anyway, because the PSP will generally not show the picture if it's too large anyway, which is usually smaller than digital camera resolution. The original PSP model does only have 32MB of RAM, 8 of which is not available in u

    • TIFF, by nature, will contain more exploitable code then other image formats

      Care to elaborate? It seems to me that TIFF, being uncompressed, would require less lines of code to process than a compressed format like JPEG. Less code usually means less security holes. What's the case here?

      • by vux984 ( 928602 )

        Care to elaborate?

        TIFF at this point is basically a container. You can stick anything into a TIFF, including a JPG.

      • The TIFF file format is unusual in comparison to other image formats, in that it is composed of small descriptor blocks containing offsets into the file which point to the actual pixel image data (composed of bands of pixel rows). This means that incorrect offset values can cause programs to attempt to read erroneous portions of the file or attempt to read past the physical end of file. Like most other image file formats, improperly encoded packet or line lengths within the file can cause poorly written rendering programs to overflow their internal buffers. Properly-written image rendering programs generally avoid such pitfalls.

        Which basically means, buffer overflows are trivial to do with TIFF. Then there is the fact that libtiff has several exploits (as mentioned by a previous poster) that still exist in the most stable version of it.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Can we at least acknowledge that TIFF isn't an image format but a linked library format, and make the buffer overflows a feature and not a bug?

  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 03, 2009 @02:45PM (#27808487)

    Hopefully, we'll soon have PSP-3000s playing emulators and running the same goddamn games you've all been emulating since the first emulators came out for PCs.

    There. Fixed that for you.

    Unless someone can show me a decent amount of actual, fairly good, unique homebrew games, that is. You know, not the piece of shit "proof of concept that we can homebrew" game clones we see on every iteration of homebrew hacks, but the groundbreaking games that all the proponents of homebrew keep bragging about and assuring us will result from it?

    • http://www.zincland.com/powder/

      It may not be groundbreaking, but it's a good game.

      "Decent amount" it may be true that there are not many yet, but there are allready some good free versions of the quake-type game e.g., so we may see some good free games in the future.

    • While I wholeheartedly agree with your point, not all homebrew sucks, at least not for the DS...

      Check out a program called Colors, which is a simple painting/sketching program which uses the touch interface. To my knowledge, the DS doesn't have this feature otherwise.
  • Stupid Sony (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Nom du Keyboard ( 633989 ) on Sunday May 03, 2009 @03:04PM (#27808609)
    Why do you keep trying to lockout your homebrew users, who are some of your most talented fans? Why not end this stupid war and simply sell an open version that can run what people want to run on it?

    Same for Apple. You are trying to control too much. Leads me to cheer for an open Android platform with healthy competition from clone makers. The biggest jump in improvement of the Apple platform I ever saw was during the brief period that Apple allowed clone makers.

    Proprietary systems are never to the consumer's advantage.
    • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Because 99.99% of this "homebrew" - pirated games. Sony did sell open for development(but not for piracy) PS1 and PS2, guess how many bought?

      • by tepples ( 727027 )

        Because 99.99% of this "homebrew" - pirated games.

        Is Ubuntu a pirated copy of Solaris? No. Is GIMP a pirated copy of Paint Shop Pro? No. Is OpenOffice.org a pirated copy of Microsoft Office 2003? No. Are Lockjaw [pineight.com], Gnometris, and KSirtet pirated copies of Tetris? No.

        Sony did sell open for development(but not for piracy) PS1 and PS2, guess how many bought?

        The "Net Yaroze" PS1 and the PS2 with Linux were token efforts, discontinued in less than a year. Other than VAIO and PLAYSTATION 3, Sony hasn't kept a commitment to any computing platform without a lockout chip.

        • by Jae686 ( 1203100 )
          and they were hard to get and eXpenSive! And whats the point if its hard to share what you do with it ?
    • The biggest jump in improvement of the Apple platform I ever saw was during the brief period that Apple allowed clone makers.

      Really? Such as?

      I can't say I remember much of the clone period as I wasn't that into macs back then. Still have a SuperMac sitting around in a storage closet somewhere though... What changed?

    • by argent ( 18001 )

      The biggest jump in improvement of the Apple platform was when Apple quit trying to write their own operating system and switched to UNIX. That was long after they stopped allowing clones to run that piece of crap Mac OS.

      • Nitpick: They didn't switch to UNIX.

        They switched to NExT (xnu,) adopted a bit from FreeBSD, and added the BSD userland and their own proprietary front end. Then got it certified UNIX.

        No, the biggest jump in improvement for Apple was bringing Jobs back. The only thing it's bad for these days are the techies who think their minority opinion is what everyone really wants.

        • by argent ( 18001 )

          Nitpick back. I'm so tired of people who either (a) don't understand what the revolution in computing that UNIX introduced was and what it meant, or (b) have skin in the game and want to queer the pitch for everyone else by playing games.

          NeXTstep was UNIX.
          FreeBSD is UNIX.
          Linux is UNIX, and was UNIX even before they got certification.
          OS X is UNIX.
          UNIX is as UNIX does.

          UNIX is and has been for over a quarter of a century - since the first independent implementations like Idris and Regulus, a FAMILY of operatin

    • They are just trying to limit the amount of piracy. i am sure that somebody on sony agrees the put homebrew and backup games on the psp thing. but it also opens the door for piracy i wish someday a console will let you do backups so only you can use. instead of having to rely on hacking the console for it. on a unrelated note my starcrafts disk are all dead beyond repair if i had a backup of them i would not have to go download them from piratebay. (keys are lost too fyi so no blizzard downloader)

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      "Proprietary systems are never to the consumer's advantage."

      Of course not. That's because it's not about you or what's good for you. One day we'll wake up and realize that the market, in it's current form, isn't based on "best product" for the "best price". It's about gaining enough market share to afford legislation to protect your business model from innovation and competition.

    • Why not end this stupid war and simply sell an open version that can run what people want to run on it?

      Because then you can't squeeze the corporate publishers (you know, the ones with the money) for a gatekeeper's fee.

      The biggest jump in improvement of the Apple platform I ever saw was during the brief period that Apple allowed clone makers.

      Even bigger than 9 to X?

      Proprietary systems are never to the consumer's advantage.

      Then which computing platform that comes with a composite or S-Video output as a standard feature (like the PS2, PSP 3000, PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360) is to the consumer's advantage? And what handheld gaming system sold in North America is to the consumer's advantage?

  • Novel idea (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Goffee71 ( 628501 ) on Monday May 04, 2009 @02:49AM (#27813237) Homepage
    If all these homebrew guys are such loyal PSP fans and great coders, why don't they release their cracks with a block on running PSP ripped games, thereby protecting the success of the console they enjoy playing on?

    That'd be a decent thing to see (right up there with alien motherships, flying pigs and world peace)

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