PS3 SYSCON Firmware key is now public (release by zecoxao) - What does it mean?

Developer @zecoxao has recently released something that the dev has been working on obtaining for 10 years now and that obstacle that has now been cleared is the SYSCON Firmware Key and zecoxao has now released it to the public. First off we must erase some misconceptions as this is not going to directly lead us to a CFW on nonCFW PS3's anytime soon. As the dev stated on twitter "needless and pointless to say that the confusion being created around these keys that they will be useful for cfw on ps3 3k and superslim is a very farfetched idea. unless we have access to the TSOP 78K0R models, we will not be able to obtain anything else" and then when @kozarovv provided a follow-up question about 3k models here the developer responded with "don't expect miracles, is all i'm saying ". Now the question (which was asked by @DeViL303) "So what can we do with this as of now, what is possible with just this key alone and current knowledge? Then @zecoxao provides an explanation seen in this post (and also seen below). So this is a great feat that has been made, but its still being investigated and something that will need to be explored in the weeks to come to fully understand what we can be uncovered,. .

​

Release

• 
  
  i got the syscon firmware key, a dream i've been pursuing for the past 10 years. now that i have it i feel like i've acomplished my goal. the rest will follow naturally.
  - https://twitter.com/notzecoxao/status/1168954036541935616​
  
  What can developer's do with this key?
  

  So what can we do with this as of now, what is possible with just this key alone and current knowledge? Custom fan speed profiles? Multiple boot sequences depending on flags or something, or does everything need more work?

  
  via @zecoxao : With this key the following has happened:
  
  14 syscon firmwares for the BGA models (CXR) were decrypted.
  from them, keys for PATCHES and FULL FW signing and encryption, as well as decryption and validation were found. we can now sign our own patches and fws for the following models:
  
  
  • TMU-510
  • COK-001
  • COK-002
  • SEM-001
  • DIA-001
  • DIA-002 or DEB-001 (same soft id)
  
  Additionally we found the initialization key for eid1 as well as the process of initializing it from factory
  We also found 7 extra keys (we still don't know what they do)
  Finally, we found out there is a secret keyslot function that generates keys for
  
  • SNVS
  • AUTH1/AUTH2
  • Regions of EEPROM
  • PATCH keys xoring (to generate the final keys)
  • Relationship with the other 7 Keys
  
  What still has to be done:
  
  • Hack the 78K0R chips (the TSOP ones found in later models)
  • Dump the firmware of those chips
  • Get the DYN-001 patch keys
  • Find an exploit on arm firmware that works in 78k0r firmware
  
  Edit: and yes, you can do all that fun kinky shit of fan boosting at max speeds, led disco panic attack, and star wars theme ON A DECR-1000! THIS is a devkit, so THIS is the ONLY device that supports FULL FUCKING FIRMWARES! DO NOT CONFUSE IT with a DECR-1400, that is a HALF devkit!
  
  

Release Source: twitter.com/notzecoxao
Discussion: psx-place.com

Thanks to @NathanHale for the news alert ​

 

So now the full syscon key is public. Obtained by zecoxao (probably with some help from wildcard). He also decided to quit console scene (dunno why, but is becoming popular to quit your hobbies when you make some significant progress or get some nice results).

Zeco, if you are reading, i followed all your progress since 10 years ago. In just two words: Thank you!


So, now the big question: what can be done with this key?

 

One of the things it allows is to decrypt (and i guess rebuild) the syscon firmwares :o
https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/System_Controller_Firmware

There is lot of unknown stuff inside syscon that needs to be investigated now though... i bet there are going to be some easter eggs

 

So awesome. Can't wait for all the goodies that come from this

 

There is something i forgot to mention... when the PS3 boots the first thing it does is a communication in between SYSCON, CELL, and FLASH
Syscon sends the "config ring" to CELL, this way syscon configures CELL, then syscon boots CELL
https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Boot_Order
https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Cell_Configuration_Ring

