Mod developer publishes limited jailbreak for PlayStation 5 consoles

A modder has published a jailbreak for the PS5 and PS5 Digital Edition. This allows users to activate the PS5 debug settings, among other things. However, the jailbreak does not allow users to run their own code, making it impossible to run homebrew applications.

The exploit is published by SpecterDev, which reports that the jailbreak is especially interesting for developers to “play with.” The jailbreak takes advantage of a vulnerability in the FontFace Webkit. The jailbreak works on any PS5 and PS5 Digital Edition with firmware version 4.03, which was released late last year. Older firmware may also work, although the jailbreak may need to be modified to do so. Firmware versions after 4.03 will not work as the Webkit vulnerability has since been patched.

The exploit has “a lot of limitations and is quite unstable,” according to the modder, which may require users to make several attempts to jailbreak their PS5. The jailbreak provides read/write access and root privileges, but does not allow users to load and run their own binaries on their console. With this, it is currently not possible to install patches or hooks in the kernel space. This also prevents users from running homebrew applications or illegally downloaded games for the time being.

The well-known modder Lance McDonald, who previously released a 60fps patch for Bloodborne, shows on Twitter how the jailbreak is performed via the digital PS5 manual. McDonald then installs the PT demo of Hideo Kojima via a package installer. Given the limitations of the jailbreak, that game was probably not actually playable after installing. Developers could “reverse-engineer” certain aspects of the system with the jailbreak, SpecterDev writes.

The PS5 jailbreak in action. Source: Lance McDonald, via Twitter