16.0.0

The Switch 16.0.0 system update was released on February 21, 2023 (UTC). This Switch update was released for the following regions: ALL, CHN.

Security flaws fixed: <fill this in manually later, see the updatedetails page from the ninupdates-report page(s) once available for now>.

Change-log

Official ALL change-log:

• User nicknames that cannot be used will be replaced with “???” which can be updated from the profile settings.
• General system stability improvements to enhance the user's experience.

System Titles

• New sysmodule ngc was added (0100000000000050).
• All sysmodules were updated (excluding stubbed-lbl).
• Most SystemData were updated, except for: Chinese and Korean dictionaries, Dictionary, AvatarImage, UrlBlackList, ControllerIcon, ApplicationBlackList, FunctionBlackList.
• Most applets were updated, except for: cabinet, controller, netConnect, swkbd, miiEdit, starter, maintenance.

NPDM changes (besides usual version-bump):

• boot2.ProdBoot now has access to ncm.
• friends no longer has access to csrng.
• nifm now has htc:nd access.
• nifm, ldn, ns: pl:u access was replaced with pl:s.
• ns now has access to ns:am2 and ns:su (for GetService).
• nim no longer has access to spl: (on older versions this was unused besides service-init).
• vi now has pl:u access.
• glue now has hosted-service pl:u access (moved from sdb) and access to svcCreateSharedMemory.
• fatal had access for the following removed: nvdrv:s, pl:u, vi:s.
• sdb had access for pl:u (hosted-service) and svcCreateSharedMemory removed.
• qlaunch, playerSelect, photoViewer, myPage: access to ngc:u was added.

The SafeMode bootpkgs KIP for PCV had "Default CPU Core" changed from 3 to 63.

RomFs changes:

• CertStore: "/ssl_TrustedCerts.bdf" updated and "/ssl_TrustedCerts.Ounce.bdf" added.
• ErrorMessage: updated
• BrowserDll:
  • "/browser/MediaControlsInline.css" updated
  • "/browser/MediaControlsInline.js" updated
  • "/browser/UserCssCore0.dat" added
  • "/browser/UserCss.dat" updated
  • "/buildinfo/buildinfo.dat" updated
  • "/gfxShader/" added, which contains "BrowserOffscreenDrawer.bnsh".
  • "/lyt/Browse/Page.arc" updated
  • "/nro/" The various NROs located under here were updated.
• Help: "/legallines.htdocs/img/HDMI.png" and "/legallines.htdocs/index.html" were updated.
• NgWord: updated.
• LocalNews: "/image/LnSupIntro/main_Other.jpg", "/message/EUnl/localNews.msbt.szs", "/message/revision.txt" updated.
• Eula: "/KRko/Eula.msbt.szs" and "/revision.txt" updated.
• FirmwareDebugSettings: updated
• NgWord2: updated. Added "/ac_similar_form_nx" and "/table_similar_form_nx".
• NgWordT: "/mars_dirty_words_db" updated
• applets: various UI/message/gfx data updated.
• web-applets: "/buildinfo/buildinfo.dat" and "/.nrr/modules.nrr" updated.

