PSP firmware cracked wide open by Grand Theft Auto ... again

by Jared Rea { Jan 26th 2007 at 7:55AM }

An old skeleton from the PSP closet has come back to haunt Sony as their 2.81 lockdown has come to an end thanks to the ongoing efforts of the PSP homebrew community. Famed PSP hacker Fanjita has taught an old crack a new trick as the Grand Theft Auto saved game exploit has once again brought Sony's PSP security measures to its knees, enabling any and all firmware versions to run homebrew applications.

That's odd. We thought they squashed that bug a long time ago. According to Fanjita, Sony didn't quite bring their A-game when it came to stopping their unruly fan base.

It's not all sunshine and unicorns for those itching to tear apart the coding that holds their PSP together. The brave will need an original copy of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (later copies were updated to prevent this trick from resurfacing) and nerves of steel. An "easy mode" downgrader isn't available yet, but the wait should give you enough time to scrounge up a stack of PS One games to stick in there.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in.]

Tags: 2.81, fanjita, playstation portable, PlaystationPortable, ps one, PsOne, psp, psp firmware, PspFirmware, sony

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

John @ Jan 26th 2007 8:08AM

i bricked my psp lol, i wasnt that bothered!

miss the web browser but apart from that it wass a bit crap

DS ftw!

:)

Marc @ Jan 26th 2007 8:36AM

My PSP is still FW 1.50

With DevHook you can emulate FW 3.00

Hugh Mann @ Jan 26th 2007 8:49AM

@ #2
Yeah? Well with my PSP running Dark_Alex's custom Firmware 3.03 OE-C you can run any UMD, play psp iso's or psx iso's off mem-stick AND use any homebrew apllications or emulators, and all without having to "switch" between firmwares like with D.hook. If you have a 1.5 psp then give it a try, you could always downgrade back to 1.5 if you are unhappy (you won't be) with the custom firmware

Marc @ Jan 26th 2007 9:17AM

I would. But I haven't actually used my PSP since August.

2kings @ Jan 26th 2007 9:30AM

The psx emulator is a dream come true :D

Martin @ Jan 26th 2007 9:35AM

The PSP's shining glory has been and will always seem to be it's ability for emulation. First NES / SNES emulation, and now PSX emulation. I might pick one up eventually, if they start making games that interest me more.

raquor @ Jan 26th 2007 9:53AM

And this security hole will likely disappear with the next popular release which I think is Ratchet and Clank in a couple weeks. Gonna really suck if I can't downgrade or if Dark Alex can't emulate the required firmware for Ratchet. I can't wait for that game...

OrionzDrm @ Jan 26th 2007 10:02AM

I have a nes and super Nes emulator on my DS. I just ordered my third PSP (imported one before it came out here, sold it for domestic, sold it for 360). I decided to buy this one just so I could try the down load games on the PS3 network. Now do they run?

fox619_master @ Jan 26th 2007 1:46PM

lol iv'e neevr bought a psp game. Just got my friend to emulate the game for me saves me so much money thanks sony!

fox619_master @ Jan 26th 2007 1:47PM

*never and also isn't sony losing alot of money from all this emulating?

sheppy @ Jan 26th 2007 2:03PM

I have two PSPs just for this occasion. A legitimate white import for the legitimate games and an original launch black running the latest DarkAlex (aka, god) firmware hack.

GamerInstinct @ Jan 26th 2007 7:33PM

Poor Sony. Cracks FTW

http://www.gamersinstinct.com/

Gilgad Drumheller @ Jan 26th 2007 8:01PM

One could say that sony would be loosing "alot of money", but i don't think the problem is as wide spread as it may appear. Homebrew users are shown to actually be a very small portion of the psp userbase. Additionally, many of the abilities of homebrew don't have Sony equivalents (emulation of atari through *any* ps1 game). Lastly, my psp would be gathering even more dust than it is now if i hadn't discovered homebrew. Homebrew got me back interested in the games that are coming out for the psp as well.