Exploit that works on the PSP Brite found in GripShift

by Alan Tsang { Jan 7th 2009 at 5:15PM }

Famous for its imperviousness to hackers, the PSP Brite has now been hacked by one MaTiAz over at lan.st. An exploit was supposedly found in the 2005 title GripShift and has been described as "a buffer overflow vulnerability when loading savegames [sic]." It is now available for download, as well as an accompanying new SDK. Remember however, this exploit doesn't grant the all-important kernal access. A video of this proof of concept in action, after the jump.

[Via Engadget]

Tags: hack, hacks, psp, psp-3000, psp-brite

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

cduran01 @ Jan 7th 2009 5:28PM

Im beginning to think that the PSP 2, when its released, will be built like a tank like the PS3.

Sony is just using the current PSP to learn what to do to prevent hacks in the future versions.

Extinction @ Jan 7th 2009 5:38PM

I can't wait for PSP2. PSP is the best system I've ever bought.

Extinction @ Jan 7th 2009 6:35PM

Let's hope PSP2 has some built in homebrew support like PS3 does!

Aerziel @ Jan 7th 2009 6:06PM

still not useful enough only means we can play gripshift and nothing else.

TrackSol @ Jan 7th 2009 6:45PM

What does the [sic] mean when you quoted the buffer overflow vulnerability comment?

Voshempa @ Jan 7th 2009 7:03PM

Usually, when you quote something that has a grammar error of some sort, you put that in there to state that you are aware of the error, but that is how it was printed or what not.

andrew @ Jan 7th 2009 7:12PM

Its a shame to be honest.

Gurbinder @ Jan 7th 2009 7:55PM

Agreed. Obviously means that more sales are going to be lost to piracy. A dissapointment.

Christopher @ Jan 9th 2009 9:23PM

Please! You mean to tell me this is going to cause piracy? When are you guys gonna let this BS rest. Why would anybody who WANTS to pirate even bother with one of the newer PSP? The cats been out of the bag a LOOOONG time now.

Gurbinder @ Jan 7th 2009 7:52PM

I thought it was done by Freeplay.

Darlaten @ Jan 7th 2009 8:19PM

I am somewhat suprised that this website would seek to highlight something like this when, at the same time, this website frequently decries how piracy has been hurting the PSP. The hypocracy is astonishing.

JaredDJ @ Jan 7th 2009 9:25PM

Homebrew =/= Piracy.

Invisible Robot Meat @ Jan 7th 2009 9:36PM

...but piracy=homebrew

dom @ Jan 8th 2009 2:43AM

Piracy and homebrew are not the same thing Robot Meat. Hacking your console is completely legal, the only loss is waranty. There is no law saying that you cannot manipulate the product you purchased. Just because you a t-shirt, and then add some design to it, doesn't make it piracy. Getting that t-shirt and shoving a brandname on it makes it piracy.

Homebrew is a must with consoles, and the work on the PS3 shows it. Groups like DA refuse to use pirated software to hack consoles, everything they create and use is homebrew freeware.

There is nothing wrong with the hacking of the PSP, the problem lies within the piracy of the games and software.

Let's not mistake this!

Also to anyone who has mentioned the PS3, it will be hacked in time. Why? Mainly for piracy, but there are other reasons. Sony restricted hardware access to the homebrew community... for good reason

Gurbinder @ Jan 7th 2009 11:03PM

Im not on homebrew's side however if Sony recognized homebrew's potential and worked together with them ( as so many people have recommended and even forecasted) the custom firmware community would no longer have a reason to justify themselves other than the operation of piracy.

So in the truth its Sony's fault for allowing this to go on.

Jeremy @ Jan 7th 2009 11:53PM

If people wanted "homebrew", then various open handhelds would be much, much, much more popular. They don't, they want pirated commercial software.

GoBob @ Jan 8th 2009 10:24AM

Jeremy, that's just dumb. I'm not paying $200 for a handheld that only plays homebrew. That's how much they cost and there's no guarantee that people are gonna write stuff for it. If I had the time to write my own stuff, then whatever. But I code enough at my job to want to bother.

Zippon @ Jan 8th 2009 3:56PM

These are arguments always make me picture a guy stating that AK-47's should be legal because they make excellent back scratchers.

Yeah, that may be one POSSIBLE use of it, but you know that's not what 99.9% of people will use it for....

I see below that people are stating that cfw actually *helps* the PSP because it sells systems and people who still use their systems must only be playing homebrew games. What a crock. If we didn't have CFW, then a chunk (not all of them, but a chunk) of all those illegal game torrents would be legal sales. And more sales means more developers taking a chance on the PSP. Sorry, but CFW--and the piracy it makes possible--have hurt the PSP far more than helped it.

