135K views · Dec 30, 2017 · 56:50 · 0 HN recommenders · 4 mentions · discussed 2018–2023
A 34C3 talk on the security architecture of the Nintendo Switch and the early progress breaking it. It introduces the Switch's custom OS and software stack, with the hackers' reverse-engineering and glitching work.
Why Hacker News points people here: Used as a reference for how the Switch was actually broken, including the Tegra debug backdoor, and for facts about its non-FreeBSD kernel.
“The hacks that got access to the system recently started with a Tegra backdoor/debug option Nvidia and Nintendo apparently forgot about.”HN comment, 2018
“The hacks that got access to the system recently started with a Tegra backdoor/debug option Nvidia and Nintendo apparently forgot about.”
Explains how the Switch's security was broken, including the Tegra debug backdoor.
It's an almost stock Tegra X1 reference system. The hacks that got access to the system recently started with a Tegra backdoor/debug option Nvidia and Nintendo apparently forgot about. this video
“sounds rather standard when compared to the 3DS and switch glitching”
Covers glitching attacks used to break Switch boot security.
If you’ve gone to a pop culture convention in the past few years you will also see reproduction cartridges (repro carts). The first one I saw was a legend of zelda ocarina of time master quest N64 cart, but there are new NES and SNES games that are being written from scratch and sold on repro carts. This wasn’t possible for N64 titles until relatively recently[1]. Interestingly, the method of cracking N64’s boot security sounds rather standard when compared to the 3DS and switch glitching[2][3]. 1. link 2. link 3. this video
“Technical blogposts are a pretty common practice among reverse-engineers, too”
Reverse-engineering writeup of the Switch boot process.
My personal favorite is the This Week In[0] series of posts, if you want a simple way to keep track of notable changes. Technical blogposts are a pretty common practice among reverse-engineers, too; the Dolphin emulator has some great breakdowns[1], along with the people who reverse-engineered the Nintendo Switch's boot process[2] (and the rest of LiveOverflow's stuff). The Asahi writeups are great, but certainly not all there is. Tons of reverse-engineering stuff and Linux documentation gets submit to this website, it just doesn't generally do as well in the ranking system. [0] link [0] link [1] link [2] this video
“The switch kernel / Horizon/NX is not based on FreeBSD.”
Shows the Switch kernel is not FreeBSD-based.
The switch kernel / Horizon/NX is not based on FreeBSD. This has been debunked over and over. The wikipedia list is not correct in that regard. It is see e.g. this video link link
