120points · 4h ago

Hijacking the PS5's RTMP stream

yashgarg.dev·by ibobev·4h ago

Discussion 31 comments

bestnew

⌘↵ to post · markdown supported

londons_explore·30m ago

Kinda sad that it's 2026 and this data still goes over the internet unencrypted...

RTMP and all the video and audio protocols behind it aren't trivial either - I bet there are hundreds of exploits waiting to be found that any three letter agency sitting on the internet can use to take over your PS5 and all credentials stored within too...

rezonant·26m ago

Well, the server just responds with acknowledgement information, the client is doing most of the work and most of the complex parts of RTMP are hand waved and faked by both the client and the server because no one cares about how Flash used to work.

So somewhat unlikely to be able to exploit it but have at it hass.

I'd imagine it'd be easier to exploit the server side, actually.

ImpostorKeanu·37m ago

I'd kill for a Bluetooth peripheral workaround. I've a Clicks Power Keyboard that'd be great to use with the PS5.

Muromec·2h ago

Don't mind me, I'm just sitting here with my HDMI-RX port on rk3588 being happy that is works and I didn't brick the board when doing uboot update to uncurse it.

concerneddork·1h ago

Lucy, esplain please.

kotaKat·1h ago

rockchip something-or-other that's on the KiwiPi 5B. iirc it can strip hdcp and all that jazz, too? one of the ports is labeled "HDMI RX" for input.

https://kiwipi.com/blog/rk3588-hdmi-in-test/

mixdup·3h ago

Maybe I'm missing something but there seems to be a gap between "figure out the REAL hostname" and "we no longer have to worry about the stream never showing up on YouTube"

Sebb767·2h ago

The live-video.net domain belongs to Twitch. So, from what I can gather, apparently the OP switched back to Twitch streaming and the last-hop RTMP server does not use certificates.

fnctrev·8m ago

twitch doesnt actually require tls. it uses plain rtmp over port 1935 and rtmps over port 443.

Aissen·3h ago

Me too. YouTube was given up, and what the op did was to use Twitch streaming and redirect it before the forward to a TLS-verifed server, bypassing verification:

> redirects the actual stream to the Mac without any certificate issues.

rezonant·30m ago

Imagine if they just let you specify your own RTMP destination. Crazy thought, I know.

tamimio·2h ago

You can combine the last two steps the nginx and mpv with obs and gstreamer, or just gstreamer really.

PaulHoule·1h ago

Vote with your $ and get a gaming PC. Don’t let people who remember the 1990s tell you it will be a sweaty experience, install Steam and it won’t be. There are like 15 exclusive games for the PS5, what’s the point?

ImpostorKeanu·40m ago

I vote with my time by not maintaining drivers, setting profiles, and evading anticheat rootkits. Also, M$ is cancer.

sampullman·33m ago

I just click "Install" and then "Play" in Steam on my non-Windows machine. I guess you can't play Fortnight or whatever, but it works great for me.

PaulHoule·31m ago

Playing 20 or so games on my Steam Deck I had to edit one only .INI. The Steam Deck is the only device I've ever seen that pairs perfectly with AirPods every time, it beats Apple devices.

I also have a big gaming PC/AI development with a NVIDIA GPU and, yeah, NVIDIA's app to maintain drivers is a little skeezy but I just download games on Steam and they "just work" though I am not really a day one kind of gamer unless it is a new Dynasty Warriors or Fate game.

I'll grant that kernel anti-cheat sucks, if you play that kind of game and cheating bothers you well then... Maybe a locked down environment like the PS5 is a feature and not a bug.

jameslars·23m ago

You kind of undermine your own argument here. The Steam Deck is more a console than a PC, with lots of "just works" baked in either directly or through community support that makes it simple.

In 2026 I still have to mess with game settings, driver issues, and DRM garbage behavior as a primarily PC gamer. PC gaming is still a long way from "just works" and I think you probably just take for granted a lot of things you have to do to make it work vs a typical console experience.

PaulHoule·4m ago

Look, in the 1990s I was horrified of PC gaming because I was always dealing with kids who thought they were having fun with their PC whereas they were really fighting with an ugly plastic oversized joystick that fell apart two times during a level and had to be recalibrated three times. Or that it was a sweaty battle with the keyboard and mouse that reprises the sweaty battle with the keyboard and mouse I have at work and with my productive hobbies.

I got into console gaming in the late 00's and had a few portables and an Xbox 360 and a PS 3 just after they became obsolete and played through the libraries. My favorite games were games for the PS Vita from Japanese publishers like Altus, Idea Factory and Acquire. When Sony and the publishers quit investing in the Vita those games went right to Steam. And my experience with Steam is, "click on the Steam icon", pair the Xbox controller, use the controller to pick a game, and sit back. Like yeah, there still are sweaty keyboard-and-mouse games and I might even play one once in a while, but I'd say my experience on the big machine is "console like" with the condition that the kind of games I play are "console like" games.

volkercraig·32m ago

get an immutable linux distro

tantalor·1h ago

I'd rather eat poison than use Windows.

RankingMember·51m ago

https://store.steampowered.com/steamos/

zamalek·1h ago

Depending on what you play, you don't have to. But if you play draconian anti-cheat games then fair point.

freshpaint·1h ago

Don’t use Windows. Try CachyOS or Bazzite.

catchnear4321·32m ago

Sorry, already own a PS5 and the money for replacements is spoken for.

I think that was the point?

PaulHoule·13m ago

To be fair with the current RAM prices I don't want to replace any device right now!

charcircuit·2h ago

Another crypto mistake by Sony this time leaving traffic completely unencrypted.

rf15·1h ago

is it truly a security issue here? Especially relative to the machine's effort to encrypt the stream.

monster_truck·53m ago

Debatable, but historically quite a few consoles and handhelds have been popped wide open by leveraging defects or vulnerabilities in how media is handled. Without looking at an exhaustive list, I believe tif files have claimed the most victims with the next two being split between videos and then media within browsers. I'm aware this is more about out than in, but a gap is a gap and gamers will use whatever they can find.

xd1936·54m ago

My video stream sent to a public streaming audience might be seen by the public in transit!

charcircuit·31m ago

Both YouTube and Twitch allow you to do non public streams. And someone can get the stream key and stream over you. With the twitch model where stream keys don't get replaced you can imagine a secondary market place selling access to stream content on compromised channels.

tvbusy·2h ago

PS5 uses DNS to resolve where to send RTMP stream. The author found out that they cannot spoof the main server since that server uses TLS and it's not possible to make the PS5 trust self made certificate. The author then runs a real Twitch stream and monitors DNS requests and finds DNS of the server that receives the RTMP stream and spoofs only that final server. It's more of a problem with RTMP protocol/Twitch security rather than the PS5.