fail0verflow Gets Linux Running on PlayStation 4

Can it run Linux? Yes, we're just as tired of the Web joke as anyone else, but it is a fair question for some devices—especially gaming consoles, which are basically just computers in a different form factor than what you're used to seeing under (or on top of) your office desk.

The PlayStation 4 has been fairly resilient to various forms of modding, as it was only really "jailbroken" earlier this month. This process allows those with modified consoles to run, well, just about whatever they want on them, from pirated games to custom software.

Going one step further, the console hacking group fail0verflow has managed to get a PlayStation 4 to run Linux. While we're still pretty far away from normal gamers getting some kind of easy jailbreak for their devices that would allow them to run the operating system on their up-to-date PlayStation consoles, fail0verflow's work is still a big first step.

According to Engadget, the group exploited a WebKit bug to gain access to various parts of the console—whose operating system, Sony Orbis, is based on a modified version of FreeBSD, which is itself similar to Linux. The attack works on the 1.76 version of the PlayStation 4, which is quite a ways back from the console's latest version, 3.11. Sony has since patched said WebKit bug, but it's thought that fail0verflow might be able to modify its technique to get it to work on more recent versions of the console.

And, to have a little fun, fail0verflow even went and loaded a Game Boy Advance emulator on its exploited PlayStation—and was able to play a modified version of Pokémon using a Game Boy Advance, connected to the PlayStation 4, as a controller.

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Fail0verflow's brief presentation at the 32nd Chaos Communication Congress is below, where it originally debuted the exploit to excited applause. It also includes the Game Boy Advance bit, if you want to see the hackers have a little fun, too.