this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2026
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[โ€“] ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Well, that's pretty exciting. My PS5 is already on the latest firmware though lol

[โ€“] Kolanaki@pawb.social 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Can we not, like... Factory reset these things to roll back to whatever was installed when it was purchased? ๐Ÿค”

[โ€“] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 8 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Most consoles, if not all, have electronic fuses that are embedded inside chips that they intentionally blow out with each firmware update that prevent them from rolling back to older versions.

[โ€“] Rubanski@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 16 hours ago (1 children)
[โ€“] flubba86@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, it's a common practice that's been done right back to PS2 and Xbox360 days.

[โ€“] Agent641@lemmy.world 4 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

Because it's still their console, even though you paid for it. They are just graciously letting you use it as long as you stay profitable to them.

[โ€“] semperverus@lemmy.world 34 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Thats called a downgrade attack and is explicitly blocked by most modern security models that are not a PC.

[โ€“] FatVegan@leminal.space 11 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[โ€“] semperverus@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Is it?

As a malicious actor or red-team player, I would want to get you on as old of an OS as I could in order to exploit a wider range of CVEs. Or in most cases, one would be hunting for a specific set of CVEs. Once I've got you on the version I want, I can then perform other attacks and ensure that they run.

The iPhone, many Android phones, some network equipment, and game consoles all have eFuses that burn when you perform an update, and the specific number or pattern they burn in is used to determine the lowest OS version your device is allowed to be on in order to stop this from happening.

[โ€“] neclimdul@lemmy.world 11 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

I mean, my phone has all sorts of private and confidential information and is regularly in hostile environments where attackers might get physical access to it. Kinda want the best, most hardened security posture.

My Playstation sits in my living room and has my gaming history and access to my games...

[โ€“] Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

It could also have your credit card info if you've set it up for the store. Which I imagine most people do, since many games don't even get physical copies made anymore.

[โ€“] neclimdul@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Ive worked with ecommerce enough to not store my card anywhere. Also pretty sure they'd store it in the cloud so could max it out in the store and I could claim the fraud.

But if your in my living room thinking, I'm going to sit down and hack his Playstation to get his credit card... Don't know man, seems there's better plans.

[โ€“] ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 0 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

Ive worked with ecommerce enough to not store my card anywhere.

Not storing it is not necessarily enough to protect you either, though. If their servers get compromised, it's very easy for them to send that data elsewhere instead of/in addition to working normally.

[โ€“] FippleStone@aussie.zone 2 points 22 hours ago

It is indeed, such is the state of the industry