Xbox 360 firmware hack

posted Mar 18th 2006 1:00am by Eliot Phillips
filed under: xbox hacks

360 firmware

It looks like backup copies of games can now be booted on the Xbox 360. Maxconsole has the video. This hack is similar to the final firmware hack of the original Xbox. The response to the challenge code is written directly in the firmware. So instead of checking the disc, the firmware responds to the challenge directly. Here are the technical details. This hack doesn’t allow you to run unsigned code or ignore region codes. All it lets you do is play direct one-to-one copies of game discs.

Related: Xbox 360 Hacks, Xbox Hacks

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Comments [31]

Reader Comments

Isn’t this relatively old? I’ve seen various videos like this already :-

Posted at 1:48 pm on Mar 18th, 2006 by darksim

well that didnt take long…

Get ready for mandatory firmware updates!!!w00t

Posted at 1:51 pm on Mar 18th, 2006 by paul

Microsoft should be happy for this. If it wasn’t for the ‘easy’ modding allowed by the original xbox, they wouldn’t sell as much as they did.

Microsoft experts problably let this little hole open … (not!). :-)

Posted at 2:43 pm on Mar 18th, 2006 by gouki

a agree with both of you. thats all i got to say.

Posted at 4:03 pm on Mar 18th, 2006 by PSP005

a agree with both of you. thats all i got to say.

Posted at 4:06 pm on Mar 18th, 2006 by PSP005

I’m pretty suprised that microsoft left the firmware open. If the firmware was modified from commercial drives and encrypted (The modification is needed to prevent comparison to the ‘open’ firmware in ordinary drives) then this hack would be a lot more difficult. And what’s more, it’s the kind of hole that isn’t in microsofts interest to leave open, in that it can be used for piracy and nothing else (requires correct XEXs). Microsoft really screwed up on this one.

Posted at 4:46 pm on Mar 18th, 2006 by EdZ

@ no.3,

Microsoft (along with most companies in the console game) lose money on each Xbox sold. They get that money back in licensing every time you buy a game. If someone buys an xbox just for modding, then MS are losing money. It’s in their interest to sell you as many games as possible to make a profit, not to sell as many consoles as possible.

Posted at 5:14 pm on Mar 18th, 2006 by kwijibo

Well, i now know what im spending my income tax on. Somebody had better freakin’ post how to do this here mod or im gonna be SOOOO PISSED OFF!

Posted at 10:34 pm on Mar 18th, 2006 by Neo-Havic

They had hacked the original Xbox dvd firmware in the exact way, that might of been the video you saw before. They didn’t come out with the firmware mod for the xbox till after the xbox360 was released, so MS had no idea that there was any security issues with the firmware. They still havent released the hack for the original, so I wouldnt plan on them releasing their hack for the 360 anytime soon. Lets just hope for someone to leak the modified dvd firmware.

Posted at 5:53 am on Mar 19th, 2006 by steve

There is one fact – before Xbox microsoft was a non-existant player into the home gaming market. With the xbox, it became not only a top player into the game market but also a top player into a “everything-on-that” kind of appliance. People use their xboxes not only as a gaming device, but also as a video player, dvd player, mp3 player, internet access device, linux console and so on. It gives microsoft a huge lead on this field, so if they loose money selling xboxes below cost, it comes back as being the #1 in the home entertainment area.

Posted at 10:21 am on Mar 19th, 2006 by Alexandre, o tabajara

If you’de read the technical briefing on ‘xboxhackersBBS’ you’de discover that it hasn’t actually been circumvented(atleast not by those guys anyway.) The guy who posted the technical info on memory addressing and injection is well known as being a perp on those forums.

I’ve yet to find anyone who has bypassed the firmware authenticating scheme on the Xbox 360. There’re literally thousands if not millions of people working on it though.

That being said(don’t be offended,) did the people who posted this on H.A.D. bother reading through all the details and discussion before posting this?

That video is also bogus incase you didn’t know!

quality control*

Posted at 11:42 am on Mar 19th, 2006 by Green

Ok, no, the guy who originally announced the hack on xboxhacker.net is respected in the community, and that being said, xbox-scene would not have posted it if it was fake, this is real, believe it or not. Ya just cant please some people.

Posted at 12:19 pm on Mar 19th, 2006 by tecnocris

xbox-scene once posted a article claiming the original xbox used a BUS design based on nano processing,so there credibility is debunked.

As for the member being “respected,” I don’t dought that, but. If you read past the first page of posts you get to see where other users discover the method is incomplete,and begin to question the author of that thread.

If anyone here thinks for a second this exploit is ligit, then let’s see you use it!? It dosen’t work, and all this hype is based on information that’s taken out of contex.

I hate to take anyone out of there concianse of heavy metal sequences, and a bath tub full of pride..but the glory is fake.

