Exploitable PSP Games Return to the Vita

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MotorStorm: Arctic Edge and Everybody’s Tennis are back on PSN and less hacker-friendly.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a system more scarred by the battle between hardware manufacturers and piracy than the PlayStation Vita. Nearly every facet of the system; from its connectivity software, which downloads and installs updates without asking the user, to the frequent and often mandatory firmware updates, to its absurdly overpriced memory cards, has been tailored to thwart potential hackers. Recently, the perpetual slap-fight spilled onto PSN, when hackers revealed that two downloadable PSP games, MotorStorm: Arctic Edge and Everybody’s Tennis, could be used to run unsigned code on the Vita. In particular; a program loader called VHBL, which lets users run homebrew titles and emulators.

Shortly thereafter, Sony yanked the titles from PSN, ostensibly for “software stability improvement,” and quickly pushed out firmware version 1.65, which patched the security hole the two games exploited. Considering users have to update their firmware to access PSN, the two exploits have been rendered pretty much moot.

Wololo.net has confirmed that the exploits that use for the two PSP games no longer work, but the site does mention that an exploit for firmware version 1.67 has been found, using an as of yet unnamed PSP title.

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