PlayStation Malicious Messages Locking PS4 Consoles

cm2

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So I just read it from kotaku and reddit, messaging exploits on PS4, Factory Reset should fix the problem and setting your Playstation messenger settings to "friends only" should prevent the issue:

In several threads on the r/PS4 Reddit board, users are reporting that they are receiving messages through the console’s messaging application that are hard locking their consoles. The stories all follow a similar pattern: users receive a message, their controllers and sound outputs fail, and resetting the console results in continual error loops.

While the exact cause is unclear, many users in the Reddit thread have likened the exploit to previous messaging exploits such as this one from 2015 in which a unique string of characters could crash an iPhone. In describing the PS4 message, one player wrote that it was merely a question mark in a box, suggesting that the malicious messages cannot even be displayed by the PS4.

Some users have claimed that doing a factory reset will delete the message and fix the problem, while others have claimed that the only way to fix the error is to delete the message using the Playstation mobile app or by logging into the account from a browser and deleting the message that way.

It does seem that the exploit is purely text-based, so changing your PlayStation messenger privacy settings should prevent it from happening.
 
It is disappointing that a message can break a PS4.

Messages breaking the PS4 probably won't happen if Sony created a messaging app which converts the text to an image file with the text in the image file, or post a screenshot picture file of the text in the messaging app for the PS4.
 
Sony UK has commented on the issue, read from twitter:

Ask PlayStation UK on Twitter

"We've since fixed the issue, and it wasn't bricking consoles, just sending them into a crash loop that can be quickly fixed in under 5 minutes. Delete the message on the PS mobile app, go into Safe Mode, use Option 5, console back to normal. ^DB"
 
It is kind of annoying that you need to use the PS4 mobile app to fix this problem by deleting the message with the app.
 
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