Nintendo Switch flaw means it's open season for 'homebrew' gamers

The freewheeling gamer's dreams have come true: Nintendo Switch devices are open for homebrew business, all thanks to an un-patchable hardware flaw, to boot.

The Nvidia chip baked into the Switch apparently has a vulnerability that can't be fixed through a remote update. Thanks to the vulnerability, people can run an exploit (or, alter the code) of their Switch devices, and Nintendo can't do bupkis. The flaw would need to be fixed at the factory level, which means all Switch devices are permanently vulnerable.

Running the exploit means people will be able to play non-Nintendo games on the Switch, or customize it in other ways -- flavor of customization generally known as "homebrew." After running the exploit, users will be able to simply insert a USB stick of games that they've downloaded, and the Switch will be forced to read them (which it wouldn't ordinarily do).

According to TechCrunch, the hack, called Fusée Gelée, was first discovered by developer Kate Temkin months ago, who disclosed it to Nintendo and Nvidia. But hackers published it on Monday, so Temkin's team went ahead and published their full documentation on GitHub, too.

Mashable has contacted Nintendo and Nvidia to learn more about whether and when the companies will be updating the Switch to address the vulnerability, and to see how badly they're freaking out.

UPDATE April 24, 2018, 2:15 p.m. E.T.: Neither Nintendo nor Nvidia has a comment on this incident at this time.