Xbox 360 "hacked"

This weekend the first genuine Xbox 360 hack video has surfaced. The video shows a backup copy of PGR3 being booted on the hacked console. "Hacked console" is not entirely true. As a matter of fact it is not the console that's hacked, but the firmware of the Hitachi dvd drive.

The hack doesn't allow unsigned code to be booted, so no XBMC for you guys yet ;) 360 executables are signed and thus cannot be modified. In the executable it is specified what kind of media the software can be run from, in the case of games this would be a genuine 360 dvd-rom. The dvd drive checks the media and reports back to the system. TheSpecialist and his crew have created a modified firmware that always reports the disc is a genuine dvd, even if it is in fact a recordable. Another problem is that genuine dvd's have specific bad sectors on the disc as an extra protection. As these cannot be written with regular dvd recorders, a fix was needed. The hackers use a lookup table that reports the necessary sectors as bad, even when they are not. This implies that for every new game, a new lookup table has to be added somewhere.

As this firmware can only be used for piracy, since running unsigned code isn't possible yet, TheSpecialist has decided to not release it into the wild. This might have some thinking the hack is not a legit one, although I'm pretty convinced it is. For example in the video they do not show the back of the TV which could have another 360 connected. Then again, the group of hackers have a good reputation, and their research is available for review. As of yet nobody has claimed the hack as a hoax, which I do not expect to ever happen.

If this hack got out anyway, it would be a piece of cake for Microsoft to check the firmware for inconsistencies through a live update, so this hack would not be very effective. So what's next, and when will people be able to run unsigned code? (if ever)