Communication Processor Update Package

Updates to the communication processor are stored within a special CPUP package contained within Development kit (DEM or PDEL) PUP files.

In firmware .940 and .945 (and their subsets) exclusively, the CPUP are embedded within encrypted Update Packages.

CpUp Structure

Each CpUp shares a common header, in little-endian.

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	u32	MAGIC "CpUp"
0x4	u32	Version
0x10	u32	Unknown, always 0x01000000
0x14	u32	Full CPUP size
0x18	u32	Payload/data start address
0x1C	u32	Extracted/decrypted CPUP size

Every Playstation Update (PUP) up to version 0.996.090 ship with 2 distinct CpUp update files sharing the same version value for platforms ES1 and ES2 (and later) respectively.

Every version after version 1000 is only a single CpUp ships per Playstation Update.

CP board id

• DEM-3000H has the CP board id 3
• DEM-3000L has the CP board id 4
• PDEL-100x has the CP board id 4

CP version

Here are the different CP versions identified as of today:

CPUP Header	CP Version	System Software Version	CP Platform	CpUp SHA256
00060004	0604	0.902	ES1	ada895a81cc6c71382eb8e84444d9b512f9349999636f8baa921919c02a51ee3
00060004	0604	0.902	ES2	ad10843589b88ba63438cd7a0ef2fd42f3e4d22ff5917ff845c8d80f030c386e
00080508	0858	0.931	ES1	11861ef73bebd95653dcdaa77454a7b3520c890a043b831d07a0b68389af1ab2
00080508	0858	0.931	ES2	2aaf8610f306385d395ccb8aaeaa245388f58ee4b2bf689dc40b99e9e4a5a10f
00090100	0910	0.940	ES1	7452fadcd867861bf5c852f8019814fd063ea46276391234e4a3b38ef4473352
00090100	0910	0.940	ES2	de98625e0bb2410c9e3aa775b6968cfdfeebdbe186b4af29c8ce620d29b9a68d
00090200	0920	DEM-3000H Recovery	ES2	n/a
00090203	0923	0.945	ES1	9cf6da719c78f5674a0b0bb7042a2b4eac599a93afe75a04d573af1e69763c3e
00090203	0923	0.945	ES2	d774e280067950c69e6ebaf585ee636ae0bfc7078d3261186e5ee000fa8ef863
00090501	0951	0.990	ES1	aef385dd3651b94df6ab61a6ae5578e2f0e5361efabb08ca243734a2e463348e
00090501	0951	0.990	ES2	fc47823201ba6ce2b4010db64ec4001fc807166c1a3a732629abedcbd6c94afd
00090600	0960	0.995.000	ES1	f0ed013839eb9e69c73ec0308b341078d6c5f46984355c9b8ef11e098eae5814
00090600	0960	0.995.000	ES2	71c15860ef68b6ab0bff8d44776d47fad592ec3efaa8fe6cfd80a351fd0a9422
00090604	0964	DEM-3000L Recovery	ES2	n/a
00090700	0970	0.995.070	ES1	91d41950af1c619663455d79430ac9fde2f2bbfce9ca32c612fbbbe7f318a6cd
00090700	0970	0.995.070	ES2	9197cb159aebec2e1ea39e879ab7ecf1222df6f36e75548f5c4821c7a2fbd1f6
00090708	0978	0.996	ES1	b3bc194db1a07d7a2165b94a6f9031bcf3f6232c31d2e7e0c49f5869d6610db6
00090708	0978	0.996	ES2	31bd4495f97311b5eec636c4eb7744604c76d535ffe707cbac590f54158726cb
01000000	1000	1.000.041	ES2	0a97fec5726dd2588cdb3e388d6f6bbb4780001269afca58ea6f4ace9ff50c48
01000001	1001	1.000.071	ES2	b8554c110b7ab1bc26476c417fdf0eca3b37afaf513009ff9331529e39b76e6b
01000002	1002	1.030 / PDEL-1001 Recovery	ES2	d863715a2733aca58f8ec17d96079ba3150d31df35738a3e287739babdd161e4
01000106	1016	1.500	ES2	ce654edc6801709e35ee80df6224ede77a072073dc7772293398ed518e165788
01000300	1030	1.600	ES2	eb96c2e1e45d5e95b975e9f07e90f9e38d1d69a9041aa9d06f90f8f13a91392c
01000800	1080	1.800	ES2	f8caa537dddd4a4a0c90276c9d718dd2262a91addda9bdccbb410aa85e2cc1a3
01010000	1100	2.000	ES2	f92e3c497cc9d8e729442463b11f7c93759a23fb3e2f14d05142f7bc9a08a7e6
01010702	1172	2.120	ES2	bcf9551a8d8c0b64d3d7a5ea5e861ded24cab4eee37cdc352d615b8310a063c5
01010904	1194	2.500	ES2	ff175d1b5806794c4c1d5bdc111f6b04bdb18b031a73ac51e94d95e6c6e30d9e
01020001	1201	3.000	ES2	f9faa70d20263179cfea0d5f95684148a2de12dffa7dbe187aafc4a2dcfb8676
01030001	1301	3.100	ES2	dc1320f5a3c98ba4ad80d4a9c04a957641a44167bbfac30b2597cff3cac49af4

