According to GTA community member and web developer Speyedr, a temporary fix is available through a custom firewall, but it is better to play in a locked session.
Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto, GTA Online on PC players should be cautious of playing the game because a new Remote Code Execution/RCE exploit has emerged, allowing hackers to gain complete control of their accounts.
This exploit allows the attackers to modify your character, edit/delete stats, and ban or delete the account.
The unofficial Rockstar news account Tez2 shared the news on Twitter after learning from one of his followers that PC players’ accounts were being hacked and even banned from the online game.
Reportedly, the hacking spree started in December 2022. Tez2 re-posted their original firewall tweet and recommended that players use the program they developed.
Since GTA Online is a multiplayer game, most of its systems are server-based. When customer account details are stored on the server side, the player information cannot be modified from PCs.
But, exploits can bypass this mechanism and manipulate the data sent to the server from a player’s client. Although a few fixes are there, there’s no method available to help you avoid becoming a target of this exploit. Anyone who logs into the game can be hacked.
#GTAOnline Warning Update:
— Tez2 (@TezFunz2) January 20, 2023
The exploit is partial remote code execution.
Paid mod menus are racing as speak to abuse this to the further extent.
This could transform into something much worse to extend beyond a game and affect your PC. https://t.co/eDtVrOGXQn
According to GTA community member and web developer Speyedr, a temporary fix is available through a custom firewall, but it is better to play in a locked session. Speyedr also stated that this added protection might not guarantee comprehensive security. Therefore, users should remove its portions from GitHub. And players of GTA Online on PC must also avoid logging into the game.
GTA Online frequently becomes a target of cybercrimes for being one of the world’s most famous online games. The latest incident, however, is unprecedented as it is threatening players’ accounts and their computers. As per Tez2, this ‘extreme exploit’ impacted users will be ‘indefinitely’ stuck in the clouds if they attempt to log on after the hacking is complete.
This is how it looks like if your account gets "corrupted" due to the recent RCE exploit on PC. Basically you'll get stuck in the clouds indefinitely when trying to enter online.
— floorball (@Fluuffball) January 21, 2023
AVOID GTAO ON PC RIGHT NOW#GTAOnline pic.twitter.com/1SqGmz38Jw
“New extreme exploits have appeared allowing cheaters to remotely add/remove/modify your stats and permanently corrupt your account, aka ban/delete. Avoid playing without a firewall rule or playing at all!” Tez2 tweeted.
Players have expressed disbelief and displeasure over the news. On Reddit, where the game’s communities have over 1.4 million members, users propose to boycott the game until Rockstar Games resolves hacking and modding for good.
Rockstar is aware of the issue and is logging impacted accounts. However, the company didn’t issue a response or take an aggressive approach to deal with the exploit.