IPC Interface Changes

• The following interfaces were removed:
  • nn::pl::detail::IPlatformServiceManager
• The following interfaces were added:
  • nn::ngc::detail::IService
  • nn::pl::sharedresource::detail::IPlatformSharedResourceManager
• The following interfaces were changed:
  • nn::account::IAccountEntityServiceForAccountPolicy
    • Added command 910 - inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
  • nn::account::IAccountServiceForAdministrator
    • Added command 910 - inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
  • nn::account::baas::IAdministrator
    • Added command 161 - inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
  • nn::account::baas::IManagerForSystemService
    • Added command 161 - inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
  • nn::account::nas::IOAuthProcedureForNintendoAccountLinkage
    • Added command 200 - buffers: [9, 9, 9], inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0, outinterfaces: ['nn::account::detail::IAsyncContext']
  • nn::am::service::IApplicationFunctions
    • Removed command 34 - buffers: [5], inbytes: 0, outbytes: 1
  • nn::am::service::IDebugFunctions
    • Added command 51 - inbytes: 4, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 300 - inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
  • nn::am::service::IHomeMenuFunctions
    • Added command 50 - inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 51 - inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
  • nn::aocsrv::detail::IAddOnContentManager
    • Added command 300 - inbytes: 8, outbytes: 0, pid: True
    • Added command 301 - buffers: [6], inbytes: 16, outbytes: 0, pid: True
    • Added command 302 - inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
  • nn::bsdsocket::cfg::ServerInterface
    • Added command 13 - buffers: [5], inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 14 - buffers: [5], inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 15 - buffers: [5], inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
  • nn::codec::detail::IHardwareOpusDecoderManager
    • Added command 8 - inbytes: 16, outbytes: 4
    • Added command 9 - buffers: [25], inbytes: 0, outbytes: 4
  • nn::dauth::detail::IService
    • Added command 3 - inbytes: 8, outbytes: 16
    • Added command 13 - inbytes: 16, outbytes: 16
  • nn::dp2hdmi::detail::IDp2hdmiController
    • Added command 7 - inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 8 - inbytes: 4, inhandles: [1], outbytes: 0
  • nn::ec::IContentsServiceManager
    • Added command 1 - buffers: [5], inbytes: 96, outbytes: 0, outhandles: [1], outinterfaces: [None], pid: True
  • nn::es::IActiveRightsContext
    • Changed command 11 - inbytes: 8 -> 16 (final state: buffers: [6], inbytes: 16, outbytes: 4)
    • Changed command 16 - inbytes: 8 -> 16 (final state: buffers: [6], inbytes: 16, outbytes: 4)
    • Added command 18 - buffers: [6, 6, 6], inbytes: 16, outbytes: 8
  • nn::es::IETicketService
    • Removed command 3001 - buffers: [22, 22, 5], inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
    • Removed command 3002 - buffers: [22], inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
  • nn::fan::detail::IManager
    • Added command 1 - inbytes: 4, outbytes: 4
  • nn::friends::detail::ipc::IServiceCreator
    • Changed command 2 - outinterfaces: ['0x7100078D58'] -> ['0x710007990C'] (final state: inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0, outinterfaces: ['0x710007990C'])
  • nn::fssrv::sf::IFileSystemProxy
    • Added command 10 - buffers: [25], inbytes: 16, outbytes: 0, outinterfaces: ['nn::fssrv::sf::IFileSystem']
    • Changed command 206 - inbytes: 4 -> 8 (final state: buffers: [25], inbytes: 8, outbytes: 0, outinterfaces: ['nn::fssrv::sf::IStorage'])
    • Removed command 609 - buffers: [25], inbytes: 0, outbytes: 16
    • Changed command 610 - inbytes: 0 -> 1 (final state: buffers: [25], inbytes: 1, outbytes: 24)
