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Microsoft's 'unhackable' Xbox One has been hacked by 'Bliss'
301–310 of 311 posts
Re: Microsoft's 'unhackable' Xbox One has been hacked by 'Bliss'
#302Earlier quoted context omitted.
People should use their smarts and common sense to qualify statements. LLMs need a page of context, explanation and disclaimers so they maybe understand the meaning and intention. > calling a safe uncrackable because nobody showed up with the right tools The tools used for the hack (like voltage glitching) were there since before the first Xbox but nobody had the skills to apply them in a way that defeated the protec…
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> What changed here is less the existence of the technique and more the instrumentation and persistence.
The instrumentation from 13 years ago is perfectly capable of pulling this off technically. I won't go into the proof that "human persistence" existed prior to 2026 aplenty.
But the discussion wasn't why the Xbox got hacked today, as much as the semantics of whether you are allowed to call something "unhackable" just because at the time of the statement nobody managed despite a lot of time and effort. I wouldn't mind the "linguistic absolutism" if it came from people who never used this kind of expression - one that is interpreted in the strictest sense no matter what. Instead this logic mostly comes from people who want to sound smart correcting without adding to the conversation or understanding the context. Think of all those parroting the "what an idiot to say 640K should be fine for everyone" meme.
> The underlying weakness was probably always there
Probably? You championed precise language. What's the alternative, that the silicon vulnerability developed in time?
Re: Microsoft's 'unhackable' Xbox One has been hacked by 'Bliss'
#303Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can run steam in big picture mode, and there are ways to add links to games from other game stores to steam such as https://github.com/PhilipK/BoilR It's not automatic or perfect but it does work.
I'm aware, but that is indeed a great thing Steam offers. I think it's janky enough that if there's one way to out-steam Steam it might be making the broader PC gaming universe as plug-and-play into a console experience as possible.
I think this is still a place that steam does well - sure there is some jank, and definitely things left to be desired, but my two cents:
I fired up my…decade old? Steam Link the other day, got steam link clients on my phone, set up a couple steam accounts for my partner and kid, and turned on Wake on LAN on my desktop.
The streaming experience is _smooth_ whether it’s my phone or the TV, it Just Works and we can all play from our own libraries anywhere in the house.
I do wish Steam would clean up some of the pain points - in particular, not being able to switch users from a Steam Link feels like a huge oversight.
I haven’t touched much for gaming in MS’s world outside of just having windows by default, so no Xbox’s around since the 360, and I also really don’t know anyone who uses one. My friends are either PC or Steam, with a handful of us also on Switch. In my world and surrounding orbits, the Xbox is all but a meme at this point
Re: Microsoft's 'unhackable' Xbox One has been hacked by 'Bliss'
#304This just again shows that given enough time skill, and resources, any security is pointless if the attacker has physical access to the device.
One of the DRM circumvention methods for the Xbox 360 involved precision drilling a specific depth into one of the chips on the board. Microsoft was very aware of the nature of physical access while designing this, haha.
Oh man, I remember the kamikaze hack. I was so chuffed when it worked; I felt like a brain surgeon for a moment.
Re: Microsoft's 'unhackable' Xbox One has been hacked by 'Bliss'
#305Created a voltage drop that exactly occurred to be timed to the key comparison, then a spike at the continuation. Irl noop and forced execution control flow to effectively return true. B e a utiful
It's fascinating - how does one defend against an attacker or red-team who controls the CPU voltage rails with enough precision to bypass any instruction one writes? It's an entirely new class of vulnerability, as far as I can tell. This talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBXKhrHi2eY indicates that others have had success doing this on Intel microcode as well - only in the past few months. Going to be some really e…
This is a cat-and-mouse that can always be won by a sufficiently advanced cat. Whatever protection circuit you design, the attacker can decap the chip, put a wire on the right node in that circuit and force it to disabled. But that's really really hard, and most cats can't do it.
It's reassuring that the owner of a device will always own it, in the end.
