Nintendo Switch Hacked To Run Linux

We’re sure that hackers and modders are pretty curious about how hackable the Nintendo Switch is. There are many reasons for this, such as piracy, or the ability to run mods on the system, or just for fun. Recently it looks like hackers were successful because in a tweet by fail0verflow\, they posted a photo of the Switch appearing to run on Linux.

They later followed up with another tweet which showed the Switch running on Linux with a GUI on top of it, and it appears that the interface can be interacted with using the Switch’s touchscreen display. Ultimately what this has resulted in is a Linux-based tablet. The group has not disclosed how they went about the hack, despite many asking for instructions or some information. The group even claims that their Switch coldboot exploit cannot be patched.

https://twitter.com/fail0verflow/status/960894909304786945

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Code execution is all the rage these days, but can your Switch do *this*? ;-) #switchnix pic.twitter.com/NMnBq61tOM

— fail0verflow (@fail0verflow) February 17, 2018

It is unclear what the group plans to do with their hack, and whether or not it was done just to prove a point or if there are bigger plans. That being said, admittedly there haven’t been that many successful attempts we’ve seen so far, which means that in terms of piracy Nintendo doesn’t really have to worry too much for now.

Presumably Nintendo might have learnt from some of their previous consoles, such as the Wii which was successfully hacked to allow the downloading and running of pirated software.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Gaming, General
Tags: Hack, linux, Nintendo, nintendo switch