Okay, so here’s the scoop: some tech-savvy folks have already found a loophole in the brand-new Nintendo Switch 2. This guy, David Buchanan, jumped on Bluesky—yep, that’s a thing—to spill the beans about his latest exploit discovery. He managed to spot a glitch in the console’s shared library. Why did they call it a “library”? Always seemed like such a serious word for tech stuff.
Anyway, what he found is what they call a userland Return-Oriented Programming exploit. Sounds like a mouthful, right? Basically, it lets him mess with the program by screwing around with its return address, redirecting it to some other code. Kinda like making a GPS go haywire, sending you who knows where. When you string these things together, well, things get nuts — in this case, it makes the console throw up some trippy checkerboard visuals. Not gonna lie, that seems kind of more artsy than sinister?
I saw a picture of this and, no idea why, but it made me think of those funky optical illusion posters you stare at until your brain melts. Random, I know.
But here’s the catch — it’s only a userland trick, so it doesn’t mess with the Switch 2’s deeper layers, like its core, or give you total control over the device. Buchanan, the guy behind this, even said it’s not really useful in a practical sense. Like, it won’t let you jailbreak the thing or anything wild like that. Although some other tech folks are nodding, saying yep, it’s a real thing, so it’s not just a trick of light or something.
Speaking of Nintendo, they’re pretty fierce about guarding their stuff. Heard they might even zap your console into oblivion if you tinker with its Account Services. Sounds intense, but hey, that’s Nintendo for you. They’re clear about one thing: no software tinkering, thank you!
And since the Switch 2 just landed, it’ll probably be a hot minute—weeks, months, years?—before anyone really cracks it wide open for some custom fun. Whenever that day comes, Nintendo’s reaction will be something to watch for sure.
Oh, and by the way, if you want more updates and stuff like this, follow Tom’s Hardware on Google News. Supposedly keeps you in the loop, if you’re into that kind of thing.
