A newly discovered vulnerability in the code of GTA Online allows unscrupulous depositors on PC to skim other players’ money, lower their reputation levels, and even lock them out of the game altogether.
Twitter user Tez2 (Opens in a new tab) He recently highlighted the issue – which he claims was discovered by a fellow Twitter user HarryGotTaken (Opens in a new tab) Clarifying that this exploit allows cheaters to “remotely add/remove/modify your stats and permanently corrupt your account aka ban/delete”. Tez2 has warned GTA Online players not to play for now while cheaters can still exploit the exploit, or to “avoid playing without a firewall rule”.
News of the exploit has spread to the GTA Online community as well. Thousands have responded to a post by a Reddit user PapaXan (Opens in a new tab) which highlights Tez2’s tweet and encourages GTA Online players to report the issue to developer Rockstar,
Although the exploit only affects those playing the game on PC, it’s scary to see cheaters have the ability to completely corrupt other players’ accounts. To make matters worse, there are accounts of players receiving unwanted “gifts” from pirates and then being banned by Rockstar on the grounds that they benefit from the exploit (Via Hacker News (Opens in a new tab)).
#GTAOnline PC High Alert New extreme exploits have appeared that allow cheaters to remotely add/remove/modify your stats and permanently damage your account aka ban/delete. Avoid playing without a firewall rule or playing at all! . pic.twitter.com/tyh4tCInMLJanuary 20, 2023
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While this exploit is particularly bad, cheating has long been a problem in GTA Online. I’ve seen a number of Reddit threads (Opens in a new tab) Numerous Grand Theft Auto Online cheating issues have come to light over the years.
Likewise, Rockstar’s Red Dead Online Also suffered at the hands of hackers. led this Some (Opens in a new tab) To claim that Rockstar simply wasn’t fighting cheaters at all – something the developer denied in Interview with PCGamesN (Opens in a new tab).
Grief and cheating are some of the oldest online games themselves, however, developers often design proactive responses in order to protect their communities. Call of Duty: The Famous Vanguard Troll cheaters to death By making enemy players invisible to any detected intruders, while the third-person shooter Outriders from People Can Fly Permanently branded Cheaters by adding a static watermark on their screen and forcing them to match only with other cheaters.
I hope Rockstar will follow in the footsteps of other developers and seek to quickly address these new vulnerabilities. However, given their track record with past issues with cheating, I’m not holding my breath.