Source check: October 10, 2026. Menu wording and project capabilities can change. Verify the linked primary documentation before following a procedure.
Platform and security terms
Firmware / system software: The installed console operating software. A hardware model and its installed firmware are separate identifiers. A guide’s version requirement concerns the recorded system-software version, not the name printed on a retail box.
Vulnerability: A defect that can permit unintended behavior under particular conditions. Exploit: A technique or implementation that uses such a defect. A disclosed defect does not necessarily come with a reliable, public, ready-to-use chain for every affected machine.
Entry point: The initial application or interface through which a chain begins. Userland: Application execution outside the kernel. Userland access can be constrained by the process’s privileges, available APIs, and sandbox.
Kernel: The privileged core that manages operating-system resources. Kernel read/write: A capability to inspect or alter certain kernel memory. It should not be equated automatically with unrestricted kernel code execution.
Hypervisor: A layer that supervises execution beneath an operating system. NIST’s glossary provides the general virtualization definition. In PS5 research, distinguish a kernel capability from overcoming a hypervisor-enforced restriction. Cryptogenic’s original IPv6 exploit README is a useful historical example: it explicitly separates memory access from code-execution and patching limitations. That project’s limitations describe that implementation, not every later PS5 development.
Execution and development
Payload: A program delivered to an execution environment to perform a task, such as starting a service or displaying output. The filename alone does not reveal its effects or required privileges.
ELF: Executable and Linkable Format, a structured binary format containing information used for linking and loading. Its sections and program headers have different roles; a file ending in .elf is not automatically compatible with every loader. The ELF specification is the primary format reference.
Loader: Software that accepts an executable and prepares it to run. Entrypoint: The routine where execution begins. A loader’s calling convention and a payload’s startup code must agree. Relocation: Information used to adjust references when loading or linking a program.
SDK: Software Development Kit: headers, libraries, runtime support, and build tools for creating programs. Toolchain: Compiler, assembler, linker, and related build utilities. ABI: Application Binary Interface, the low-level conventions governing how binary components interact.
Offset: A location relative to another address. Firmware-specific offsets can change between builds, so “same program, different firmware” is not necessarily a safe substitution. Symbol resolution: Finding the runtime address for a named function or object.
Packages and enablers
PKG: A package used for distributing installable content in the PlayStation ecosystem. In community instructions, inspect whether a package is original homebrew and which environment it requires. FPKG / fake package: A scene term for a package constructed for an environment with altered acceptance rules; it is not an official ownership entitlement.
HEN: Homebrew enabler, a community term for software that enables additional homebrew behavior after required access has been established. etaHEN’s repository calls its project an all-in-one homebrew enabler and documents its toolbox and services. The label does not independently establish exploit compatibility or permanence.
Daemon: A background service. Port: A numbered network-service endpoint. Two projects can provide similar services on different ports; use the installed project’s documentation.
Preservation and recovery
DNS: Name resolution. Local network: Communication among nearby devices. Internet isolation: A network policy that restricts outside connectivity; it is broader than changing a resolver.
Backup: A copy made for recovery. Restore: Replacing data from such a copy under the tool’s documented rules. Update: Installing system software through a supported workflow. Reinstallation: Sony’s destructive system-software recovery workflow. Downgrade: Moving to earlier system software, which should not be assumed possible from a reset or backup.
Use these distinctions while reading Getting Started, Homebrew Development, and Recovery and Reinstallation. Precise terms make compatibility claims and troubleshooting reports much easier to assess.