PS5 jailbreak vs GTA 6: will hacked consoles be locked out?

GTA 6 comes out on November 19, and a race is underway between Sony and the people hacking the PlayStation 5. Sony is trying to close security holes as fast as it can, while hackers keep opening new ones. A jailbroken PS5 can now run things nobody expected, like Steam games and even a Nintendo game. Here is the whole story, in order.

First, a quick primer. A jailbreak lets a PS5 run software Sony hasn't approved. Firmware is the console's operating system, and every update can close the holes a hack relies on.

The Relapse jailbreak opened up PS5 firmware 7.00 to 13.60

At the end of September, a jailbreak exploit called Relapse was released to the public. It worked on firmware versions from 7.00 all the way up to 13.60, on both the PS5 and the PS5 Pro. That covers nearly every console that hasn't been updated in a while.

That's when things started to get wild. PS2 and PS3 discs began running on hacked consoles. Switch emulators showed up. Linux was working again on the PS5.

Sony's 14.10 update and the PlayStation Network sign-in problem

Then Sony started pushing back hard. On October 1, Sony released firmware 14.10 with security fixes. Two weeks later, several outlets reported that consoles on older firmware could no longer sign in to the PlayStation Network without updating to 14.10.

Sony hasn't put out an official statement about that, but the message is clear. If you want to play online, you have to update, and updating wipes out the jailbreak.

Ban fears and the reported GTA 6 firmware requirement

Next came the fear of bans. Short clips claiming that every PS5 would be banned racked up millions of views. What I actually found was one documented case, from a Turkish community post, of a jailbroken console whose accounts were banned. I haven't seen evidence of a mass ban wave yet.

With GTA 6 getting close, though, a data miner reported that the PS5 version of the game requires firmware 14.10 or newer. Neither Rockstar nor Sony has confirmed that. But if it's true, anyone sitting on 13.60 has to choose: keep the jailbreak, or update and play GTA 6 on launch day.

That's the question being asked in every Discord server: homebrew or GTA 6.

kiiwii shows a 14.10 jailbreak, and Sony answers with 14.20

Now for the hackers' side. On October 19, kiiwii posted just two words, "Hello 14.10", along with a clip showing that firmware being jailbroken. That post pulled in more than 3 million views. It's private work, and kiiwii hasn't released it to the public yet.

Then on October 21, Sony released firmware 14.20. The official notes only mention improved messaging and better usability on some screens. Those are very dull notes for an update that is said to have closed several holes at once.

Theko's Prolaps kernel exploit and the hypervisor problem

A few days later, a developer known as Theko announced a kernel exploit called Prolaps. It targets firmware 14.00 and 14.10. Since the kernel is the core of the system, that's a very big deal.

Once again, though, there's a catch. Theko says 14.20 has already closed the hole Prolaps uses, and there's no public code for it yet.

Even a kernel exploit isn't the whole picture. To run game backups, you also need to get past the hypervisor, the security layer that sits above the kernel. I think the current hypervisor bypass stops working after 13.60. So for GTA 6 on a jailbroken console, the missing piece is still a hypervisor exploit for newer firmware.

TheFlOw, Jordi and the $50,000 HackerOne bounty

That brings us to the drama. Last September, TheFlOw, one of the most respected PS5 hackers, pulled out of the Linux on PS5 project. TheFlOw said a hypervisor exploit that was supposed to stay secret until after GTA 6 launched had been reported to Sony.

In October, a researcher named Jordi posted a $50,000 bounty on HackerOne, which is Sony's official bug bounty program. It concerned the PS5 hypervisor, and Jordi said he found it with the help of AI.

I can completely understand where TheFlOw is coming from. That one hurts. Many people in the community were angry, because they see it as the exploit that could have kept jailbroken consoles usable after GTA 6 arrives. To be fair, one outlet pointed out that it hasn't been proven this particular bounty is the same exploit TheFlOw was holding.

Steam games run on a jailbroken PS5 through Playden

Now the fun part: what can a jailbroken PS5 do today? First, Steam. A project called Playden runs Windows Steam games directly on a jailbroken PS5, with no Linux and no remote play. It uses a tool called Wine plus a graphics translator, software that translates Windows games so they run on other systems.

There's a list of 143 games that fully work, including Cyberpunk 2077, Resident Evil 4 and Silksong. Games with kernel level anti cheat don't work. One reviewer also noted that it saves Steam login details without encryption, so keep that in mind.

Second, someone has published another project that boots a jailbroken PS5 straight into a Steam style gaming mode at 1440p and 120 frames per second. In effect, the PS5 has been turned into a Steam machine.

Linux returns, and a Switch 2 Pokémon game appears on PS5

Third, Linux is back. A Linux loader for the PS5 has been released to the public for firmware 13.60 and below, with ready to use images.

Fourth, and my favorite: a clip spread showing a new Pokémon game running on a hacked PS5. That's a game made for the Switch 2 running on a PlayStation 5. I couldn't confirm how it was done. My best guess is that it's the PS5 build of the Eden emulator, combined with a new Switch 2 test build of Eden that just appeared. That's still only a guess, so treat the clip as a claim for now.

There's also an update to the PS2 emulator, and the team behind it is now working on PS3.

GTA 6 or homebrew: what 13.60 owners are giving up

So where does that leave us? Sony has 14.10 for online play, 14.20 to plug the newest holes, and GTA 6 reportedly requires 14.10. The hackers have tools up to 13.60, private work on 14.10, and a lot of software that makes a modded PS5 feel like a different machine.

What's missing is a hypervisor exploit for newer firmware. Without one, GTA 6 and hacking can't coexist. I'm not going to tell you what to do with your console, but if you're on 13.60, you now know exactly what you're giving up.