  • nn::fssrv::sf::IFileSystemProxyForLoader
    • Changed command 0 - inbytes: 8 -> 16 (final state: buffers: [26, 25], inbytes: 16, outbytes: 0, outinterfaces: ['nn::fssrv::sf::IFileSystem'])
  • nn::hid::IHidDebugServer
    • Added command 25 - inbytes: 28, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 26 - inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 3000 - inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
  • nn::hid::IHidServer
    • Added command 26 - inbytes: 8, outbytes: 0, pid: True
  • nn::hid::IHidSystemServer
    • Removed command 1130 - inbytes: 16, inhandles: [1], outbytes: 0, pid: True
  • nn::ncm::IContentManager
    • Added command 15 - inbytes: 4, outbytes: 0
  • nn::ncm::IContentStorage
    • Changed command 19 - inbytes: 16 -> 17 (final state: inbytes: 17, outbytes: 24)
    • Changed command 20 - inbytes: 16 -> 17 (final state: inbytes: 17, outbytes: 24)
    • Changed command 27 - inbytes: 32 -> 33 (final state: inbytes: 33, outbytes: 24)
  • nn::nim::detail::INetworkInstallManager
    • Changed command 10 - outbytes: 88 -> 96 (final state: inbytes: 16, outbytes: 96)
  • nn::ns::detail::IApplicationManagerInterface
    • Changed command 21 - outbytes: 0 -> 1 (final state: buffers: [22], inbytes: 16, outbytes: 1)
    • Removed command 604 - inbytes: 16, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 611 - inbytes: 16, outbytes: 0
  • nn::ns::detail::IDocumentInterface
    • Changed command 21 - outbytes: 0 -> 1 (final state: buffers: [22], inbytes: 16, outbytes: 1)
  • nn::ns::detail::IDynamicRightsInterface
    • Removed command 14 - buffers: [5], inbytes: 8, outbytes: 1
  • nn::pdm::detail::IQueryService
    • Changed command 4 - outbytes: 40 -> 72 (final state: inbytes: 16, outbytes: 72)
    • Changed command 5 - outbytes: 40 -> 72 (final state: inbytes: 32, outbytes: 72)
  • nn::pl::detail::IPlatformServiceManagerForSystem
    • Removed command 0 - inbytes: 4, outbytes: 0
    • Removed command 1 - inbytes: 4, outbytes: 4
    • Removed command 2 - inbytes: 4, outbytes: 4
    • Removed command 3 - inbytes: 4, outbytes: 4
    • Removed command 4 - inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0, outhandles: [1]
    • Removed command 5 - buffers: [6, 6, 6], inbytes: 8, outbytes: 8
    • Removed command 6 - buffers: [6, 6, 6], inbytes: 8, outbytes: 8
  • nn::ssl::sf::ISslConnection
    • Added command 28 - buffers: [5], inbytes: 4, outbytes: 4
    • Added command 29 - buffers: [6], inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 30 - inbytes: 8, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 31 - buffers: [5], inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 32 - inbytes: 0, outbytes: 2
    • Added command 33 - buffers: [6, 5, 5], inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 34 - inbytes: 4, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 35 - inbytes: 0, outbytes: 4
  • nn::ssl::sf::ISslContext
    • Added command 12 - buffers: [5, 5], inbytes: 4, outbytes: 8
    • Added command 13 - buffers: [6, 6, 5], inbytes: 4, outbytes: 8
  • nn::ssl::sf::ISslContextForSystem
    • Added command 12 - buffers: [5, 5], inbytes: 4, outbytes: 8
    • Added command 13 - buffers: [6, 6, 5], inbytes: 4, outbytes: 8
  • nn::visrv::sf::IManagerDisplayService
    • Added command 2060 - inbytes: 4, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 2062 - buffers: [5], inbytes: 4, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 2063 - inbytes: 8, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 6014 - inbytes: 16, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 6015 - inbytes: 8, outbytes: 0
  • nn::visrv::sf::IManagerRootService
    • Added command 100 - inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 101 - inbytes: 0, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 102 - inbytes: 20, outbytes: 0
    • Added command 103 - buffers: [5], inbytes: 32, outbytes: 4

