A new PS5 exploit reportedly opens up every console below September firmware
An exploit called Relapse is said to jailbreak PS5s running firmware up to 13.60.00, the update that shipped in late July. Only September's 14.00.00 is reported to be safe, and Sony has not commented.
A PS5 exploit making the rounds this week is being described as the most consequential one yet, because of how little it leaves untouched. Known as Relapse, it reportedly works on consoles running firmware up to and including 13.60.00 — the update Sony shipped in late July — and users say it can be pulled off in under a minute.
What's affected
According to Kotaku, the only firmware reported to be out of reach is 14.00.00, released on September 16. That is a narrow gap. Any PS5 that has sat on a shelf or in a box since before mid-September, PS5 Pro units included, is likely to be running something the exploit covers.
Kotaku reports that users on the r/PS5_Jailbreak community say the exploit allows pirated games to run, naming recent releases including Marvel's Wolverine and The Witcher 3 Remastered. That is the part that makes this different from earlier PS5 jailbreaks: newer games usually demand newer firmware to launch at all, which historically kept jailbroken consoles stuck several years behind the release calendar.
What happens next
Sony has not said anything publicly, and a firmware update closing the hole is the obvious response. The harder problem for Sony is the consoles already out there: a patch stops new machines from being exploited but does nothing about the ones already sitting below 14.00.00, and owners with no reason to update have every reason not to.
Why it matters
Console piracy has been largely theoretical on PS5 because jailbreaks lagged too far behind the firmware new games require — an exploit reaching July's update closes most of that gap.