Posted at 6:56 pm on Mar 19th, 2006 by Green

even tho they say that they wont relese thiss hack to the everyone i think it is only a matter of time befor this gets relesed and people start modding there 360s
but the day they install linux on a xbox 360 is the day i buy one …

Posted at 12:29 am on Mar 20th, 2006 by luke

Smart thinking #12. Buying a games console to install a desktop/server OS.

I’m really sad they werent able to install Linux on it yet … it would be uber leet to visit /. on the xbox while siting in front of my laptop.

Posted at 2:46 am on Mar 20th, 2006 by gouki

it is 100% THE REAL DEAL.
and is a step forward for all future hacking of the 360.
so well done them guys..
now someone design the little programs to do all the payching and dumping and then everyone can do this aswell.

Posted at 6:05 am on Mar 20th, 2006 by tecelecs

there is a moral side to thiss as well if the guy who came up with thiss hack was to relese it he ALONE would be responasable for m$ loosing $10000000000000’s in game sales but also by relesing it he would help people (heeps)with installing linux / mac / even windows so he can choos btwen keeping how he did it a secret and NOT getting in troble or help people like us install linux and at the same time help pircary and very likley get in troble
just my 2c

Posted at 5:32 am on Mar 21st, 2006 by luke

Posted at 5:48 am on Mar 21st, 2006 by luke

Damn, ya’ll need a spell check, I can’t understand thing you’re saying. It’s like you’re from the bayou or something.

Maybe mis-spelling things is like slang, it makes you more “street”?

Word, I can be lazy, too:

i hope thiz gets relesed so i don’t hafta do no thinkin’ for maself I can just RTFM an act like a h4X0r without gettin’ a ligit edumacation of my own

i caint puncuate nuffin

P.S., consoles are inferior, hack your PC.

Posted at 1:24 am on Mar 22nd, 2006 by n8

yeah right, this hack is fake just like all the rest. you think you are so 1337 then post the firmware or we’ll all call it vaporware.
-fade

Posted at 11:32 am on Mar 24th, 2006 by fade

yeah right, this hack is fake just like all the rest. you think you are so 1337 then post the firmware or we’ll all call it vaporware.
-fade

Posted at 11:34 am on Mar 24th, 2006 by fade

I was under the distinct impression that the development hacking we are
doing here for XBox 360 is Open Source and that the point of it is to “leak”
it to the rest of the world. This is regardless of whether they are
modchip makers or uni students who would like to start to hack like you once started at one time.

Try to remember the spirit of this hacking is in contributing to a wider
community, not in bragging about super secret technology that you hold
that is too dangerous for mere mortals to play with.
If some commands are risky to use on the XBox 360 then warn the people when
you make the release.
We are all of us standing on the shoulders of giants when we participate
in a project like this. Kinda like Linux itself and when a hack or app is released under the GPL. If
Linus didn’t release his code we would all have nothing. Try to
remember that.

Posted at 11:52 am on Mar 24th, 2006 by fade

—-quote by: fade—-
If Linus didn’t release his code we would all have nothing. Try to remember that.
———————-

Right, Except Minix, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, all the software of the GNU project, and a handfull of other unix like free OS’s.

Posted at 4:06 pm on Mar 24th, 2006 by dhawk

hey sup guys well ive found a way to burn games without modding the xbox360 the program i use to burn games is very simple well if u wanna find out talk to me on aim its jamie13948 or send me a email k bye any other questions are acceptible ill be glade to answer ur questions

Posted at 7:40 am on May 4th, 2006 by jblaze

well said n8 whats with all the so called “street” slang? did nobody go to school here or what? and who cares if there is a hack, crack or firmware edit available. you know your all gonna buy a ps3 when it gets released soon anyway!…….no doubt you’ll all moan when they crack that too!!

Posted at 7:40 pm on Jul 15th, 2006 by bill gates

Does xbox live work with this????

Posted at 4:26 am on Jul 18th, 2006 by Tyler

WHERE CAN I DOWNLOAD THE FIRMWARE FOR THE XBOX 360?

Posted at 12:32 pm on Aug 21st, 2006 by BRIAN

To tell you the truth, I don’t find it all that surprising that such a blaring security hole was found. I mean this is how they roll. Just look at Windows, It’s absolutely RIDDLED with security holes/flaws. If its one thing they are not good at its security. I guess thats what happens when you monopolize a market and have no competition to motivate you to innovate and improve. All it takes is a simple firmware hack to blow open the doors on the Hex-box 3-shitty.

Posted at 10:41 pm on May 15th, 2007 by John Matrix

i would like to advertise our site on yours an vise versa please contact me or our site thank you

Posted at 12:12 pm on Jan 27th, 2008 by greg

i have a Phillips lite-on DH-16D2S dive can it be hacked to
play backups

Posted at 10:54 am on Sep 14th, 2008 by L23

http://revver.com/video/104135/xbox360-firmware-mod-to-play-backups/

Posted at 9:24 am on Dec 15th, 2008 by dirty sullha musslim cunt