Important update: in an earlier version of this article we stated this exploit was working on firmware 4.06 and below. It is actually working on 4.05 and below. The mistake was originally in the Fail0verflow article which stated the bug was patched in 4.07. They have since then corrected their article.

Team Fail0verflow has just published a complete writeup of a kernel exploit for the PS4. This exploit is, according to the team of hackers, valid up to PS4 firmware 4.06 4.05 included, and was patched by Sony in firmware 4.07 4.06. They say this was the same exploit used in the infamous Chaitin Tech Jailbreak*, although the two teams found the exploit independently.

Although the Fail0verflow article does not link to a full repository containing the weaponized exploit, the writeup and accompanying sample code should be more than enough for devs on the PS4 scene to release an operational Jailbreak for firmware 4.06 4.05 and below extremely soon. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a full fledged release in the days to come, if not sooner. We have not confirmed that the writeup is actually giving the full details, however there’s no reason to believe, given the team’s credentials, that this would be an elaborated hoax.

The exploit is codenamed “Adieu” because it’s been patched a while ago, and is also referred to as namedobj exploit, because it leverages a vulnerability in the namedobj_create function.

Those of us who have stayed on a lower firmware will be rewarded by this release. For those who are on the latest firmware 5.00, there is still hope, although as always this confirms you should try as much as possible to stay on a low firmware.

What’s next?

It is pretty much guaranteed that a fully operational Jailbreak will come very soon for owners of PS4 4.06 4.05 and below. From there, people should be able to leverage the existing hacks, from Linux support, to “backups” as well as basic homebrew. Stay tuned as we follow up on this breakthrough.

Source Fail0verflow, thanks to @FigaroCool

* In the past, hackers have stated that the Chaitin tech vulnerability was fixed in firmware 4.06. The original Fail0verflow writeup initially stated that this was fixed in 4.07, but they have since then corrected their article and confirmed this was patched in 4.06.

