Sony Awarded a Hacker $50,000 for Privately Reporting a PS5 Exploit He Found With AI

Key Points:

• A hacker known as “Jordy” sparked controversy in the PS5 homebrew community by reporting a hypervisor bug found using AI to Sony, earning a $50,000 bounty instead of keeping it for community use.
• The bug affected PS5 firmware versions 13.60 to 14.00 and allowed kernel-level code execution, enabling features like booting Linux on the console, which some modders planned to use alongside playing GTA 6 legally.
• A prominent security engineer, theflow0, had discovered the same bug months earlier and intended to withhold reporting it until after GTA 6’s launch to allow dual-booting Linux and playing the game, but Jordy reported it after others found the bug with AI tools.
• Jordy’s decision to report the exploit early led to Sony patching the vulnerability before GTA 6’s release, frustrating modders who now must choose between updating their PS5 for the game or running Linux offline.
• The incident highlights the growing impact of AI in accelerating vulnerability discoveries and intensifies the ongoing security battle between Sony and the homebrew community, with future exploits likely to emerge.