PlayStation 3 Jailbreak

A PS Jailbreak USB dongle

PlayStation 3 Jailbreak was the first USB (Universal Serial Bus) chipset that allowed unauthorized execution of code, similar to homebrew, on the PlayStation 3. It works by bypassing a system security check using a memory exploit (heap overflow) which occurs with USB devices that allows the execution of unsigned code.

Exploit

The underlying exploit and inner workings of the PlayStation 3 Jailbreak have been entirely reverse engineered ^[1] and reimplemented through the open source PSGroove. ^[2]

Through analysis of USB traffic to and from the PS3 Jailbreak, it was found that the device induced a heap overflow in kernel-space memory to trigger execution of untrusted code. ^[1]

Legality

Sony had taken a few steps to prevent the jailbreak of the PlayStation 3, and has associated the action as a form of copyright infringement. In eastern European countries, no action has ever been taken to condemn such cases.

The cases listed below are lawsuits Sony filed in courts to prohibit the sales and imports of circumvention devices that would jailbreak the system.

• PS3 Jailbreak remains banned for importation, distribution, or sale in Australia under a permanent injunction by the Federal Court. ^[3]
• Sony lost a lawsuit in December 2010 in Barcelona against the seller of PS Jailbreak. The sales and imports of the product were deemed legal within Spain, and Sony was ordered to pay damages for attempting to block them. ^[4]
• In January 2011, Sony filed a lawsuit against George Hotz for leaking the encryption keys for the PlayStation 3. The case was settled in April 2011, with Hotz agreeing to a permanent injunction preventing him from circumventing any Sony product again. ^[5] The court also approved that Sony’s lawyers could obtain the IP addresses of visitors to Hotz’s website. ^[6]

See also

• PlayStation 3 homebrew
• Game backup device
• Modchip
• Privilege escalation
• George Hotz
• PlayStation 3 system software
• EdDSA

References

1. "PSJailbreak Exploit Payload Reverse Engineering - PS3 Developer wiki". www.psdevwiki.com. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
2. "PSGroove - PS3 Developer wiki". www.psdevwiki.com. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
3. "PSJailbreak banned in Australia". MCV. Retrieved November 30, 2025.
4. Mark_Raby (December 18, 2010). "Powned: Sony ordered to pay restitution to PS Jailbreak seller in Spain". gamesradar. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
5. "Sony and Hotz settle hacking case". BBC News. April 12, 2011. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
6. Kravets, David. "Judge Lets Sony Unmask Visitors to PS3-Jailbreaking Site". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved November 14, 2021.