Nintendo Switch 2 jailbreak discovery could open the door to a world of mods

Unsurprisingly, Nintendo hasn’t exactly made life easy for anyone hoping to tinker with the Switch 2 beyond its intended limits. But one developer has now made a significant breakthrough, releasing a software-only Switch 2 jailbreak that works even on the console’s latest firmware.

Security researcher Sammy Hajhamid, who goes by pepsipu online, announced the achievement on X and explained how it works in a detailed blog post. The exploit, called ns2jb, works on firmware version 23.0.1 without requiring any physical modifications to the console. There are caveats, but the jailbreak may open the door to things like unofficial software and game modifications.

To demonstrate what’s possible, Hajhamid modified Mario Kart World to add some unlikely racers, including Peter Griffin, Hatsune Miku, and Cinnamoroll. The accompanying video shows the characters racing around the game.

The news has certainly caused a stir in the Switch 2 hacking community on Reddit. Some users have rushed to buy SmileBASIC 4 and take their consoles offline, fearing Nintendo could patch the vulnerability. There are already reports of the game disappearing from some regional eShops, while other Redditors have pointed to a free demo on the Japanese store as a possible alternative.

There are some important limitations. The jailbreak needs to be reapplied whenever the console restarts, and it also doesn’t provide full control over the Switch 2 or allow users to install persistent custom firmware. As such, while this is a promising step for the modding community, we’re not yet at the point where anyone can easily turn their Switch 2 into a fully unlocked console.