Show me one CFW user who has zero stolen games on his unit, and I'll show you a thousand who do.

exetermako @ Jan 8th 2009 1:00AM

I don't think it's possible to make an unexploitable system, but I honestly hope the next PSP is so popular (as is as popular as this PSP is in Japan or even remotely in the ballpark) that - like the DS - the piracy concerns don't completely kill the system.

dom @ Jan 8th 2009 2:49AM

@Jeremy:

The PSP is the only true handheld consoles that can run a PS1 emulator at fullspeed. I do rip my PS1 discs and play them on my PSP. Why? Because Sony hasn't released half the titles I want to play.

Regardless, it's the only handheld console to play PS1 at fullspeed, there is a good attempt at N64 emulator, and every other console under PS1 (excluding Saturn) runs at 100%.

The PSP is THE homebrew item of choice! For emulation anyways...

bryan @ Jan 8th 2009 11:18AM

yea i think most people that still play their psp routinely mostly play emulators on cfw .in a way the psp needs homebrew its the only thing that keeps it going strong when the titles dry up for months at a time. no cfw means less sales because people who aren't in the know about homebrew would see the psp as something that has a crappy browser limited mp3 and video abitlys with only a few good games hardly worth the investment but add cfw and you got the greatest handheld. psp is the greatest thing to happen to gamers and the worst thing sony could have created from a bussiness stance

U1 @ Jan 8th 2009 8:13AM

Simply posting this story is enough to entice some people to want to pirate. Not me personally, but from some of the comments i've read people are actually proud that they're killing the industry. And people wonder why there are less and less good games..

odan @ Jan 8th 2009 9:40AM

Actually this was confirmed already as a fake.
Believe Dark Alex even wrote that this was fake and didn't work.
But i do know that video on youtube was taken down quickly after it was discovered to be a fake.

David Black @ Jan 8th 2009 11:23AM

It would be ironic if this actually drove some sales of Gripshift as a result of people being duped into thinking it would work then figuring out it was all just a sham....

DumbPeople @ Jan 8th 2009 3:36PM

It's an EXPLOIT P.O.C; there will be a downgrader eventually.

It WORKS.

odan @ Jan 11th 2009 9:21AM

http://pspslimhacks.com/video-proof-psp-3000-ta-88v3-hacked-its-fake/

its what i was reading

ZombieRace @ Jan 8th 2009 3:16PM

Don't take anti-piracy anger out on the homebrew community.

Hacking your PSP gives you a device that's above and beyond what you get out of the box.

Abusing this system to get free games is exactly that, abuse, and whatever disdain you have towards that practice should not be placed on the shoulders of homebrew.

Misha @ Jan 9th 2009 6:42PM

wow guys im gonna break this down for yall. mmk, first i bough a DS. it sucked. then i bought a psp, it sucked. then i got it hacked and now my psp doesnt suck. Yeah sure piracy sucks and all and everyone is blaming the hackers for their loss of games but the simple fact is if the psp werent hackable, it would be NOWHERE as popular. the first thing i do with my psp is i hack it. and if it has ta_088v3 mobos, i take it back. Why? its not cuz of the software cuz lets face it... maybe 5 good games were released in 08 that werent available on other consoles (Thank you EA sports). Lets see...
1. Crisis core. Not many people even pirate this game. Why? Cuz its 1.5 gigs. u know how long that takes?
2. god of War. same as crisis core. ridiculously big filesize
3. Patapon. this game even aint that great. after i beat it, its gone :D
4. I cant even think of others.... ugh cabelas was okay...
the psp had nothing to pirate. the developers dont like the psp. its not cuz it can be hacked. its just that no one was buying them. so they use the piracy as a scapegoat. In japan, where the psp sells like hotcakes, developers dont care if there is piracy. they still manafacture games by the dozen. Koei's 09 lineup IS psp. what pspfanboy needs to learn si that homebrew is in. i mean good god man, i get more info reading qj.net. if i were you, i would add waaaay more stories relating to psp. add homebrew such as CSPSP. up to version 1.6 its the pinnacle of homebrew. online deathmatch, friend lists, online chat, complete server lists, its a fine example of what can be accomplished. If anything, the best thing pspfanboy can do is add me as a moderator because every day i check this site on my ipod, or psp or desktop and everyday im let down. i can ACTUALLY contribute with stories that MATTER. the one thing ive learned from this site that i didnt know before is that scrabble is coming out.
in response to gripshift, you guysa re all idiots. the gripshift exploit is real. quit saying that its not and try it out yourselves. i did. ZOMG it works!!! yeah i cant use kernel mode but its a giant step. frankly, i played this game and it sucked. hard. if anything, this gave me a reason to track it down.