The Nintendo Switch has been the talk of the industry among developers and players alike for the past month or so but did you know that some of the minds behind the Super Smash Bros and Kirby franchises helped out with the hybrid tablets’ development?
HAL Laboratories recently shared an image of the 32 staff members who worked on the Nintendo Switch system software and development kits. HAL staffers were responsible for the implementation of the console’s web browser, the Mii library functionality as well as working on the Software Development Kit and game development environment used by developers.
Here is the image of the team courtesy of Nintendo Everything:
Less than two weeks after the console launches two hackers were able to run unsigned code on a commercial Nintendo Switch tablet thanks to the Webkit browser used in places like the E-Shop. This exploit in particular takes advantage of the browser implementation that is used on the confirmation page of free Wifi hotspots such as those found in hotels or airports.
By being able to run unsigned code these two folks are able to get “Hello World” proof of concepts and other examples of the fledgling Nintendo Switch hacking scene. In the following YouTube video @LiveOverFlow gives a very technical step by step breakdown on how this particular exploit works. It turns out that the Nintendo Switch’s Webkit version is so old the same vulnerability was found in Apple’s iOS 9.