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'Hello World' - First Homebrew Xbox360 Code Running via Hypervisor Exploit

xbox-scene.com — Crawler360 released what looks like the first 'homebrew' program that you can run on a retail Xbox360 using the Xbox360 Hypervisor Vulnerability released Tuesday. The program itself will just display a "Hello, world!" message, so you can see it as a proof-of-concept of the Hypervisor Vulnerability using the King Kong shader 'hack'.

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  • joeykilluv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21Great news! first of many many steps to get XBMC and other great xbox homebrew apps finally on the 360!
    • Terc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Close, but rtfa, this requires an old version of the firmware. You can't downgrade to this old version because an efuse in the actual processor was blown intentionally during the update to fix this vulnerability. In other words, no dice, unless you've got an old Xbox360 laying around that has never been updated.
    • verifex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This will not the beginning of major homebrew development unless some hackers can find an exploit that gets around the eFuse thing that MS made. That essentially makes it impossible to revert a Bios change by the Xbox360 update. What really sucks about this whole method of development currently is that it will probably involve a hardware mod to finalize it.

      What we really need to find is some serious software exploit so that we can get the incredible and highly sought-after soft mod for the Xbox360, similar to the soft mod for the first X-Box. That way those of us not comfortable with soldering and possibly bricking our Xbox360 can still have all the great home brew stuff.
    • joeykilluv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I don't blame you for not knowing that I actually do know what I'm talking about, but even though the CPU has the blown efuse upon downgrading, this is still "the first of many many steps" like I originally stated. Now we just need Bunnie/specialist/garyopa/etc. to somehow find out if we can pull the resistor and downgrade without worrying about the blown efuse, to allow all kernels to downgrade to use the shader hack. I bet you guys were saying the same stuff when bunnie cracked the xbox's security.
    • FamilyGuy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1In response to Verifex, it may seem crappy about the Xbox360, but aside from soft modding, if you really want homebrew that bad, in the end you will more than likely be willing to attempt a hard mod. An example: I'm extremely poor, and before the soft mod for the original came along, I FINALLY after months of worrying just gave in and got a thirty or forty dollar chip and did it. I had ZERO experience, but I really wanted it. The 360 is by no means old, so once again, regardless of the eFuse, there's still plenty of time for homebrew. It's not dead yet. Have faith!
  • skEwb35, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20x264 playback here we come.
    • jrob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3agreed,, going to be one of the major perks of xbmc360
    • Terc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23 cores, 512mb RAM, can't wait for AVCs (specifically x264) and multitasking.
  • pooper, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Hasn't this been patched already?
  • gillilandboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Is there a video of this?
  • James2008, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5xbmc360 FTW!
  • xpose, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4How significant this is remains to be seen, but encouraging nonetheless.
  • ryanownsu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4heres a link to the video of the anon guy a few months back, using king kong, surprising us all

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AGAohJuovY
    • Zaetha, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Yeah, I was hoping he could tip us earlier about it before we all updated to 4552. As I see it:

      1) The vulnerability was found by some group or party.
      2) They or another party who discovered it sooner or later shared it with Microsoft.
      3) Microsoft released 4552 kernel including a patch and they blow an eFuse to sign the CPU to make impossible to downgrade the kernel, learning about Sony's mistake with the PSP and 1.5 firmware. So when a vulnerability is found from now on, Microsoft will patch it along with another eFuse blow.

      Now at least we know how they will react when another vulnerability is found.
  • JonForTheWin, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7I wish all customers would refuse to buy restrictive hardware. It's not going to happen, but, it'd be great. We shouldn't have to hack ***** to get GNU/Linux running on it.

    >"but microsoft doesn't want that"
    . . . and?(!); isn't that MY couple hundred dollars being spent if I were to buy an xbox?
    • knupso, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8I'm all for the hack, but JonForTheWin you are off base.
      You can already buy pretty much the same HW in a 360 unlocked. MS is selling at a loss, so they want to protect their investment some how.
      Locking the hardware is the best way for them.
      If you want unlocked hardware got build a PC.

    • Scrib, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5knupso: You can't play 360 games on a PC, once they release a way off doing that then I'll start making a choice between which system to use.

      Until then, hack the xbox!
    • knupso, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I'm all for the hack.
      I was just arguing that of course MS is going to lock the hardware.
      You would expect that from anyone selling hardware at a loss.
      If they didn't we would be paying a lot more for games consoles and cell phones.
      That doesn't mean it shouldn't be hacked.
  • AaronCompNetSys, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Digging though the articles sources, its noted that the "eFuses" that prevent this from being exploitable on Microsoft patched 360 are software enabled. That means that ordinary virus-like software (like an exploited network enabled game) can trigger them and prevent the Xbox from booting - for legitimate and illegitimate reasons! [Quote] "It gives new meaning to fragging your opponent."
  • mrbenns, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3the day they can use XBMC on a 360 is the day i finally crumble and hand over my hard-earned cash, it is the sole reason I still own (and use every day) my trusty modded Xbox
  • RyanPT, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Uhm... XNA, anyone? Or am I missing something here?
    • Helliano, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2XNA isnt really the same thing. XNA is for coders not for customers... Well i mean it cost likes 100 bucks a year and you program different softwares in it, with pretty large limitations. With this everything we do is free and unlimited.
    • Supraman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Regardless if it costs money or not. The big difference between XNA and the exploit is XNA is run in a "sandbox" environment. Exploit you have full control over the 360.
    • RyanPT, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ah right, gotcha. I can definitely see the advantage.
  • Textbook, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Remember that only kernels 4532 and 4548 are vulnerable to the hypervisor exploit. If you have not upgraded to 4552 yet, don't!

    If you want to upgrade to play on Live, but still want the opportunity to downgrade your kernel, remove resistor R6T3 on the underside of the Xbox 360 motherboard near the CPU. 360 will still work fine and you will be able to upgrade, but eFuses can no longer be blown. Removing resistor R6T3 can prevent blowing eFuses, but it can't reverse the process and bring them back.

    If you have an older kernel, and need to upgrade to 4532, get that here:

    http://www.360mods.net/Downloads/details/id=76.html

    If you have already upgraded to kernel 4552, then your system has been patched to fix the hypervisor exploit and you won't be able to run unsigned code (yet). This update also blows an eFuse, making downgrading your kernel impossible. If you think that another exploit may be found in the 4552 kernel, then remove R6T3 to prevent future eFuse blows and don't accept any future updates.
  • anpalpeter, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0nice story....liked it
  • oxytotem, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Way to go :)
    Next step is dumping the xbox 360 kernel, and make a new one capable of running unsigned code, like the original xbox.
    if i'm not wrong, xbox 360 flash can be re flashed.
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