This Security Exploit Could Have Major PS5 And PS4 Implications

Gaming consoles are powerful machines that — in recent generations — have become similar to desktop computers in terms of hardware and capabilities. Despite all of that power, however, these gaming machines are nearly as locked down as smart TVs or other appliances. That includes the PlayStation 5, as Sony does its best to thwart any form of modification of the system. For better or worse, that hasn't stopped hackers of all varieties from trying to find a backdoor into the console to take advantage of the power it has to offer. One such exploit was recently publicized, which has the PS5 and PS4 modding communities quite excited about the prospects of more open PlayStation boxes — unofficially, of course.

Security engineer Andy Nguyen disclosed this news at a security conference (via GameRant), revealing how it is possible to run arbitrary code on the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 consoles. The "hack" takes advantage of the console's Blu-Ray disc system, similar to how an old PS2 hack exploited the way DVDs were read. It's really no wonder why console makers want to get rid of optical discs and physical media exactly to prevent such exploits, especially if the exploit is part of the hardware that they can't patch. The hack has been tested to work on the PS5 and PS4, but there's also a possibility it could work on the PS3, which is the first PlayStation to support Sony's Blu-ray disc. The next big question is how long this exploit will remain viable.

It's really no surprise that the revelation of a usable exploit on the PS4 and PS5 has been met with much jubilation and hope, precisely because these consoles have been notoriously hard to crack. Being able to take advantage of the way the console reads Blu-ray discs to run arbitrary code opens the doors to the modding community but also opens a can of worms. Modding is a legal gray area, and Sony and other console makers have done their best to stamp it out.

While such exploits are easily associated with hacking and criminal attacks, the modding community is more interested in allowing homebrew game development to, well, brew on the consoles. It's especially tempting considering how much power these boxes pack inside and how high the barrier to entry is in making games for them.

Modding, however, also benefits the preservation of gaming history by allowing old games to be played on newer consoles or simply allowing games to be played without the original discs or even the console itself. It is only in the past few years that game developers and console makers have started to become more interested in giving new gamers access to old games, but they have also managed to turn it into a business. In many cases, you need to pay for a subscription to get access to a catalog of "old-school" games, especially titles whose consoles no longer exist in the market.