Gaming
An AI Found the PS5 Bug in Days, and a Handshake Over GTA 6 Lasted About a Day
Andy Nguyen, known in the scene as TheFlow0, announced this week that he is stepping away from PlayStation 5 development and ending his work on PS5 Linux. The decision follows the disclosure of what he describes as the last remaining PS5 hypervisor vulnerability, the bug his Linux work relied on. Nguyen had planned to complete PS5 Pro support and release it in 2027. Those plans are now abandoned, and version 2.5, supporting original and Slim consoles on firmware 3.00 through 7.61, is the final release he will lead.
The story, as Nguyen tells it on X and as XDA relayed it, runs like this. He discovered the hypervisor bug himself and kept it private to preserve the Linux path. Other researchers, working with large language model assistance, found the same bug independently. Nguyen asked them to hold the disclosure until after Grand Theft Auto 6 launched, so players could buy the game legally while keeping a firmware version capable of running Linux. They agreed, he says, and then reported it within a day. One scene reporter's account names a researcher called Jordy as the one who ultimately filed with Sony, while stressing the timeline is his own understanding. The through line in every account is this. The wait lasted about a day.
The angle that matters is bigger than one bug. A withheld vulnerability that once stayed private for months can now be found quickly by others scanning code with models, which collapses the private exploit window from months to days. Nguyen's frustration spilled past the disclosure itself into the culture around it. He described the current scene as populated by people using large language models to write hacks beyond their full understanding, a sharp fall from the small circle of researchers he remembers. Whatever your read on his verdict, the economics changed. Keeping a bug quiet is now a race against everyone else's AI assisted search.
What happens next is mechanical. Once a hypervisor bug reaches Sony through its security reporting program, a system update that fixes it is the expected outcome, and on patched firmware this Linux path closes. Consoles kept offline on older firmware could retain the route, at the cost of PlayStation Network access and new game support. The PS5 Linux Loader itself remains publicly available under the GPL 3.0 license, so other developers can build from the released code, and separate scene work like PS5 game emulation on handhelds continues on its own track. Nguyen, for the record, is the researcher behind the h encore kernel exploit for the discontinued PS Vita, so his exit carries real weight.
For readers still on older firmware who followed this project, the practical choice is now clear. Stay offline and keep the path, or update and keep everything else. The broader lesson is the one the scene is still digesting. Handshake agreements assumed a world where finding a bug took talent and time. That world just got a lot smaller.
Quick answers
What is this story about?
Andy Nguyen, known in the scene as TheFlow0, announced this week that he is stepping away from PlayStation 5 development and ending his work on PS5 Linux. The decision follows the disclosure of what he describes as the last remaining PS5 hypervisor vulnerability, the bug his Linux work relied on. Nguyen had planned to complete PS5 Pro support and release it in 2027. Those plans are now abandoned, and version 2.5, supporting original and Slim consoles on firmware 3.00 through 7.61, is the final release he will lead.
Why does this story matter?
For readers still on older firmware who followed this project, the practical choice is now clear. Stay offline and keep the path, or update and keep everything else. The broader lesson is the one the scene is still digesting. Handshake agreements assumed a world where finding a bug took talent and time. That world just got a lot smaller.
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