They manage to install Linux on a Nintendo Switch

Each new generation of consoles, the community of “modders” or hackers gets down to work to try to exploit their vulnerabilities in such a way that additional software can be installed with various objectives that range from adding new functions, customization or directly hacking games.

Nintendo’s latest console, the Switchhas also become a juicy objective for these communities and there are projects with more or less success of “homebrew” (managing to install non-official software) for this portable console that is reaping such good sales for the Japanese company.

It seems that things are accelerating in the homebrew community and the latest news is that they have managed to install Linux directly in the console and, according to the authors, they have done it in such a way that Nintendo will not be able to patch the consoles already available on the market, only being able to correct it in new models or revisions.

According to the group that has achieved the “feat”, fail0verflow, no additional chip is needed and they have taken advantage of a fault in the bootROM, a small part of the ROM memory, protected in theory against writing, where part of the code that is executed by the processor in the first place as soon as the console is turned on.

The implications of this for the development of applications and modifications outside the console are quite large, since if another operating system can be loaded, it is more than likely that things can be modified at a much lower level.