Recently, a group of hackers took another step towards unlocking the Nintendo Switch: they managed to run a Linux distro on the console by exploiting a vulnerability in the video game processor and simply released a video of Nintendo Switch running a Linux distro. And the most interesting thing about this hack is that the breach cannot be corrected by Nintendo so easily.
VIDEO: Hackers Managed To Run A Linux Distro On The Nintendo Switch
This month we saw that a group of hackers were able to run a Linux distribution on the Nintendo Switch. This time, fail0verflow members released a video of the console running a graphical user interface of the Linux system.
🐧🐧🐧🐧 #switch pic.twitter.com/4iTjTk9D59
— fail0verflow (@fail0verflow) February 6, 2019
To demonstrate the hardware capabilities of the Switch, fail0verflow tested the KDE Plasma desktop environment running on the console.
As you can see from the video below, everything seems to work fine. You can tap the screen to activate it; control the brightness, and perform multi-touch gestures such as tweezers to magnify interface elements.
An OpenGL demo runs at 60 frames per second. Wi-Fi is working, but hackers do not mention audio or Bluetooth.
Code execution is all the rage these days, but can your Switch do *this*? 😉 #switchnix pic.twitter.com/NMnBq61tOM
— fail0verflow (@fail0verflow) February 17, 2019
Fail0verflow has previously explained that there is a security hole in the Nvidia Tegra X1 boot ROM. You can explore it to run software not originally developed for the Switch.
Nintendo has no way to correct this vulnerability because the boot ROM is stored in the Nvidia processor and it can not be changed. So, the only way to fix it would be to fabricate new Tegra X1 chips, which means that only new revisions of the Nintendo Switch would be affected. However, the hacker group has not yet released instructions on how to install Linux on the console.
Moreover, let me clarify that still this severe exploit is not yet been made public by the hackers and the details to exploit the flaw have not been disclosed. If they leak or release the flaw publicly then obviously Nintendo will face severe problems with pirated games in the future.
So, what do you think about this? Simply share all your views and thoughts in the comment section below.
