"There's a software exploit that will downgrade from 9.60."

As of late 2024/2025, the only proven method to go from 9.60 to 9.00 requires a Teensy 4.0/4.1 microcontroller or a similar SPI flasher to perform a full NAND/NOR dump and rewrite .

Safe Mode will refuse to install a lower firmware. The console will say, "The update file cannot be used (CE-34788-0)." This is a hard block.