The exploit has some major restrictions, but it could kick-start the console jailbreak scene.
Almost two years later Play station 5 has been up for sale, modders have apparently found a way to jailbreak the console, albeit with some significant limitations. As IGN notes, a modder known as SpecterDev has revealed the apparent jailbreak, which is described as an experimental exploit of the IPV6 kernel that takes advantage of a WebKit vulnerability.
Jailbreak appears to only work on PS5 systems with firmware version 4.03 or earlier. If you’ve updated your PS5 since last October, you probably won’t be able to experience the exploit. Even so, it appears that trying to jailbreak only works a third of the time.
As for what you can actually do with a modified PS5 right now, you’ll have access to the system’s troubleshooting menu. You may be able to install games from outside the PlayStation Store, but third-party software cannot be run.
What can you do
Modder Lance McDonald tried the jailbreak and managed to install the PS4 PT demo, Hideo Kojima’s famous teaser for the canceled Silent Hills. PS4 units with PT installed often appear on eBay. However, McDonald was unable to start playing. Although the exploit provides read / write access to the PS5, it is not currently possible to run third-party files. PT is not compatible with PS5.
As things stand, it doesn’t seem likely that this jailbreak will be widely used anytime soon, due to its limitations and the fact that Sony may ban modder accounts. Furthermore, there is a risk of freezing the console at a time when it is still not very easy to buy one.
However, this could provide other hackers and modders with a foundation on which to build more robust jailbreak tools.
