PS3 Hacker Mathieulh on 3.60 Firmware LV0 Dump Exploit & Keys

112w ago - Today PS3 hacker Mathieulh has tweeted some new details on dumping LV0 from PlayStation 3 3.60 Firmware and obtaining the new keys, followed by Ps3WeOwnYoU claiming he has already reproduced it to confirm it works.

Below are all the tweets, as follows:

Mathieulh's Tweets:

• xShadow125 You can update from your own pup only from 3.55 or lower, unless you have an exploit.
  
• xShadow125 Of course that should be fixed in upcoming lv0 revisions anyway (By moving the ldrs to the top of lv0)
  
• xShadow125 You run the 3.60 lv0, then you switch the nor, and pull the cell reset line, and you dump the extra KBs where the loaders are.
  
• xShadow125 Basically you have a nor with 3.55 (or lower) lv0 and your own small lv1 code that does the dump, and 3.60 lv0 on the other.
  
• xShadow125 You wont get all of lv0 but the part with the loaders shouldn’t be overwritten.
  
• xShadow125 You can actually get all the 3.60 keys/loaders without knowing lv0 keys by dumping lv0 from ram with dual nor and signed lv1.
  
• To those planning on building a 3.56+ pup for whatever reason, the files attributes changed, the group and user ids for the files as well.
  
• The new 3.56+ values for tarballs are the following: owner_id, "0000764" group_id, "0000764" owner, "tetsu" group, "tetsu" ustar, "ustar"
  
• You can use fix_tar to use those new values. Use with caution.
  
• By comparison, those are the pre-3.56 values. owner_id, "0001752" group_id, "0001274" owner, "pup_tool" group, "psnes" ustar, "ustar"
  
• Ps3WeOwnYoU You need to either decrypt or dump lv0, then you can get the encrypted loaders and decrypt them with the metldr key. Good luck.
  

So, to decrypt this LV0 thing, we need to get to know it better. In the latest blog post by rms, he has explained briefly what LV0 is in the console’s security.

Anyway, let’s really discuss something PS3 instead of my PC xD, let’s start with Lv0, the most unknown level of the PS3. Lv0 initializes PS3 base hardware such as PowerPC/PPU portion of Cell/BE, SPU isolation for asecure_loader, and gelic ethernet/WLAN device. Lv0 also proudly proclaims itself as the "Cell OS Bootloader".

In older firmwares, 0.80-ish to 3.56, Lv0 initialized SPU isolation on one of the SPUs, then it loaded and decrypted asecure_loader. Asecure_loader or metldr then decrypts the isolated loader, in this case, lv1ldr, then lv1ldr decrypts lv1.self. In 3.60 this changed. Lv0 now has all of the loaders integrated into it as one large fat binary.

All the keys one needs such as Public ECDSA key/AES CBC key and Initialization Vector and ECDSA curve type are in there. Just go ahead and grab them if you can get the ldrs out of the binary.

So, unless you can decrypt Lv0, no 3.60 "CFW" for you . Is there any need for it anyway?

Mathieulh also has some facts to clarify about LV0.

1. lv0 isn’t a loader it’s a ppu binary
2. Lv0 isn’t encrypted per console and can be updated with the rest of the coreos
3. Lv0 is decrypted by the bootloader, there is no such thing as a lv0ldr.
4. The bootloader keys cannot be updated/modified on EXISTING hardware
5. lv0.2 is NOT a binary, it’s a new metadata for lv0 which is to be decrypted and verified by a new bootloader (which is to be available on future ps3s), it is NOT used by the current bootloader (and thus in current playstation 3 consoles)

But wait, messing with this thing could lead to the YLOD tragedy, unless you have those expensive NOR flasher you might want to proceed, and that’s according to rms again.

Lv0 also does some more interesting stuff such as SPU mailbox handling, and eEID integrity checks. Lv0 also used to check for QA flag and proper token, that is now in a spu isolated self in Core OS. Now, if you did tamper with eEID, lv0 will panic out, and your console will then "YLOD", and you’d need a flasher for your PS3 to recover.

Finally, from rms on lv0: Lv0 initializes PS3 base hardware such as PowerPC/PPU portion of Cell/BE, SPU isolation for asecure_loader, and gelic ethernet/WLAN device. Lv0 also proudly proclaims itself as the "Cell OS Bootloader". In older firmwares, 0.80-ish to 3.56, Lv0 initialized SPU isolation on one of the SPUs, then it loaded and decrypted asecure_loader.

Asecure_loader or metldr then decrypts the isolated loader, in this case, lv1ldr, then lv1ldr decrypts lv1.self. In 3.60 this changed. Lv0 now has all of the loaders integrated into it as one large fat binary. All the keys one needs such as Public ECDSA key/AES CBC key and Initialization Vector and ECDSA curve type are in there. Just go ahead and grab them if you can get the ldrs out of the binary.

So, unless you can decrypt Lv0, no 3.60 "CFW" for you. Is there any need for it anyway?

Lv0 also does some more interesting stuff such as SPU mailbox handling, and eEID integrity checks. Lv0 also used to check for QA flag and proper token, that is now in a spu isolated self in Core OS. Now, if you did tamper with eEID, lv0 will panic out, and your console will then "YLOD", and you’d need a flasher for your PS3 to recover.