SELF File Format

SELF stands for Signed Executable and Linkable Format.

It is the format used by the executables on the PS3 (SCE Header Version 2), PS Vita (SCE Header Version 3) It consists of an elf whose sections might be encrypted using AES CTR and signed using ECDSA + HMAC-SHA1 It has a specific header here called SCE header where it stores all the parameters for this process

File Format

Notes:

• Numbers are stored in little endian format.

SELF/SCE Header

Struct

typedef struct {

 uint32_t magic;                 /* 53434500 = SCE\0 */
 uint32_t version;               /* header version 3*/
 uint16_t sdk_type;              /* */
 uint16_t header_type;           /* 1 self, 2 unknown, 3 pkg */
 uint32_t metadata_offset;       /* metadata offset */
 uint64_t header_len;            /* self header length */
 uint64_t elf_filesize;          /* ELF file length */
 uint64_t self_filesize;          /* SELF file length */
 uint64_t unknown;               /* UNKNOWN */
 uint64_t unknown;               /* value is 4 */
 uint64_t appinfo_offset;        /* app info offset */
 uint64_t elf_offset;            /* ELF #1 offset */
 uint64_t phdr_offset;           /* program header offset */
 uint64_t shdr_offset;           /* section header offset */
 uint64_t section_info_offset;   /* section info offset */
 uint64_t sceversion_offset;     /* version offset */
 uint64_t controlinfo_offset;    /* control info offset */
 uint64_t controlinfo_size;      /* control info size */
 uint64_t padding;               

} __attribute__((packed)) SELF;

Table

field	offset	type	notes
magic	0x0	u32	Must be "SCE\0"
version	0x4	u32	This must be 3
sdk_type	0x8	u16	This corresponds to the revision of the key to decrypt
header_type	0xA	u16	1 self, 2 rvk, 3 pkg, 4 spp
metadata_offset	0xC	u32	Offset to the checksums. Must be at least 20 bytes before the end of the header
header_len	0x10	u64	This is the length of the header (including the fake elf headers) The total length of the header must be less that 8KB
Encrypted size	0x18	u64	The size of the encrypted part of the self file.
unknown	0x20	u64	Must be 3
App_info_offset	0x28	u64	An offset in the header, usually at 0x70. See App info header.
elf_offset	0x30	u64	offset to the elf header
phdr_offset	0x38	u64	offset to phdr
shdr_offset	0x40	u64	offset to shdr
encrypted phdr sizes/offsets table offset	0x48	u64	Offset to a table which maps phdr entries to the actual offset/size within the encrypted fself. Because fselfs can be compressed, they might not match the values listed within the elf.
sceversion header	0x50	u64	Offset to a header which contains some version information, including an offset to the .sceversion section of the encrypted elf. The playstation 3 doesn't care about this, and doesn't even check the header
Digest	0x58	u64
Digest Size	0x60	u64

comments

The real ELF data is located after the SCE header (see header size).