Microsoft launched the Xbox One in 2013. The console, which did not perform very well commercially, was still an achievement for Microsoft, with Dave Weston, the company's director of OS security, calling it “the most secure product Microsoft has ever produced, and probably the most secure product.” [device] “Out there.”
To hackers, these words were like a red cloth to a bull, and what followed was a 13-year effort to prove Microsoft wrong and hack the console.
Now that task has been completed, as one hacker used a Voltage hacking flaw to bypass the console's security, allowing “unsigned code loading at any level” and accessing the secure processor to decrypt games, firmware, and more.
Microsoft's unhackable Xbox One gets hacked 13 years after launch
At the recent RE//verse 2026 conference (via Tom's Hardware), hacker Markus 'Doom' Gaasedelen revealed that he did the unthinkable and hacked the Xbox One. Gaasedelen called it a “rite of passage” for newly released consoles to be hacked, but said the Xbox One was never hacked because “there was some kind of iron curtain coming down on security.”
He cited Microsoft using “black magic” for security and cracking the console was like “slaying a dragon,” but that didn't stop him. He used a method called “Voltage Hacking Glitch” to damage the console, performing impossible tasks and unlocking God Mode in the process.
I'm not a technical expert, so if you want to dig deeper into the specifics of the steps Gaasedelen took, I recommend watching the video embedded above, but here's a cliff note:
In 2019, Xbox Security Stack creator Tony Chen said, “The only software mistakes we can't recover from are [In the Xbox One] This is a bug in the bootrom.” That was Gaasedelen's method. He used two voltage faults in quick succession, one of which skipped a loop in which the ARM Cortex memory protection was configured, and the other targeted a Memcpy operation. This method proved successful.
Because it targets a specific part of the hardware, there is no way to patch the flaw. Therefore, this is considered a complete compromise. This opens the door to future development through consoles along with emulation.
This Xbox hack marks the first time ever that a 2025 Denuvo game has been decrypted. Hackers are thriving.
- brand
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microsoft
- original release date
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November 22, 2013
- Original MSRP (USD)
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$499, £429, €499
- operating system
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Proprietary, Windows-based
- processor
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1.75GHz AMD 8-core APU (stock and One S) / Custom 2.3GHz AMD 8-core APU (One X)
- solve
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720p – 1080p (All) / 1440p – 4K UHD (One S & X)