Kernel Boot Loader logs

The Kernel Boot Loader and Non-secure Kernel Boot Loader respectively reference the current CP version in their bootlog (the version issued by KBL appears in the console output), this follows the below standard:

KBL:

Starting PSP2 Kernel Boot Loader [0x%08x]: %d...revision   : %d.build date : %s.....cp info.   : bid.%x ver.%04x

NSKBL:

Starting PSP2 Kernel Boot Loader (Non-secure) [0x%08x]: %d...BOOTSW.......%d: 0x%08x....: CP time...: CP bid & version

Where bid. is the Board id and ver. is the CP firmware version For example "bid.4 ver.1301" stands for board id 4, CP version 1301

in NSKBL format the information is logged in the following format: "0x00041301 [0x00041301]: CP bid & version" Where 0x0004 is the mask for bid (Board id 4) and 0x1301 is the mask for version (Version 1301).

These version information appear to most likely be read from sysroot at offset 0x44 (length u32 in little endian, 0x01130400 for bid.4 ver.1301, or 0x00041301 with the proper endianness)

psp2ctrl info

You can get additional information by using the sdk's psp2ctrl info command. Information is displayed as such:

DEM-3000H in normal mode

 CP:
   BoardVersion: 3
   PackageVersion: 0.9.6.0
   RecoveryPackageVersion: 0.9.2.0
   ProtocolVersion: 1.0.7.0
   Flags: 0x0

DEM-3000H in recovery mode

 CP:
   BoardVersion: 3
   PackageVersion: 0.9.6.0
   RecoveryPackageVersion: 0.9.2.0
   ProtocolVersion: 1.0.5.0
   Flags: 0x1

DEM-3000L in normal mode

 CP:
   BoardVersion: 4
   PackageVersion: 1.0.3.0
   RecoveryPackageVersion: 0.9.6.4
   ProtocolVersion: 1.0.7.0
   Flags: 0x0

PDEL-1001 in normal mode

 CP:
   BoardVersion: 4
   PackageVersion: 1.3.0.1
   RecoveryPackageVersion: 1.0.0.2
   ProtocolVersion: 1.0.7.0
   Flags: 0x0

PDEL-1001 in recovery mode

 CP:
   BoardVersion: 4
   PackageVersion: 1.3.0.1
   RecoveryPackageVersion: 1.0.0.2
   ProtocolVersion: 1.0.7.0
   Flags: 0x1

Note: The flag exposed in the above examples is the recovery mode flag, while the flag is set to 0x1, recovery mode is active and the CP is running from the recovery bank.

Update

The Communication Processor is updated through the use of the SceDeci4pCpup module.

Downgrade

The Communication Processor on PS Vita Development units is not downgradable within normal operations (even when downgrading the unit itself using a PUP). It may be possible to downgrade by using the psp2ctrl recover-cp cpupdate.bin command while in recovery mode where cpupdate.bin is a CPUP of a version equal or higher to the RecoveryPackageVersion, it may also be possible to downgrade from the vita side by patching or bypassing the version check performed by SceDeci4pCpup.

Recovery mode

In the event that the CP becomes unresponsive a special recovery mode exists, to enter this mode you need to press the "init" button (physically located at the bottom of the CP) while the AC is plugged in, the CP will then reboot into recovery mode (the led will turn blue, then green). If your unit is connected, you will get disconnected from TM server until you reconnect the usb, you may still experience timeouts when running the psp2ctrl info command, if so your SDK binaries might not be compatible with the version used in the recovery bank and you may need to use older ones.

While in recovery mode, until the AC gets disconnected, the CP will be running its recovery package firmware, while this essentially acts as a downgrade, the version located in the active bank will not change, the version reported by the CP is not the running version but rather the version that's currently flashed in the normal/active bank, it is therefore not possible to downgrade a unit by updating to a PUP while in recovery mode because the version reported will still be higher than the CPUP present inside the PUP.

While this does not permanantly downgrades your CP firmware, this is however useful in the attempts of triggering a possible vulnerability that would have been patched on a later revision.