Hot on the heels of the discovery of the the PlayStation 3 private root key, and its subsequent leakage by iPhone hacker Geohot, the first custom firmware for the formerly inpenetrable console has been released.

A code wrangler known only as Kakaroto reckons he has created the world's first custom firmware for the popular console - although if you're expecting it to help you play pirated games, you might be a little disappointed.

Kakaroto says that, because of legal and copyright issues, he won't be publicly releasing his own version of the jiggered firmware, but has provided all of the tools needed for anyone with a bit of Linux nous to create their own, based on an official Sony firmware update.

The aforementioned fenagled firmware does little more than adding an 'Install Package Files' option to the console's XMB operating system, but it's only a matter of time before someone with a less-mainstream opinion of copyright law builds a publicly distributable firmware that will leave the PS3 wide open to piracy.

"This is just the first attempt at custom firmware, and it only contains a minor modification to allow you to install pkg files directly," says Kakaroto. "Eventually we’ll get some more options added to it in the future. This is just starting to get interesting!"