I finally found the time to complete the PS3 exploit toolkit software I mentioned to in my previous posts. I call it XorHack. It allows you to call lv1 syscalls (level 1 system calls) from a normal (userspace) program. It also lets you run the software required when triggering the PS3 exploit from a normal userspace program. To give an example of how it can be used I have included the following example programs:

ps3exploit – Runs the software required to exploit the ps3, it loops a number of times which can be specified as a parameter. (This still must be used along with the “button pressing”, it will not exploit the PS3 via software alone).
dumphv – Dumps the hypervisor to a file in the current directory.
dumpbl – Dumps the bootloader to a file in the current directory.
dumprom – Dumps the system rom to a file in the current directory.

The XorHack package contains full sourcecode for everything including a rewrite of geohot’s exploit sourcecode to make it easier to read and understand (the new file is kmod/exploit.c). The rewrite doesn’t just fix the compilation warnings, it attempts to replace all “magic” values with the algorithms and reasoning as well as tidying up the code and commenting it all. I also added another syscall #21 to allow executing of code in hypvervisor context. Due to the associated complexities it is not available from usermode, it is for advanced users to make use of in kernel space. Some small changes were also made to the timing and the text that gets printed onscreen to make the exploit easier and hopefully more stable to use. I recommend XorHack when both looking into how the exploit works and when actually triggering the exploit.

XorHack is made up of three parts. The kernel module, the userspace library file, and lastly the userspace programs themselves. To build all three parts you need to first extract the contents of the XorHack zip file to a directory on your PS3 harddrive. Next you need to navigate on the command line to the directory you extracted the files to. You should be either logged in as root or running as root thanks to the “su” command. Now type “make” to build all parts of XorHack. Then once that completes type “make install” to install all parts of XorHack. If you wish to you can type “make uninstall” in this same directory to remove all of XorHack from your system. When you install XorHack on your system it will always be ready for use, even after rebooting it will be automatically reloaded and ready for use.

To use XorHack to perform the exploit on your PS3 first install it as per the directions above. You then need to switch to a console only mode (no GUI). This is required because it is the only way you can see the printed messages from the kernel module to know when to press the button. Once exploited all other programs can be run normally from a terminal window in GUI mode. To switch to console mode press Ctrl+Alt+F1 on your keyboard. To switch back to the GUI mode press Ctrl+Alt+F7. When you enter console mode you will be greeted with a login screen. Now login with your normal user account and password and type “ps3exploit 100″. This will start the exploit looping 100 times in which you need to successfully glitch the console by pressing the button on your glitch hardware. The idea is the perform the glitch when nothing else is occuring on your PS3. Therefore some things you may want to try when exploiting to help your chances are:

Only press the button once per loop.
Try to press the button around the middle of the pause between two concurrent prints of the “press button” message.
Don’t start pressing the button till after the 10th “press button” message (by this time the system should done loading and preparing the newly running code, so less likely to interfere with processes that occur during these stages)
Run the ps3exploit software after initially booting up the PS3 and switching to the console login without first logging into the GUI mode.
After booting the PS3 and switching to the console mode straight away, log in and then wait about a minute before running ps3exploit so that any processes that may occur upon login/startup have completed.
Don’t use any services that will cause more processes to be running until the exploit is completed. This includes things like accessing your PS3 over samba.
Once you have successfully exploited, stay in console mode as there is less chance of instabilities causing havoc and crashing your PS3.
The PS3 Exploit Game!

Once you can run the exploit it’s time to turn it into a game. Think of it as a cross between getting the turbo boost at the start of a Mario Kart race and Dance Dance Revolution with a finger pad. The aim of the game is to exploit your PS3 as quickly as possible without it crashing.

Well, like most small groups of gamers who try to put together a large project in their "spare time", we've hit a lot of snags. One of which is getting the website updated so I can post news articles, hehe. Most of the snags in the last while have been administrative, but, we're moving forward. Art and assets are 100%, there's still some more code to write though. We have our Nintendo developer status and are licensed to work on the system. We'll be opening our new office soon and that will allow work to move forward again, hopefully there's not too much left to go.