BootImagePackages

All files in RomFs were updated.

Kernel

• Compiler upgrade
  • Version is currently unknown, probably ~LLVM 15?
  • Many NOPs inserted to align branch destinations to 16 bytes, many ADRP + ADD pairs replaced with NOP + ADR
    • This probably corresponds to this commit? https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/commit/4450a2a23df0e7081ca7fee3ec641774afedc2bc
      • Alexander Shaposhnikov, why did you do this, it makes diffing harder :(
  • Compiler now more frequently detecting a reusable computed offset for load/store
• KThreadStackParameters:
  • Stack parameters are now 0x10 larger.
  • The additional 0x10 bytes appear to be completely unused, at least on prod NX builds of the kernel.
• KScheduler changes:
  • Idle count tracking has been changed to use two fields ("idle count", "switch count").
    • In UpdateHighestThreads(), switching to the idle thread does idle_count = ++switch_count, and switching to a non-kernel thread does ++switch_count.
    • KProcess now has an additional array of counts ("running_thread_switch_counts"), UpdateHighestThreads() also sets running_thread_switch_counts[core] = switch_count.
  • KDebug::GetRunningThreadInfo() now only succeeds if running_thread_switch_counts[core] == Scheduler->switch_count + 1.
    • Previously, this checked running_thread_idle_counts[core] == Scheduler->idle_count, which meant the thread had to have not switched to idle between its last execution and the GetRunningThreadInfo() wait finishing.
    • Now, this requires the core to have switched directly from the target thread to GetRunningThreadInfo(), which is to say the condition is "The thread is actually running at the target time".
    • In addition, now ResultNoThread is returned if switch_count == idle_count + 1, otherwise ResultUnknownThread is returned; previously only NoThread was returnable.
      • switch_count == idle_count + 1 implies that the switch to GetRunningThreadInfo() happened from idle thread, so ResultNoThread is returned exactly when the running thread was the idle thread.
      • Otherwise, if a thread other than the idle thread was the running thread, UnknownThread is returned.
  • KSchedulerLock::Lock() now always increments count, instead of setting count = 1 when the lock owner is not the current thread.
  • Note: Several KScheduler functions have big assembly changes, but this appears to be pure compiler optimization changes with no semantic differences.
• KProcess had the creation time member deleted.
• A new KPageTable::Operate operation was added ("ChangePermsAndRefreshWithFlushDataCache")
  • Previously, all calls to Operate with ChangePermsAndRefresh would flush data cache; now, calls to ChangePermsAndRefresh do not flush data cache and calls to ChangePermsAndRefreshWithFlushDataCache do.
    • ChangePermsAndRefreshWithFlushDataCache is otherwise identical to ChangePermsAndRefresh semantically.
• QueryIoMapping now supports querying memory regions with KMemoryState_Static in addition to KMemoryState_Io.
• Some changes surrounding KIoRegion:
  • KIoRegion now uses an intrusive red black tree member for the pool list, rather than an intrusive list node.
  • KIoPool::AddIoRegion() uses the intrusive tree to check fewer regions for Contains().
  • KPageTableBase::UnmapIoRegion now takes the MemoryMapping as argument (which was passed to CreateIoRegion).
    • When mapping is MemoryMapping_Memory, the mapping following is done before unmap:
      • The region is permission changed to be uncached, using ChangePermsAndRefresh (without FlushDataCache).
      • The table's lock is released.
      • cpu::FlushDataCache() is called to flush the mapping.
      • The table's lock is reacquired.
    • All fallible operations now call KernelPanic() on failure, rather than returning the result code
• KAddressSpaceInfo::GetAddressSpaceStart()/GetAddressSpaceSize() no longer use complicated switch logic to only examine the indices with the right bit-width, and instead just iterate all indices with an if to check bit width.
• Big changes to KThread waiting/priority inheritance:
  • m_waiter_list, m_lock_owner fields were deleted.
  • New fields m_held_lock_info_list, m_waiting_lock_info were added.
    • This is an intrusive list of new type KThreadLockInfo (storing info on all locks held), and a pointer to the lock this thread is waiting on, if any.
    • There is one lock info for each address key.
    • KThreadLockInfo is slab allocated, count = # of KThreads
    • KThreadLockInfo has the following fields:
      • LockWithPriorityInheritanceThreadTree m_cv_tree; // Tree of threads waiting on the lock, this re-uses the node for condvar/arbiter.
      • KProcessAddress m_address_key;
      • KThread *m_owner;
      • u32 m_waiter_count;
  • This greatly simplifies RemoveWaiterByKey (as there is a single KThreadLockInfo representing all threads waiting on the key).
    • RemoveWaiterByKey now also has an output bool pointer for whether the lock still has waiters, rather than an output s32 pointer for # of waiters.
