PS4/PS5: Al-Azif's DNS servers won't come back online just now. How this impacts you

by wololo · November 2, 2023

For years, scene developer Al-Azif has kindly been hosting some DNS Servers dedicated for hacked PS4s and PS5s, which have been widely used by homebrew enthusiasts. Unfortunately, the hacker reported recently that the DNS servers had to be taken down, and it appears they won’t come back any time soon.
Al-Azif’s DNS servers are massively used by most people who have a hacked PS4/PS5. These servers act like regular DNS servers, with the exception that they effectively “block” urls related to PlayStation Network. This is useful for those of us trying to prevent a Firmware update by mistake, and to block Sony’s telemetry. It is believed to help protect consoles from a potential ban, because of telemtry blocks.
The servers are so popular that pretty much everyone on the scene (who’s not hosting their PS4/PS5 exploit locally) is using them.
Unfortunately Al-Azif had to take those servers down for maintenance a few days ago. And now, it appears they won’t be coming back up anytime soon
The problem is simple: an actual ISP has started using the DNS server for their clients (it’s likely some automated mechanism detected Al-Azif’s servers as a “legit” DNS by mistake. After all, for most urls it behaves like one), and the amount of traffic (and associated bill) isn’t sustainable.
Al-Azif took the servers down for some maintenance, trying to find some way to detect the ISP’s traffic and filter it out. This was also done in the hope that with the DNS down, the ISP would ultimately remove it from their list of DNS to use.
Unfortunately, Al-Azif reported today that there isn’t an easy way to detect/filter the ISP related traffic, from the “legit” PS4/PS5 traffic. And since the bill associated with the new traffic is apparently around $500 a month, there’s no way this service, provided for free, can continue as is.

First of all, understand that you don’t need Al-Azif’s DNS in order to run hacks on your PS4 or PS5. But if you don’t use these DNS servers, and unless you have your own telemetry blocking solution, you’re at increased risk of either a console ban, or installing a higher firmware on your console by mistake (which would render the console un-hackable).
There are multiple solutions for you to block Sony’s telemetry without Al-Azif’s DNS Servers.
There is still hope that ultimately the involved ISP will stop using Al-Azif’s servers, at which point they will come back online. But nobody can tell for sure how long this will take (and such disruptions could happen again, so it helps to know about your other options in any case).
Source: Al-Azif
Tags: Al-Azif DNS Server FakeDNS
wololo
We are constantly looking for guest bloggers at wololo.net. If you like to write, and have a strong interest in the console hacking scene, contact me either with a comment here, or in a PM on /talk!
What idiot ISP thought it was a good idea to use this DNS server on all of their customers? Were they trying to block people from using PlayStation?
I have no idea but, isn’t like illegal to use someone elses DNS server without approval? I mean if this does rise the fee for bandwith? The ISP is using this for free and Al-Azif has to pay for it? Could it be possible to use some type of login (as a short time solution)? Guess the ISPs customers won’t like that.
I assume there are technical solutions, but I think Al-Azif is limited in time and money for a free service. I don’t think it’s illegal to use a public DNS. It’s just weird that a random ISP would do that. Technically they are badly impacting their customers: their customers that end up with this DNS will not be able to access PlayStation services or sites, and will never understand why.
It could also be as well intentional to prevent their users from hogging the bandwidth downloading stuffs from playstation like game updates. and games.
PS5 4.50, I have been using the idlesauce host through the PS3.ProxyServer on my PC and edited the hosts file to block fuk01.ps5.update.playstation.net in order to avoid updates. Now the PS5 internet browser is in the Game Library and from there I cannot start it. It says CE-109570-2 can’t start the game or app. Same when running without proxy.
I have freshtomato router firmware. Can I use the URLs to block firmware updates and telemetry but still be able to play things like Fortnite, Genshin Impact, Star trek online etc? I am on fw 11 and I have just been leaving my PS4 offline as I am not usually interested in online multiplayer, preferring story mode/offline single player. I would still like the option to play the 3 games I mentioned however if possible. I don’t want my PS4 to update just in case I have the option for emulation and Linux in the future. If it’s not possible I’m happy to just keep it disconnected from the internet.
Ps I see the json file in the link but i don’t get the way the URLs are formatted there.
Basically if you block Sony servers at the router level, all devices connected to this router will have trouble accessing the PSN. This will most likely block Fortnite and the like. You’d most likely have to have two routers (one for your hacked console, one for your gaming console)
Might have been a Sony move.
what happens if you already have the hack applied and you are in standby mode?
does it make a difference if you ‘cached’ the al-azif pages already in the ps4 web browser?
thanks!
Generally speaking, no. The problem is not with loading the hack, the problem is blocking telemetry and updates.
so, if i were to have a cfw on my ps4, have the pages cached, and not allow my ps4 to log onto the internet by blocking the network address at the router (192.168.0.XX)…would that work for safety? We don’t use the ps store so why have internet connection at all?
Yeah that would work.
can we help donate to al-azif to help keep the servers online?
In my experience there’s no way the scene will collectively pay $500 a month to pay for what boils down to a mistake by an ISP. We can’t even seem to be able to collectively donate like $1000 once to a prominent hacker. At best he’d be able to pay the bill for one month, then the next month donations would dry up.
are you calling us cheap lol
I mean… yes? But it’s not surprising: most of the people gravitating toward the hacking scene are people looking for free games in the first place (not everyone of course, but the majority). I don’t picture this kind of audience as willing to pay for any kind of service. I’m not saying it’s good or bad, by the way, just that it’s the way it is.
Just bought the LILYGO T-dongle S3 from ebay… Going to try to self host the CFW and Goldhen.
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