Re: Microsoft's 'unhackable' Xbox One has been hacked by 'Bliss'
#306[dead]
Re: Microsoft's 'unhackable' Xbox One has been hacked by 'Bliss'
#307Earlier quoted context omitted.
That doesn't factor into it, because the tariffs, bans, etc they were trying to circumvent weren't dependent on the software shipping with the device in that case, nor the separate price of the software, nor were they even necessarily primarily targeting Europe. Each of these schemes had different sets of regulatory checkboxes they were trying to tick, and so had very different end products.
Sure as you wish, I was a PlayStation fanboy back then, since Yaroze, and surely remember YA BASIC for PS2 and Other OS for PS 3, being the only ones. Yaroze and PS2 Linux never had anything to do with tariffs.
Not sure where you're coming from on that since it was a well-known and somewhat mocked at the time fact when Sony argued with UK customs
https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/news/playstation-2-is-...
Re: Microsoft's 'unhackable' Xbox One has been hacked by 'Bliss'
#308Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm aware, but that is indeed a great thing Steam offers. I think it's janky enough that if there's one way to out-steam Steam it might be making the broader PC gaming universe as plug-and-play into a console experience as possible.
I think this is still a place that steam does well - sure there is some jank, and definitely things left to be desired, but my two cents: I fired up my…decade old? Steam Link the other day, got steam link clients on my phone, set up a couple steam accounts for my partner and kid, and turned on Wake on LAN on my desktop. The streaming experience is _smooth_ whether it’s my phone or the TV, it Just Works and we can all…
Man I’ve only ever had a terrible experience with the Steam link. Idk how other people get such better results out of it
Re: Microsoft's 'unhackable' Xbox One has been hacked by 'Bliss'
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think this is still a place that steam does well - sure there is some jank, and definitely things left to be desired, but my two cents: I fired up my…decade old? Steam Link the other day, got steam link clients on my phone, set up a couple steam accounts for my partner and kid, and turned on Wake on LAN on my desktop. The streaming experience is _smooth_ whether it’s my phone or the TV, it Just Works and we can all…
Man I’ve only ever had a terrible experience with the Steam link. Idk how other people get such better results out of it
I definitely notice a difference in my desktop as the host (better everything, hardwired to the router) than my partner’s old HP, but they both do well enough.
It’s probably also important to note that the most we’re pushing it for is usually either Fallout 3 or StS2, neither of which need impeccable performance or low latency inputs.
Still, for our needs, it works great, and afaict is on par with both Nvidia and PS4/5’s remote streaming in terms of performance.
Re: Microsoft's 'unhackable' Xbox One has been hacked by 'Bliss'
#310Earlier quoted context omitted.
The other major incentive for hacking the console Microsoft removed was for the first time on a modern mainstream home console to allow side loading of homebrew code/emulators etc. The console supported a developer mode that allowed side loading of third party applications, so folks could get emulators and other traditionally "banned" content on the console through an officially supported route. There's a great prese…
"side loading", I know this term is the one used but I think should be pushed back against with just using the standard "installing"/"install". It makes the control point clearer and (should be) unsettling when you can't "install" software on hardware you own.
I tend to draw a distinction - side loading usually infers a supported but not mainstream way of installing applications - this xbox for example cannot side load without you paying a small fee to enable the developer mode, and the vast majority of software will be obtained via retail discs or the Xbox store. It's not a generic "install" mechanism native to the out of the box experience for the console - you have to do some extra work for this avenue to open.
When I think of "install" I think of general purpose OSes which can install software from almost any source no questions asked, or use the native out of the box support for software installations.
The similar distinction exists with android and iOS, and is probably why the term is popular in those communities too.
If nothing else, the term sideload makes very clear on platforms with native appstores or locked down distribution channels (consoles, phones...) that the install did not come from the native channels. Installs from game discs or the xbox store are inherently different from developer mode software and using the same term "install" for both disguises this fact.