Update: Well you can now call me the prophet of the scene. A couple hours after I published this article, Developer Fire30 released a proof of concept code running the HENkaku Webkit exploit on PS4 firmware 3.55

About a week ago, Yifanlu and Team molecule defibrillated the Vita scene with the release of HENkaku, bringing homebrews and emulators to all PS Vita owners of the latest firmware 3.60.

HENkaku relies, in part, on a Webkit exploit, which could potentially be ported to the PS4.

This wouldn’t be the first time. The first webkit exploit on the Vita was subsequently ported to the PS4 in 2014, and is currently used to power PS4 Native hacks on firmware 1.76.

As a matter of fact, several trusted sources (whom I’ll assume for now want to stay anonymous) have confirmed to me that a port of this new webkit exploit has already been made and is operational on the PS4.

Of course, the Webkit exploit is just a usermode entry point and does not paint the whole picture (neither does it on the PS Vita! As we’ve seen recently, HENkaku is a challenging piece of software). To do cool things such as installing linux on your PS4 or run native homebrews, you’ll also need kernel access. On the PS4 1.76 this is achieved through either the dlclose exploit or the BadIRET exploit.

Releasing a Webkit exploit on the PS4 now would probably be seen as useless as it would only give limited access to the console. It’s likely that anyone who ports the Webkit exploit to the PS4 will be waiting for a kernel exploit to show up before releasing anything. Sadly, those don’t come often, which is why most people have been trying to get a 1.76 PS4.

Given the upcoming PS4 4.0 Beta, I’m looking forward to seeing if Sony will patch this new webkit bug in the PS4 ahead of the new firmware revision. People looking for a PS4 exploit and who cannot get their hands on a PS4 1.76 might want to not update too soon…

More hacks coming to the PS4?

In parallel to this Webkit adventure, it will be interesting to see if the Vita leads us to more knowledge of the PS4. The two systems are vastly different, but they are tightly coupled. The hack of the PS3 led to the ultimate demise of the PSP security. The full hack of the 3DS revealed essential keys used on the Wii U. Do possibilities like this exist in the interaction between the PS Vita and the PS4? Time will tell.

Are you waiting for a PS4 exploit, or will you update to 4.0 straight away?