UDPIH: USB Host Stack exploit + Recovery Menu

It's been a while without any major exploits in the Wii U scene, so I present to you:

USB Descriptor Parsing Is Hard (UDPIH)

An exploit for the Wii U's USB Host Stack. Pronounced like "mud pie" without the M.

The write-up can be found here!

What does this mean?​

Since the USB Stack is running before anything on the PPC side of the Wii U is booted, this allows unbricking things like CBHC bricks without any soldering!


Requirements​

  • A Wii U
  • One of the devices listed below
    Note: Any other linux device capable of USB device emulation should work as well.
    Prebuilt releases are only available for the Pico and Zero.
    I will add more devices below which are confirmed to work.

Supported devices:​

  • A Raspberry Pi Pico or Zero
  • A Nintendo Switch capable of running udpih_nxpayload

Instructions​

Pico​

  • Download the latest udpih.uf2 from the releases page.
  • Hold down the BOOTSEL button on the board and connect the Pico to your PC.
    Your PC will detect the Pi as a storage device.
  • Copy the .uf2 file to the Pico. It will disconnect after a few seconds.
The Pico is now flashed and can be used for udpih. Continue with "Booting the recovery_menu" below.

Raspberry Pi Zero (Linux)​

  • Install the required dependencies:
    Bash:
    sudo apt install build-essential raspberrypi-kernel-headers
  • Clone the repo:
  • Bash:
    git clone https://github.com/GaryOderNichts/udpih.git
    cd udpih
  • Download the latest arm_kernel.bin.h from the releases page and copy it to the arm_kernel directory.
  • Now build the kernel module:
  • Bash:
    cd linux
    make
  • You can now run sudo insmod udpih.ko to insert the kernel module into the kernel.
The Zero is now ready to be used for udpih.
Note that you'll need to insert the module again after rebooting the Zero. You will need 2 USB cables, one for powering the Zero and one which can be connected to the Wii U.

Continue with "Booting the recovery_menu" below.

Booting the recovery_menu​

warning
Important notes for this to work:
  • Make sure no other USB Devices are attached to the console.
  • Only use USB ports on the front of the console, the back ports will not work.
  • If your console has standby mode enabled, pull the power plug and turn it on from a full coldboot state.
  • Copy the latest release of the recovery_menu to the root of your FAT32 formatted SD Card.
  • Insert the SD Card into the console and power it on.
  • As soon as you see the "Wii U" logo on the TV or Gamepad plug in your Zero/Pico.
    This timing is important. If you're already in the menu, the exploit won't work..
  • After a few seconds you should be in the recovery menu.
So what's this recovery menu? The recovery menu allows you to fix several bricks:
screenshot

Wii U Recovery Menu

A simple recovery menu running on the IOSU for unbricking.

Options​

Set Coldboot Title
Allows changing the current title the console boots to.
Useful for unbricking CBHC bricks.
Possible options are:
  • Wii U Menu (JPN) - 00050010-10040000
  • Wii U Menu (USA) - 00050010-10040100
  • Wii U Menu (EUR) - 00050010-10040200
On non-retail systems the following additional options are available:
  • System Config Tool - 00050010-1F700500
  • DEVMENU (pre-2.09) - 00050010-1F7001FF
  • Kiosk Menu - 00050010-1FA81000
Dump Syslogs
Copies all system logs to a logs folder on the root of the SD Card.

Dump OTP + SEEPROM
Dumps the OTP and SEEPROM to otp.bin and seeprom.bin on the root of the SD Card.

Start wupserver
Starts wupserver which allows connecting to the console from a PC using wupclient.

Load Network Configuration
Loads a network configuration from the SD, and temporarily applies it to use wupserver.
The configurations will be loaded from a network.cfg file on the root of your SD.
For using the ethernet adapter, the file should look like this:
Code:
type=eth

For using wifi:
Code:
type=wifi
ssid=ssidhere
key=wifikeyhere
key_type=WPA2_PSK_AES

Pair Gamepad
Displays the Gamepad Pin and allows pairing a Gamepad to the system. Also bypasses any region checks while pairing.
The numeric values represent the following symbols: ♠ = 0, ♥ = 1, ♦ = 2, ♣ = 3.
Note that rebooting the system might be required to use the newly paired gamepad.

Install WUP
Installs a valid signed WUP from the install folder on the root of your SD Card.
Don't place the WUP into any subfolders.

Edit Parental Controls
Displays the current Parental Controls pin configuration.
Allows disabling Parental Controls.

Debug System Region
Fixes bricks caused by setting productArea and/or gameRegion to an invalid value. Symptoms include being unable to launch System Settings or other in-region titles.

