The first known jailbreak for the Nintendo Switch 2 exists, and OpenAI’s Codex coding model did most of the technical work. Security researcher Sammy “pepsipu” Hajhamid announced the exploit, called ns2jb, in a post on X on October 22, roughly a year after the console launched, alongside footage of modded characters in Mario Kart World.
Hajhamid describes ns2jb as a software-only, tethered jailbreak, meaning it runs native code as a system module but does not survive a power cycle. The chain begins where earlier Switch 2 research left off: the console’s WebKit-based browser, which can already be pushed into executing code, but only in a locked-down, execute-only corner of memory.
To break out, Codex targeted SmileBASIC 4, a $25 programming app carried over from the original Switch, because the title had already been exploited once before and its file handling was familiar ground. Hajhamid wrote in the blog post detailing the exploit that the model found a counting mistake in the app’s file path handling, then a buffer overflow that follows from it, and that the overflow grants read and write access to the console’s memory.
An AI with a controller and a light switch
Codex never saw the Switch 2 directly. Hajhamid built a harness that gave the model controller input and video output, so it could experiment with the console the way a human auditor would, and a Bluetooth-controlled light switch that flicked the power button back on whenever a crash shut the console down. “ideally, jailbreak the Switch 2 without me,” Hajhamid wrote of the goal.
The practical requirements are narrow. The exploit needs the full paid version of SmileBASIC 4, version 4.4.9, with more than 20 MiB of save data, and the console must run system software 23.0.1 and sit on the same reachable network as a computer running Node.js 22 or newer on macOS or Linux. The Japanese-only free trial, version 4.4.6, does not work, because save files cannot be created on it.
What ns2jb unlocks is homebrew software, reverse engineering and modding of Switch 2 games, off-console save backups, and access to most of the console’s peripherals through memory-mapped I/O. It does not allow custom firmware or piracy. Nintendo is widely expected to patch or delist SmileBASIC 4 quickly, though it has not commented.
Hajhamid’s demo video shows Cinnamoroll, Peter Griffin and Hatsune Miku modded into Mario Kart World, a Switch 2 exclusive. The exploit was announced on October 22, 2026.