Rebug Firmware Could be Cause of PSN Outage

Burn1n9m4n

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Edited By Burn1n9m4n

Before I get ahead of myself let me state upfront that this story is considered to be a rumor at present as Sony has neither confirmed nor denied these claims. It seems that a moderator over at PSX-Scene going by the name chesh is now claiming on Reddit.com that a custom (read: hacked) firmware called Rebug maybe what's responsible for PSN's 6 day outage. Apparently the firmware allows people to add money from dummy accounts into their PSN wallets and use the funds to steal store content. Joystiq is reporting that the process is "alarmingly easy" as well. Sony has not issued any comments yet. For simplicity I am also posting chesh's Reddit post here:

Ok, I've seen a bunch of speculation of why people think PSN is down, and I thought I should just post what the community knows in comparison to what Sony is telling everyone. The truth is, there was a new CFW (custom firmware) released known as Rebug (http://rebug.me). It essentially turns a retail console into a dev console (not fully, but gives you a lot of the same options that usually dev's only have access to). Anyway, this new CFW was quickly figured out to give CFW users access to the PSN network again via the dev networks. With a little manipulation of the URL's through a proxy server you could get your hacked console back online. Not that big of a deal, right? Well, it also turns out that some people over at NGU found out that you could provide fake CC# info and the authenticity of the information was never checked as you were on Sony's private developer PSN network (essentially a network that Sony trusted). What happened next was extreme piracy of PSN content. Sony realizing the issue here shut down the network. Now, before you go freaking out about the latest information posted about Kotaku, no ones personal information was accessible via this hack. Not to say they couldn't get it, but no one is admitting to it being available. Anyway, that's the real reason for the PSN downtime. Sony is now rebuilding all of it's PSN servers to be more secure and (hopefully) make sure the CFW users cannot get online anymore.

Edit #1: To those of you saying that this is speculation, you are correct. But, it is speculation based on a lot of facts and the outcome seems to make the most sense.

1. Rebug was released on 3/31/11.
2. First guides of how to use the dev network to get back on COD games on 4/3/11.

3. Word of "shady" sites finding a way to pirate PSN content via the dev networks on 4/7/11 (basing this on posts I had to delete on the website).

4. PSN goes down on 4/20/11

Now, you can believe Sony's PR team which has kept you completely in the dark, or you can see the list of events above and come to your own conclusion. Now, this isn't the first time Sony has fought back against the PS3 modders from getting on PSN. A couple of months ago we had a utility called f*ckPSN that changed the necessary header information that was being sent to Sony to allow modified consoles back online. We were able to use it for about a month. Then came the new TOS, the mass e-mail to PS3 customers, and software update 3.56 and 3.60. So, once again, yes this is all speculation, but it is speculation based on previous actions and known facts.

Edit #2: Mathieulh just mentioned that he has been in contact with someone that has official access to the SCE devnet servers and it was posted to them today that only 3.60+ debug firmwares will be allowed on the dev network anymore. All earlier versions will be cut. If you want to retain your access you need to contact Sony and upgrade to 3.60 debug firmware. (Source: Reddit)

chesh is quick to mention that personal information is not affected, but that the firmware just spoofs the servers into thinking money is present when in reality it isn't.

13 years ago

Burn1n9m4n

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#1 Edited By Burn1n9m4n

Before I get ahead of myself let me state upfront that this story is considered to be a rumor at present as Sony has neither confirmed nor denied these claims. It seems that a moderator over at PSX-Scene going by the name chesh is now claiming on Reddit.com that a custom (read: hacked) firmware called Rebug maybe what's responsible for PSN's 6 day outage. Apparently the firmware allows people to add money from dummy accounts into their PSN wallets and use the funds to steal store content. Joystiq is reporting that the process is "alarmingly easy" as well. Sony has not issued any comments yet. For simplicity I am also posting chesh's Reddit post here:

Ok, I've seen a bunch of speculation of why people think PSN is down, and I thought I should just post what the community knows in comparison to what Sony is telling everyone. The truth is, there was a new CFW (custom firmware) released known as Rebug (http://rebug.me). It essentially turns a retail console into a dev console (not fully, but gives you a lot of the same options that usually dev's only have access to). Anyway, this new CFW was quickly figured out to give CFW users access to the PSN network again via the dev networks. With a little manipulation of the URL's through a proxy server you could get your hacked console back online. Not that big of a deal, right? Well, it also turns out that some people over at NGU found out that you could provide fake CC# info and the authenticity of the information was never checked as you were on Sony's private developer PSN network (essentially a network that Sony trusted). What happened next was extreme piracy of PSN content. Sony realizing the issue here shut down the network. Now, before you go freaking out about the latest information posted about Kotaku, no ones personal information was accessible via this hack. Not to say they couldn't get it, but no one is admitting to it being available. Anyway, that's the real reason for the PSN downtime. Sony is now rebuilding all of it's PSN servers to be more secure and (hopefully) make sure the CFW users cannot get online anymore.

