PS3 Can Block/Invalidate PS Vita Content On Transfer

by Mike Bendel on March 9, 2012 @ 10:46 pm


Sony’s been rather vigilant when it comes to combating hacks on the PS Vita so far, pulling an exploitable PSP game from the PS Store a day before the first Vita hack was even made public – even though it ran entirely inside the PSP emulator. To that end, developer Hellcat has discovered that the PS3 when connected to a PS Vita, downloads a list of content IDs direct from PSN.

http://vitacl.ww.dl.playstation.net/vitacl/ww/j/version.dat

http://vitacl.xx.dl.playstation.net/vitacl/xx/j/list.dat

While the actual contents of the file are unknown as it is encrypted with an SCE header, it’s likely that any content transfers are cross-referenced against this list to determine validity. It’s not clear if it is a blacklist or whitelist, however. If the latter, that would give Sony more control over what’s allowed and what isn’t. Technically, once this list is downloaded to your Vita, Sony could potentially cut off access to applications or games that aren’t on the allowed list – either for compatibility or security reasons. At any rate, it’s an interesting find.

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Read more: Gran Turismo 6 Announced, Watch_Dogs Dated for November 19 / 22, PS3 Firmware 4.41 Out for Download Soon, PS4 Arrival Will Raise PSN Friend Limit, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon Achievements Surface

Comments
Trigun says:

Oh Sony! http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/15987904.jpg

DragonFlame says:

That explains the mandatory internet connection. Very interesting find, indeed.

hush404 says:

Not a huge surprise. The way the PSP was cracked wide open, it's no wonder Sony is doing everything it can to try and block piracy on the device. You have but the hackers to thank for these odd measures.

slicer4ever says:

you have the user's to thank. homebrew is an amazing thing, it extends the life of the device far more, and drove sony to add tons of features to the psp, because they were found in custom firmware.

but users abused the shit out of it with piracy, at the end of the day, everyone wants shit for free. most of the devs who created the exploits took strong stances against piracy, and full well knew that releasing the exploits would lead to piracy(generally this was the biggest drama between exploits being released, or well know devs leaving the scene.)

I'd give anything to see once again what the psp incurred in it's earliest days, with the vita.

Seth says:

Good old Hellcat I haven't heard that name in ages, I had no idea he was still around.

Hellcat says:

*meowww*

Yes, totally around :D

eldiablov says:

People have the right to do what they want with their device in my humble opinion. Though license agreements may disagree.

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