The group of hackers known as ‘fail0verflow’ has discovered a vulnerability in the gaming console Nintendo Switch that could be exploited to install a Linux distro.
The hackers announced their discovery in a post on Twitter, the published an image of a console running the Debian Linux distro after the hack.
🐧🐧🐧🐧 #switch pic.twitter.com/4iTjTk9D59
— fail0verflow (@fail0verflow) February 6, 2018
The fail0verflow group revealed that the exploit triggers a flaw in the boot ROM process of the Nvidia Tegra X1 chip that powers the console, if confirmed the issue cannot be solved with a software o firmware update.
When asked if they have built the hack on nvtboot the group No closed-source boot chain components were involved.
Discovery of a flaw in the Boot ROM opens the door to the hack of the console for other purposes, for example to the piracy.
In a next future, hackers could find a way to install homebrew apps and pirated games on the Nintendo Switch.
On the other side, Nintendo could work with Nvidia on new secure Tegra X1 chips, as a temporary solution it could ban users with hacked consoles to ban these users from online play.
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(Security Affairs – Nintendo Switch, hacking)
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