For those of us who bought a switch before around July of 2018, this means that our consoles are fully exploitable.

Because of that fact, the original run of Nintendo Switch consoles can not be patched to fix this exploit via software. Unfortunately for Nintendo, this is a hardware problem and not a software issue. This is a fairly common exploit for nVidia ARM-based devices (of which the Switch is one) and has been used before to gain root on various Android tablets and phones. Once in RCM mode, a payload can be injected in to the Switch before boot to allow it to run unsigned code. A flaw was discovered in the hardware of the Nintendo Switch (namely in the nVidia processor) that allows the unit to boot in to RCM mode by holding the VOL+ button and pressing Power on the console, if pins 1 and 10 of the right Joycon port are shorted. Explanation of the Switch’s Hardware VulnerabilityĪlthough not a totally new thing, the Nintendo Switch hacking and home-brew community has blown up over the past 6 months.

Download Re-Loader 1.4 RC 3