FuenteI'll explain the principles of this hack. You need to understand how SSL works, and a few more things, and that's it.
SSL creates an encrypted tunnel between 2 points, the CLIENT and the SERVER. A CLIENT can be a web browser, or a PS3 for example. A SERVER is a website.
Each CLIENT and SERVER has to have matching certificates.
There are 5 or 6 companies that make SSL certificates. When you install your web browser it comes with certificates pre-installed from all of those companies. When you want to make a server that uses SSL, you go to one of those companies that buy your certificate because their certificates are already installed on all browsers.
Each SERVER certificate is linked to a web address.
So say you go to your bank's website. Your browser makes a connection, and the SERVER responds and says here is my certificate for bank.com, and I got it from company X. Your browser looks in its list of certificates for a certificate from company X. If you have one, the connection works.
The PS3 connects to Sony servers, and Sony's certificates are all purchased from the company called Verisign. The PS3 has Verisign certificates already installed on it, just like your web browser.
For this hack, you need to fake a sony webserver, but you do not have a verisign certificate for a sony server.
So you make a fake certificate good for a sony server address on your own. When the PS3 asks your proxy server for the sony server you give it the fake certificate you made. But there's a problem. The PS3 does not trust your certificate, it only trusts Verisign certificates.
So, you must install your fake cert on the PS3. These certs are held in dev_flash. So you do that. Now the PS3 connects to your proxy server, and it pretends to be a sony server and gives the PS3 the fake cert, and the PS3 believes your proxy server because you installed the fake cert already. Now the PS3 will encrypt its data with your fake cert instead of the real versign cert, and your fake cert on the proxy server can unencrypt the data. Now you can modify the data.
Once your proxy server modifies the data, it sends it along to the real sony server and off you go.
(to the techies, yes I know, they are signed not purchased, etc etc. but that just confuses the issue)