The original PlayStation 2 security chip has been reverse engineered
A long‑hidden PS2 security component has finally been decoded, revealing surprising design choices and opening the door to fresh hardware insights.
A long‑hidden PS2 security component has finally been decoded, revealing surprising design choices and opening the door to fresh hardware insights.
The short version
- More than 25 years after the fat PlayStation 2 launched , a dev known as DiscoStarslayer has managed to pull firmware out of the stubborn SPC970 MechaCon chip responsible for authorizing discs and handling most of the console's security.
- In a Bluesky post , the dev credited Libby, the collaborator who found an exploit that made the extraction possible.
- According to the dump tool's docs , that exploit told the chip that an incoming batch of settings data would be empty, and sent more data than it had room for.
What happened
Before this, in an effort covering some four years, there had been struggles with a slower method of stripping the chip's packaging and reading its contents, which produced only rough dumps. Everything has been pushed to GitHub alongside 22 firmware images covering fat PS2s from the Japan-only SCPH-15000 of 2000 to the 39000-series models of 2002.
Why it matters
They also cover the Namco System 246 and 256 arcade boards that used the same chip.
Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Engadget via the links above and below.