The Xbox One, Once Considered ‘Unhackable,’ Has Been Compromised After 12 Years.

The Xbox One is often viewed as a significant misstep in gaming history. While I could delve into Don Mattrick’s disastrous E3 2013 presentation for ages, the bottom line is clear: the PlayStation 4 outperformed the Xbox One by a staggering two-to-one margin. Yet, amidst its shortcomings, the Xbox One had one notable feature: it was deemed “unhackable” until now.

This might sound like an overstatement, but it holds true. While the PlayStation 4 was jailbroken by 2016, the Xbox One remained secure since its launch on November 22, 2013. That is, until recently, when Markus “Doom” Gaasedelen unveiled a new exploit called “Bliss” at RE//verse 2026.

A few key points about Gaasedelen’s find: first, this exploit is only applicable to the original Xbox One consoles, leaving the Xbox One S and Xbox One X untouched for the time being. Secondly, attempting this hack isn’t exactly a walk in the park. As demonstrated in his presentation, you’ll need a microcontroller to solder onto the motherboard, and you’ll have to remove certain capacitors to achieve the correct voltage.

This is far from as easy as burning a Blu-Ray disc or connecting an Ethernet cable to a PS4, so the complexity of the exploit may deter many from trying it out. Nevertheless, the mere fact that it’s possible is monumental, especially for those focused on game preservation. Moreover, it seems this isn’t something Microsoft can simply eliminate with a firmware update. But why did it take so long for someone to find an exploit?

While I won’t claim to fully grasp the complexities of the Xbox One’s security, an interesting observation was made regarding Gaasedelen’s discovery: since 2016, the Xbox One Developer Mode subscription has allowed users to install apps and emulators on the console. Given that most people jailbreak systems primarily for emulators, the existence of this subscription likely diminished the incentive to hack the Xbox One. However, the Bliss exploit does provide access to features that Xbox One Dev Mode never permitted, including full game decryption.