System Information
Displays info about several parts of the system.
Including serial number, manufacturing date, console type, regions, memory devices...

Credits​

Special thanks to Maschell, rw-r-r-0644, QuarkTheAwesome, vgmoose, exjam, dimok789, and everyone else who contributed to the Wii U scene!
 
Last edited by GaryOderNichts,

KaedesPiano

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Wonder if it would be possible to region change or force it to always boot into a specific resolution and framerate from this menu instead of an OS level. There's some PAL Wii VC games that would benefit greatly into using 50hz instead of the default 60hz
 

BaamAlex

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You DO know how rare they are nowadays, right? They go for around $600.
Erm...they are some sort of rare, yes. But many people out there have already an unpatched model. And as stated above, no one forces you to buy one. When an unpatched model is too pricy for you, try the other alternatives (pico or zero) :P
 

Valery0p

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It keeps getting better :D

If we can detect when we get power from the wiiu usb, can we set a timer to start this automatically after n seconds?
The wii u startup sequence timing should be deterministic enough 🤔

(sorry for the crosspost)
 

Kopimist

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My bday is coming up, if anyone asks what I want for a gift im gonna send them a link to buy a pico lol. Not bricked but hanging on to CBHC for now. Wanna have a pico on standby in case it ever bricks (someone accidentally deletes the DS title or whatever the case may be).
 

mrmagicm

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Different questions....
1 Why an unpatched Nintendo Switch? Why would a patched one won't work? I know nothing about switch as I don't have one.
2 could this hack be used to install a new os on the wiiu? (Aroma?)
Could it be used to make big changes on wiiu OS that bothers us? For exemple, find a way to make a wiiu usable without the gamepad?
 
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V10lator

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1 Why an unpatched Nintendo Switch? Why would a patched one won't work?
Cause you can't run homebrews on a Switch patched by Nintendo to not allow this? Granted you can still use modchips but at the time Gary wrote this it wasn't tested on such "patched but cracked" consoles.

2 could this hack be used to install a new os on the wiiu? (Aroma?)
Aroma isn't released, so no. For Tiramisu: It's able to launch a full blown WUPServer. Now this is pure speculation but one should be able to use this as an HB entry point and as soon as you have such an entry point it should be possible to install Tiramisu.

Could it be used to make big changes on wiiu OS that bothers us?
Not more than any other HB entry point.
 
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ChiefReginod

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It looks like the Pi Zero is sold out most places. It's probably on Amazon for inflated prices if you can actually find it with their hilariously broken search engine. But the Pi Pico seems to be in plentiful supply elsewhere.
 

mrmagicm

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V10lator: Ok, I understand now....Unpatched Switch="A Switch on which Nintendo has corrected flaws"...So to me, it should be called a "Switch vulnerable to hack " as fixes, modification, patchs are usually done by hackers. It was just my perception that was mistaking.​

 

V10lator

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@mrmagicm No need to write this with a larger font size and big (forum rules!) but yea, was just a missunderstanding. Still you have a little missunderstanding left:
Unpatched switch = First generation, with all the flaws.
Patched switch = Everything after, so where Nintendo saw and patched the software issues ("has corrected the flaws", to quote you ;) ).
 

Aheago

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A RPI pico is $5 in an authorized store here. Why would I want to solder and do all the stuff to homebrew my switch and then do things a $5 chip can already do?

And why would I solder to avoid soldering? If I solder a microchip in my switch, I would just do the solderful method to unbrick Wii Us.
The person you responded to is talking about V1 switch systems

You don’t need to solder anything to mod those
 

mrmagicm

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If I buy a switch, how can I know if it has flows? Depending on SN? It there an update site somewhere to tell?
(sorry, I'm still on wiiu)
 

V10lator

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If I buy a switch, how can I know if it has flows? Depending on SN? It there an update site somewhere to tell?
(sorry, I'm still on wiiu)
Do you know what Google is? First three google results for "switch patch SN check":
https://damota.me/ssnc/checker/
https://www.partitionwizard.com/partitionmagic/is-my-switch-patched.html
https://gbatemp.net/threads/online-tool-to-check-switch-serial-numbers.528180/

... BTW: I saw a switch on eBay some month ago. The seller didn't know what treasure this is but had an image with the SN visible in the description... It was freaking 80 € but I had just 75 € on my bank account... This f***s my mind till today... :sad:

//EDIT: Not to mention that I helped crowed-funding mod chips which never ever fruited... So a lot of wasted money and when there finally was a chance to finally grab a unpatche Switch for cheap all that was missing was 5 €... :wacko:
 
Last edited by V10lator,
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