Nintendo has patched the Switch 2’s first jailbreak, so it looks like the party is over for now

Published Nov 11, 2026, 12:14 PM EST Patrick O'Rourke is XDA's News Editor and Entertainment Segment Lead. Previously, he was Pocket-lint's Editor-in-Chief, the Editor-in-Chief of Canadian tech publication MobileSyrup, and earlier in his career, he worked as the technology editor at the Financial Post and Postmedia. He's based in Toronto. Over the past 15 years, he's written thousands of articles. Patrick has also interviewed dozens of tech industry executives and covered GDC, E3, Gamescom, WWDC, Apple keynotes, Samsung Unpacked events and more. Patrick has a BA in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University. Sign in to your XDA account Summary Nintendo has patched the Switch 2's first jailbreak with firmware 23.5.0, blocking the exploit on updated consoles. Physical cartridges can still be dumped; digital games with Game-Key Cards remain protected. Firmware 23.5.0 added no new master keys, so future hacks may return once new exploits or AI help appear. Well, it was fun while it lasted. Nintendo has reportedly patched the ns2jb Switch 2 jailbreak, which involved using the Switch programming app SmileBASIC and Civilization VII. Following the exploit, a wave of Switch 2 system files and game images hit the internet, leading to a surge in emulators and translation layers, including The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time becoming playable on PC and Mac. The jailbreak's creator even showed off a modded version of Mario Kart World running on their Switch 2. In simple terms, the exploit took advantage of a vulnerability in order to access the console's filesystem module and execute native code with some system-level permissions. Future physical game releases can still be dumped from Switch 2 consoles that have already been jailbroken It's unclear how long it'll take for the handheld to be hacked again Unfortunately, Switch 2 firmware update 23.5.0 puts an end to that fun. According to several notable Switch hacking community Twitter users, including @OatmealDome, the latest Switch 2 firmware update blocks the exploit, making it impossible to dump and mod games from updated handhelds. Those with Switch 2 consoles that have already been jailbroken can still use their unlocked consoles as long as they don't update to the latest firmware. Given that the initial Switch 2 exploit was uncovered with a lot of help from AI, it likely won't be long before someone enlists Claude to jailbreak the handheld's latest firmware again. According to @SwitchTools, Nintendo hasn't introduced new master encryption keys with firmware 23.5.0. As a result, physical cartridges can reportedly still be dumped, though this won't be possible with digital releases with Game-Key Cards. It's worth noting that the patch notes for Nintendo's firmware update don't acknowledge the exploit, though this isn't exactly surprising.