PS5 Relapse Exploit Covers Firmware 7.00 to 13.60, Stops at the September 16 Update

A PlayStation 5 or PS5 Pro on system software 7.00 through 13.60 can be taken to kernel read and write access by visiting a page in the console's own browser, using a chain published on September 29, 2026 as the Relapse-Exploit repository on GitHub. Firmware 14.00, which Sony released on September 16, is outside the reported range, and the jailbreak does not survive a reboot.

The repository's README describes two stages. The browser stage uses JavaScriptCore information leaks and a structured clone object pool mismatch to corrupt a typed array. The kernel stage combines address leaks with a use-after-free race in the kernel's aio_multi_wait call. The README lists no CVE identifiers, so there is nothing for a scanner or a vulnerability database to key on yet.

What the chain needs, and what it does not

The precondition is physical access to the console and a firmware version on the list. There is no remote path in the coverage we read: the victim is the owner, who opts in by loading the page. The project page warns users it is "intended for educational and security research purposes only" and that running it can cause system instability, data loss and account bans.

Item	What the sources say
Firmware range	7.00 through 13.60, PS5 and PS5 Pro
Not covered	14.00, released September 16, 2026
Persistence	Tethered: rerun after each reboot
Licence	MIT
Reliability	Browser stage may need retries; kernel stage can hang or crash the console

Who built it and how far it has spread

The README credits a long list of contributors: ntfargo, ufm42, Sonic_Iso, Jordy, Dr. Yenyen, TheFlow, SlidyBat, Flatz, cow, nhk, bollarz, Sleirsgoevy, EchoStretch and EarthOnion. The repository showed roughly 1,100 stars and 287 forks when we read it. Stars measure interest, not installations, and a forked exploit is not a console that has been opened.

TBreak said the demonstration was a video by the channel MODDED WARFARE, and that the chain loads in seconds where earlier methods took minutes. It also said compatibility of individual games depends on firmware requirements and on which payloads exist. TBreak's article mentions no statement from Sony.

The cost of using it

The practical argument against running it comes from HotHardware. It wrote that Sony can permanently ban both a user account and a console's hardware ID from PlayStation services. It also wrote that Grand Theft Auto VI will not run on the older firmware versions the chain requires, so an owner who stays on 13.60 to keep the jailbreak gives up that game. HotHardware said people wanting both should expect to wait "at least another few months" for an exploit on current firmware.

For an owner who does not want any of this, the defence is the one the sources describe: be on 14.00 or later. Whether 14.00 closed these specific bugs or simply moved the offsets is not said by any source we read, and with no CVE in the README there is no vendor advisory to check it against.

The same community-tooling pattern is visible on phones. Our reports on Madeira, which runs x86-64 Windows games on a stock iPhone, and on the OnePlus 15 root chain cover other cases where researchers got past a platform's own limits.

The open questions are Sony's response and whether firmware after 14.00 holds. Neither had been answered in any coverage we read by September 30, 2026.