As you can imagine there are some important keys involved in this initial stages of the boot process
One of the keys is the almighty "CELL KEY", unique for every PS3, used to encrypt/decrypt bootldr & metldr
And inside bootldr & metldr is stored the "EID root key"

So... yeah... this is opening a door very interesting to explore, it could be a potential vector attack to hack the PS3 fully
Is going to be needed some reverse engineers with skills to exploit it and dump the shit out of it

 

AFAIK the bootldr and metldr aren't ecdsa signed so if supposedly we get the keys using config ring we can effectively patch the highest chain on the nor to allow cfw on 3k/4k

 

Im not sure if is going to be posible, but i would love to have full control of flash contents (in other words, being able to rebuild bootldr and metldr)

Not for any special reason... but mostly because this way we could have a real "recovery" with anti-brick features. Imagine... just a couple of lines of code that does something like this:

if (bootldr_flash = incorrect) {
load_bootldr from USB; // this is the antibrick
}
else (bootldr_flash = correct) {
load_bootldr from FLASH; // the standard way
}

 

Lord, please let this be the beginning of CFW on 3k and 4k


EDIT - OK... I jumped on the 3k 4k CFW train too early lol...

 

If someone in the scene pulls this off, I'll sit down and write an all in one guide for all ps3 models. Nothing omitted. Super tut

 

Can this key be revoked or changed? Can $ony patch the key with firm updates?

 

Can this key be revoked or changed? Can $ony patch the key with firm updates?

Probably. Just stay on current firmware. I can't imagine we'll see a 3k 4k CFW super soon. Patients is a vertue

 

Probably. Just stay on current firmware. I can't imagine we'll see a 3k 4k CFW super soon. Patients is a vertue

If we have syscon key, we can decrypt whole system and, if they change the key, it doesn't matter, cuz we already have bootldr key. Isn't it?

 

If we have syscon key, we can decrypt whole system and, if they change the key, it doesn't matter, cuz we already have bootldr key. Isn't it?

I'm not sure....
But when 3.55 keys were found, Sony updated to block that hole for software but hardware flashers still worked... I'm not sure how this works... I came into the scene only beggining of last year.

 

I was hopeful this would lead to bootldr and metldr stuff but not knowing much about it didn't want to insert my foot in my own mouth. This would be insanely good if someone can glitch or access those areas to write and modify them. It's awesome these last few things are finally getting looked into. Exciting times

 

There is something i forgot to mention... when the PS3 boots the first thing it does is a communication in between SYSCON, CELL, and FLASH
Syscon sends the "config ring" to CELL, this way syscon configures CELL, then syscon boots CELL
https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Boot_Order
https://www.psdevwiki.com/ps3/Cell_Configuration_Ring

As you can imagine there are some important keys involved in this initial stages of the boot process
One of the keys is the almighty "CELL KEY", unique for every PS3, used to encrypt/decrypt bootldr & metldr
And inside bootldr & metldr is stored the "EID root key"

So... yeah... this is opening a door very interesting to explore, it could be a potential vector attack to hack the PS3 fully
Is going to be needed some reverse engineers with skills to exploit it and dump the shit out of it

That amazing news

 

Hello everyone great news for the ps3 scene My question is whether it can be installed on ps3 3k 4k cfw? Thank you for this great news. Regards.

 

Hello everyone great news for the ps3 scene My question is whether it can be installed on ps3 3k 4k cfw? Thank you for this great news. Regards.

Hey. The fifth comment (habib's comment) answers you question ;-) .

 

Hello everyone great news for the ps3 scene My question is whether it can be installed on ps3 3k 4k cfw? Thank you for this great news. Regards.

Not at the moment bro.....maybe in the near future.

 

Hello everyone great news for the ps3 scene My question is whether it can be installed on ps3 3k 4k cfw? Thank you for this great news. Regards.

 

So I read Syscon is like the commander of the ps3 guardians if they control him, there would be no opponents to tame the rest of the system. It is impressive all the data that the sceners have collected all these years I do not think that it finds another console with that level of investigation by them.