  • RestorePriority has been shuffled to ensure the new CV tree inside lock info has its invariants maintained across the priority set.
  • Several calls to RestorePriority are now guarded by if statements, to only invoke RestorePriority if there is a possible change in inherited priority.
• Big changes to crt0/Initialize0/KInitialPageTable/Sleep Manager:
  • KInitialPageTable::Map (and others) now take a new physical-to-virtual-offset argument, and add this to L1 table etc.
  • Changes to Initial Arguments:
    • Initial arguments are now size 0x80.
    • Initial argument pointers are no longer used; Init arguments array addresses are used directly, with presumption that no page boundary is crossed.
    • Initial arguments no longer use setup function/etc.
    • Instead of setting ep = HorizonKernelMain, Initial arguments now set ep = InvokeMain (this function was previously "InvokeEntryPoint")
    • idle stack is now retrieved from KMemoryLayout inside InvokeMain, instead of being a field inside Initial Arguments.
  • After setting up initial arguments, Initialize0 now returns to crt0, which sets sp = InitArguments[0]->sp and calls new function ("Initialize1").
    • All KInitialPageTable calls from here onward now pass g_LinearPhysToVirtDiff, and thus page table accesses are done using the Linear mapping set up by Initialize0.
  • Initialize1 does the following:
    • The initial identity mapping is unmapped in its entirety.
      • The single-page containing crt0 + interrupt vectors is re-identity-mapped as R-X.
      • PageAllocator for this is an extremely simplified new InitialPageAllocator type, which always has exactly two free pages to be allocated.
    • All remaining logic which used to be in Initialize0 happens here, with no changes.
  • TurnOnAllCores now calls a helper function ("TurnOnCore") to turn on the cores.
    • void TurnOnCore(__int64 core, InitArguments *argument);
    • TurnOnCore does virt->phys translation lookup (using at s1e1r) on StartOtherCore (from crt0 page) + argument, and calls smc::CpuOn directly.
      • TurnOnCore is "probably" a KSystemControl function.
  • Sleep handler thread function now sets resume entry addr = StartOtherCore, and sets up an InitArguments for each core.
    • ResumeEntry and ResumeEntryVirtual are now merged/simplified.
• Changes to pool allocations:
  • Minimum non-secure system pool size is now ~2MB larger (0x2C04000 vs 0x2A0C000).
  • Slab heap gaps size is now 0x9000 smaller (0x1A7000 vs 0x1B0000).
• KSystemControl::Initialize has been restructured (operations reordered), and now calls a helper which sets up the MT, creates system resource limit, etc.
  • This helper also modifies the KAddressSpaceInfo tables, when memory is large (these were previously read-only).
  • In particular, the following modifications are made to the 39-bit address space infos based on the total memory size:
    • size <= 8 GB: No changes (Heap Region = 8 GB, Alias region = 64 GB)
    • 8 GB < size <= 16 GB: Heap Region = size, Alias Region = 8 * size
    • 16 GB < size <= 32 GB: Heap region = size, Alias region = 128 GB
    • 32 GB <= size: Heap region = 32 GB, Alias region = 128 GB
• KSystemControl::Init::GenerateRandomRange now supports min=0, max=0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF (previously it was incorrect for this case).
• New InfoType (0x1B) ("IoRegionHint")
  • This takes a handle to a KIoRegion, and returns the low bits of the region's address.
    • If the region's size is < 0x10000, this is the low 12 bits, otherwise if size < 0x200000, this is the low 16 bits, otherwise it's the low 21 bits.
• UserspaceAccess functions no longer do adr X30, fail in the loop, now do adr X#, fail before the loop and mov X30, X# in the loop.
• All code which sets ThreadContext's pstate field now uses the mask 0xF0000000 for aarch64 threads and 0xFE0FFE20 for aarch32 threads.
  • Previously, this used the mask 0xFF0FFE20 for both.
  • This removes the ability to get/set the DIT bit for both aarch64 and aarch32, and removes many other bits for aarch64 only.
• Interrupt disable logic was removed from a number of functions:
  • KAddressArbiter::SignalAndIncrementIfEqual, KAddressArbiter::SignalAndModifyBasedOnWaitingThreadCount, KAddressArbiter::WaitIfLessThan, KConditionVariable::SignalConditionVariableImpl
• KConditionVariable::SignalToAddress now does dmb before copying updated value to userspace.
• KDebugBase functions for DebugEvents were changed to take pointer to params + count, instead of 5 parameter arguments.
  • This propagates up to many/all caller functions.
  • The only variable length parameter counts are DebugEvent_Exception + DebugException_UserBreak/DebugException_DebuggerBreak
    • This copies the variable-count parameters directly to the result exception info without maximum size check.
      • This is not exploitable, because there is no way for userspace to control parameter count, and it will always remain in bounds.
      • Presumably exception info type is larger if compiling for a target with more than 4 CPUs, to prevent out-of-bounds copies.

See Also

System update report(s):

• [1]