Edit #1: To those of you saying that this is speculation, you are correct. But, it is speculation based on a lot of facts and the outcome seems to make the most sense.

1. Rebug was released on 3/31/11.
2. First guides of how to use the dev network to get back on COD games on 4/3/11.

3. Word of "shady" sites finding a way to pirate PSN content via the dev networks on 4/7/11 (basing this on posts I had to delete on the website).

4. PSN goes down on 4/20/11

Now, you can believe Sony's PR team which has kept you completely in the dark, or you can see the list of events above and come to your own conclusion. Now, this isn't the first time Sony has fought back against the PS3 modders from getting on PSN. A couple of months ago we had a utility called f*ckPSN that changed the necessary header information that was being sent to Sony to allow modified consoles back online. We were able to use it for about a month. Then came the new TOS, the mass e-mail to PS3 customers, and software update 3.56 and 3.60. So, once again, yes this is all speculation, but it is speculation based on previous actions and known facts.

Edit #2: Mathieulh just mentioned that he has been in contact with someone that has official access to the SCE devnet servers and it was posted to them today that only 3.60+ debug firmwares will be allowed on the dev network anymore. All earlier versions will be cut. If you want to retain your access you need to contact Sony and upgrade to 3.60 debug firmware. (Source: Reddit)

chesh is quick to mention that personal information is not affected, but that the firmware just spoofs the servers into thinking money is present when in reality it isn't.

13 years ago

KaosAngel

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#2 Edited By KaosAngel

Calm down. Everything will be fine.

You didn't play online for a week, a lot worse could happen.

For example, you could be living in Libya at the moment.

13 years ago

Burn1n9m4n

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#3 Edited By Burn1n9m4n

@KaosAngel: I just use my blog to post what I find interesting. Saw this and thought it would be worth mentioning. And you're right it could be worse, as I could be in Libya or Syria or Egypt or Sudan right now.

13 years ago

canucks23

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#4 Edited By canucks23

@KaosAngel said:

" Calm down. Everything will be fine.

You didn't play online for a week, a lot worse could happen.

For example, you could be living in Libya at the moment.
"

Who are you telling to calm down?
Anyways i can imagine if this is true stuff that sony'd want to get on top of that. Seems like a shitty situation.

13 years ago

mikey87144

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#5 Edited By mikey87144

If this is true then I'm not complaining anymore. I would do the same thing if I found out this was happening.

13 years ago

Enigma777

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#6 Edited By Enigma777

Interesting read

13 years ago

Skullo

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#7 Edited By Skullo

@Enigma777 said:

" Interesting read "

Yes, a very fascinating read. The story maybe speculation. But it's reasoning is sound. So this maybe the reason, I don't know. My sister was bitching about getting on XBLA to play mutliplayer games and I was like "Who gives a shit"

First poster is correct! It could be alot worse! Like hella horrible.

13 years ago

SSully

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#8 Edited By SSully

Hmm I hope they confirm or deny this, because if true that is very very interesting. I can't believe how much has transpired since the PS3 has been hacked.

13 years ago

ch13696

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#9 Edited By ch13696

That's what Sony gets for trusting devs.

13 years ago

Skullo

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#10 Edited By Skullo

@ch13696 said:

" That's what Sony gets for trusting devs. "

:I!

Either you're trolling or you are being very dumb.

It's this guy's fault for making this shit happen. Devs have nothing to do this. Sony's fault is that they have no indepedent verification for Sony servers.

13 years ago

NakAttack

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#11 Edited By NakAttack

@KaosAngel said:

" Calm down. Everything will be fine.

You didn't play online for a week, a lot worse could happen.

For example, you could be living in Libya at the moment.
"

topical

13 years ago

finstern

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#12 Edited By finstern

Doesn't PS3 CFW currently spoof the latest firmware so games don't bitch about not being up to date? What's to stop the FW from spoofing the latest Dev FW?

Either way, I think saying "we have no clue what is going on" instead of saying "A hacked firmware is causing a lot of problems, we are taking PSN down until we can fix it" Makes Sony seem incompetent. Sure 80% of people will say "wut" but the other 20 will explain it to them.

13 years ago

Portis

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#13 Edited By Portis

@KaosAngel said:

" Calm down. Everything will be fine.
"

The original poster seemed perfectly calm to me. o_o

13 years ago

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