Fighting to Keep Linux on PS3 | Hacker News Reader

Fighting to Keep Linux on PS3

arstechnica.com

28 pointsCoryOndrejka9 comments

This is definitely in response to the geohot hypervisor exploit. When they say "security update", they mean they're addressing a threat to their profit model. Pirated games and cheat modes for network play will be coming out in the future. The more Sony slows that down, the more revenue for both them and game developers.

What's interesting about this is that there is a good argument to be made for the availibility of Linux keeping hackers from showing much interest in the PS3 for a while. They may have bought their ~3 years of no piracy by providing Linux support. The other thing they did well was closely integrating the drive firmware with the core OS security, something Microsoft did not do with the Xbox360.

I previously wrote up a technical description of the exploit below. The comments section is pretty interesting as well.

http://rdist.root.org/2010/01/27/how-the-ps3-hypervisor-was-...

Why is it "definitely", besides the curious timing?

Because in an interview late last year (no link handy, sorry), Sony reiterated its commitment to Linux on PS3. Why would they pull a 180 within months of making that announcement?

Simple -- with OtherOS running, the only code executing on the platform other than Linux itself is the hypervisor. So if removing OtherOS addresses a security concern, the only thing that could have been threatened is the hypervisor. There is only one known hypervisor exploit, and it is implemented from OtherOS.

QED

I think the geohot hack is just a red herring given that the PS3 Slim was released months before this hack happened and that it had no provision for Other OS installs. It is still terrible that this happening though.

I wouldn't be surprised if removal of Other OS support was purely a cost-cutting device. There could easily have been some component they removed, or some part they downgraded, that allowed Linux to run on the PS3 Fat. Alternatively, it could be the Slim would have needed new drivers, and they didn't want to deal with that.

It's interesting that Linux support is being withdrawn months after Linux was used as part of a memory exploit to break the PS3 security. PS3 machine owners could ask who owns the machine in their front room.

PS3 machine owners could ask who owns the machine in their front room.

They own the machine. They do not own Sony's firmware.

Today, it seems, that others don't really see it that way either: http://techdirt.com/articles/20100331/0128358800.shtml

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