Back in January, we reported on a possible Xbox 360 OS hack that came from a German hacker's congress. Today, we learn from a post on SecurityFocus that indeed it was real, because there is proof that those hackers found a way to break Microsoft's iron clad code. As the story goes, back in November a vulnerability was found due to "Unsigned Code Execution in Hypervisor Mode" in the latest kernel update. In the end, this vulnerability could potentially allow full access to the Xbox 360's OS and hackers to wreak whatever hacking havoc they wished. But before you get too excited about running Windows Vista on your 360, the problem has since been fixed. Microsoft was notified back in January about the problem and they quickly released an auto-update six days later to prevent anyone from exploiting the bad code.So ... any uber cool hacker up for teaching the rest of us some l33t hacking skills? We're thinking something along the lines of "Hacking Xbox 360s for Dummies".
[Via Xbox-Scene]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-28-2007 @ 3:54AM
LiraNuna said...
"But before you get too excited about running Windows Vista on your 360"
Will never happen. The 360 is PPC based while Vista is supposed to run on an x86 or x64 archs. Linux is possible tho. Linux rules \o/.
Reply
2-28-2007 @ 5:53AM
Mighty Healthy said...
I'm sure there's plenty of folks trying their cracks at the 360 dashboard...it's very reminiscent of WebTV (for anyone who remembered or used it, you know).
Of course, WebTV had its own little hacking scene. There were codes sent in e-mails that would power your WebTV off while viewing (back in the days of dialup), even featuring a guy who proudly flaunted the internal pages any average joe could see with a view codes.
There was even a webtv:tricks page or something to that effect, which in its original stage was password protected (and ominously warning).
People learned the password too late, but the ones who got in told of the various unique features beset to them with the hacks (which involved breaks of code, javascript, and lots of trial and error).
That's just my fuzzy memory on it, I googled up "WebTV mattman" and this is what I found...
http://www.net4tv.com/Voice/Story.cfm?storyID=775
So I can only imagine the exploits these guys are going after. You know the DRM will be exploited but we'll probably never hear about the insane havoc some intelligent lunatics will cause.
Wonder if they'll get a 360 jacket.
Reply
2-28-2007 @ 8:32AM
Arno said...
I guess this is what "a few performance and stability issues" really means.
(http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2007/01/09/today-s-dash-update.aspx)
Reply
2-28-2007 @ 9:44AM
dusty said...
I am trying to remember, but what is so cool about hacking again?
Oh, right, silly me...it's to ruin as much fun as possible for the rest of us by causing companies to implement security code after security code after security code after security code.
thanks guys...idiots.
Reply
2-28-2007 @ 10:17AM
fob2000 said...
Only machines that have been connected to XBL to receive the update have been patched, so I'm sure there are several 360's out there in the "wild" that have been un patched.
Reply
2-28-2007 @ 6:19PM
Curry said...
@#5: you are ignoring the fact that only the kernels released between 31 Oct and 9 Jan were vulnerable. Boxes produced before that were not, and many of those manufactured in that timespan were likely patched before leaving the factory. The total number of susceptible consoles is rather low most probably.
For my views on the subject (the dummies' guide requested in the post) visit http://www.xboxic.com/news/2485
Reply
2-28-2007 @ 9:06PM
razer said...
Dusty: Take that corporate dong out of your mouth.. You are screwed by companies everyday and you think they give a rip? You probably thank them.
Yes, this is sneaky MS at their best(Performance issue my ass Major Dingleberry). I know a ton of people that once it's exploited will drop their Live and never connect it again. Once the hackers remove the auto-update from scene released games it's over and then some real value can be added to the 360.
Note to MS: The hackers will and have beat you everytime. I know of at least 2 groups who have made some real progress ripping the Hypervisor wide open.. It's coming..
Reply