PS5 Relapse Jailbreak Exposes Firmware 7.00 to 13.60 as Sony Fights Digital Ownership Lawsuit

A publicly available exploit chain called Relapse now allows PlayStation 5 owners to execute unsigned code on consoles running firmware versions 7.00 through 13.60, bypassing Sony’s hardware restrictions entirely through a modified DNS setting and the system’s built-in User Guide browser.

The release arrives weeks after Sony Interactive Entertainment argued in federal court that consumers who click the “Buy Now” button for digital PlayStation games are merely purchasing a revocable license rather than acquiring ownership of the software. While that legal battle centers on what players can claim to own inside Sony’s storefront, Relapse addresses a parallel hardware question: what users can actually do with the $500 machine sitting in their living room.

Deploying the exploit requires changing the PS5’s primary DNS server to 45.56.67.85, opening the console’s User Guide application, entering the payload URL into the address bar, and waiting for execution. The process chains a WebKit vulnerability to achieve initial code execution, followed by a kernel-level exploit that grants full system privileges. Once compromised, an ELF loader allows users to run homebrew applications, custom utilities, and game backups not authorized by Sony.

Unlike the untethered jailbreaks that defined the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 eras, Relapse is tethered. The exploit does not survive a system reboot. Users must manually re-trigger the chain every time the console powers on. The GitHub repository warns that the WebKit stage frequently requires multiple attempts to succeed, and the kernel exploit can cause system hangs or panic errors, potentially resulting in data loss or account suspensions if detected by PlayStation Network enforcement systems.

The source code is published under an MIT license, making it free to modify, distribute, and integrate into other projects. Security researcher Nathan Fargo initially shared the method on X, with distribution amplified by ApolloHB, a known figure in the console modification community. The repository explicitly states the project is intended for educational and security research purposes, though discussions on forums such as the r/PS5_Jailbreak subreddit have already shifted toward cataloging which retail games successfully load through the exploit.

Sony closed the vulnerability window on September 16 with the release of firmware 14.00. Consoles updated to 14.00 or later cannot run Relapse, forcing users to make a permanent choice between maintaining access to the latest PlayStation Network features and retaining the ability to run unsigned code.

This dynamic mirrors historical battles over device modification. When Apple aggressively litigated against iOS jailbreaking in the late 2000s and early 2010s, courts ultimately sided with consumers. In 2010 and again in 2012, the U.S. Copyright Office granted exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act specifically allowing smartphone jailbreaking for interoperability purposes, though console modifications have never received the same explicit legal shield. Apple responded by architecting increasingly secure boot chains, a strategy Sony has mirrored across successive PlayStation generations.

The legal pressure on Sony’s digital ecosystem extends beyond copyright law. In a June class action lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California, four PlayStation customers allege that the storefront’s interface deceives buyers about their rights to purchased software. Sony’s August 21 filing countered that no reasonable consumer would interpret a digital transaction as conferring actual ownership, pointing to end-user license agreements stating the software is “licensed to you, not sold.” The company is currently seeking to compel private arbitration, a motion the presiding judge has not yet ruled on.

Primavera De Filippi, director of research at CERSA, noted that platform holders inherently retain ultimate control over digital assets distributed through their ecosystems. Tools like Relapse temporarily redistribute that control back to the hardware owner, but only within the narrow confines of unpatched firmware.

As of October 2026, Sony has not issued a public statement addressing the Relapse repository, nor has the company announced retroactive enforcement actions against accounts associated with firmware 13.60 or older. The current stable system software for the PlayStation 5 remains the 14.00 series.