PlayStation Portal PSP Emulation Exploit Gets Patched Out After Hackers Reported the Issue

The newish PlayStation Portal device is made for playing your favorite PS5 games on-the-go via Remote Play, but like any good handheld peripheral, users were quick to see what else the PlayStation Portal could do. In at least one case, that meant making it so that the PlayStation Portal could emulate PlayStation Portable games via PPSSPP, a program meant to emulate PSP games on mobile devices. The exploit that allowed the PlayStation Portal these emulation capabilities was never publicly released, but hopes of that happening are mostly dashed now that the issue has been patched out after those responsible for hacking the PlayStation Portal "responsibly" reported the issue to PlayStation.

News of the PlayStation Portal's possible PSP emulation capabilities came first from Google developer Andy Nguyen who worked with others to hack the handheld device and get PPSSPP running on it. An image shared at the time showed Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, a GTA game originally released as a PSP exclusive, running on a PlayStation Portal.

Nguyen said at the time that there were no plans to release this exploit publicly, so it was up to others to figure it out for themselves if they wanted to follow suit with PSP emulation on the PlayStation Portal. After PlayStation's Version 2.0.6 update for the device, however, that's apparently become a bit more difficult.

PlayStation Patches Out PlayStation Portal Emulation Exploit

Nguyen shared another tweet about the PlayStation Portal situation this week, but this one wasn't nearly as fun as the first. He said the trio that worked for over a month to get the PPSSPP program running on the PlayStation Portal "responsibly reported the issues to PlayStation." The "bugs" have since been fixed, Nguyen said.

Sure enough, PlayStation did put out an update this week for the PlayStation Portal. In line with other updates for things like the PS5, the notes for the update don't say much beyond PlayStation saying it's "improved system software performance and stability," but this particular emulation exploit has evidently been removed.

We responsibly reported the issues to PlayStation. Bugs are fixed on 2.06. https://t.co/0B38HRaaaw

— Andy Nguyen (@theflow0) April 2, 2024

Nguyen's tweet received expected responses from people who bemoaned the fact that he and others informed PlayStation of the issues. While Nguyen didn't say anything about a bug bounty incentive, others pointed out that companies will occasionally offer compensation for those who discover and reproduce potential exploits, so if that's the case here, many found it hard to fault someone who'd want to claim a potential bounty.

In a response to a Twitter user asking about PPSSPP and other potential PlayStation Portal vulnerabilities, Nguyen expanded a bit more on the situation but said he couldn't detail the steps taken to replicate the emulation exploit.

"There's no magic trick to install ppsspp," Nguyen said. "It requires exploiting a set of bugs, which I cannot simply drop on twitter without consequences. And even if I did, PlayStation would easily be able to figure out all the steps involved and patch them."

Plenty of others are probably working on emulation and much more regarding the PlayStation Portal, but for now, its intended purpose of playing PlayStation games on-the-go is the primary reason to own one. If you're on the fence about the PlayStation Portal, you can check out our review of the device here.