PSA: There is currently an RCE exploit being abused in Apex. It is unsure whether it comes from the game or the actual anti-cheat
I would advise against playing any games protected by EAC or any EA titles once they have fixed this or can comment. Currently, the RCE is being abused to inject cheats into streamers machines, which means they have the capabilities to do whatever, like installing ransomware software locking up your entire PC.
UPDATE: EAC claims no vulnerability on their end. This post also is non-existent on the general forum landing page despite activity.
Keep in mind that the fact of this being RCE is still unconfirmed, some other causes are still possible.
Assuming it's RCE, it's unlikely for individual players to be targeted out of many million players, so personally I wouldn't worry too much, but it doesn't hurt to not play the game or to uninstall it.
It does clear up some misconceptions, whilst not confirming nor denying the fact that there is a possible RCE Exploit, it does give some more insight.
For now, wouldn't hurt to play safe, but it's important to note that information regarding this situation remains unconfirmed and that an official statement is yet to be made.
I doubt they're going to stay silent about this issue, at least not until they've got it under control.
Usually rules about being silent regarding anything security for companies is to practice security through obscurity.
Though this issue has grown quite large, as it has affected ALGS, and is seeding panic throughout the community as an RCE Vuln can be quite the issue.
They should issue a statement at a proper time, to clear up misconceptions and to calm the community down, though as with any communication strategy, it's usually not best to issue any statements too early.
If they don't issue a statement then that would be quite problematic, so I think they will do it, but it'll probably take a while.
With the videos that show pro players being hunted down by squads of hijacked accounts (see Mande's encounter for instance) I think that the best course of action is either to uninstall Apex or not to start it up at all. While the likelihood of being specifically targeted and having your system compromised might be low, there's always a possibility that your Apex account might be hacked and recruited into the "bot army". If that happens, given the difficulties we have seen of people appealing false bans and account hijacking, it might be a goodbye to your account.
Better safe than sorry for the time being. There are plenty of other games to play.
Advising that people may not be hacked, is putting a company above people and providing false counsel to folks, it's like advising people to continue smoking because they might not get lung cancer.
If the story around this hack is true then EA has got a big problem to fix.If a hacker can remotely access my computer through Apex then I for one will not be playing.This can have very serious consequences...
It was RCE so the hacker was able to access Gen and Hal's PCs remotely and either install & run cheats or run cheats already there. Either way, EAC didn't detect anything and the wall hacks were broadcast for everyone to see. Hal was the one who said he thought he'd had aim bot installed on his machine when they suspended the match.
In any case, NOT a good day PR wise for both Apex and EAC (neither a good day for the devs ofc). Even if EAC detected something, not all bans are executed immediately. Or, IF it's an RCE vulnerability, the cheat code might've spawned within/emerged from the game process which isn't the usual scenario EAC is trying to detect and/or counteract.
My concern is that they will either not publicly address this, or if they do... they will not be honest and upfront about what is going on, so as the entire player base doesn't stop playing - spending.
Is it far fetched for me to feel EA/Respawn will not be honest if it means profit drops as hard as they can hit?
Doesn't matter if this was RCE, server side, or rootkit on compromised PCs. Destroyer showed he can do both. Month ago he has sent 30+ bots after HisWattson etc.(so server side), now he rootkited (guessing) ALGS's PCs.
This whole thing is an absolute embarrassment to EA, Respawn, and Apex.
Instead of shrugging their shoulders, EA/Respawn should of taken the game offline until further investigations, which would of determined if the game was safe to play, and to patch out any issues that they come across. (Which, they should of taken action months ago, especially when the hacker was giving pros a bunch of packs, and was even opening it on their accounts). This should of been a MASSIVE red flag that it needed to be looked into.
Also, from what I can tell, understand, and gather, Gen really didn't notice they had aimbot, and I didn't even notice they had knocked a different player until I saw the one who I thought they knocked still shooting at Gen, which at that moment the cheat GUI popped up, and Gen had to leave.
Hal on the other hand, noticed the hack, told his team, and yet stayed in the match and kept playing despite being told to disconnect. A few of the other players were even shot down by Hal while the aimbot was active by the remote hack. This to me is still considered to be cheating even though Hal didn't install the cheats.
Also, why wasn't the match ended the MOMENT the hacks were discovered? Why was it allowed to keep on being played out? The ALGS Twitter had announced afterwards that they're postponing the event due to the tournament's integrity. WHEREwas that concern when Gen unknowingly had aimbotted another, and found out they had wall hacks too? The event should of been instantly ended right then and there, especially when it became clear that it wasn't Gen's fault.
I really hope they fix the game, get a better anti-cheat, and perma ban Hal for using cheats they knew they suddenly had, and for refusing to maintain the game's fairness and integrity by staying in the match, but I won't hold my breath.
For those of you who think Hal shouldn't be banned, he literally shot players down after staying in the match, which was after saying he "just won't shoot". He understood he was given cheats, and yet didn't do anything to stop them from being used like how Gen did. This should NOT be overlooked.
If I was Hal, I would of instantly ALT + F4'ed without hesitating, told my team I got hacked, and notified the admins. NOT stay and abuse the cheats.
Hal did this to stop the event so Respawn has to do something. After Gen was hacked he even said that if this happens to him. If Gen didn't leave the match, they maybe won the game. So for me Hal didn't do anything wrong. He doesn't wanted to play duo and just wants to end this farce. The matches doesnt even count so why play it then when everyone is infected?
@Zero_KupoIf Gen didn't leave the match once he became aware that he had remote cheats enabled, then I would say he should be perma banned too, as he would be considered cheating by using the cheats.
With that being said, Hal DID do something wrong. If he only shot at the players near the bridge, went "that's not right", and then notified the admins while leaving the match, I would of agree that he "didn't do anything wrong". But he didn't, he stayed and was shooting at other players while he was still being forced to lock onto them, not to mention that he told his team that "he just won't shoot", and still continued to shoot at other players.
If playing with a cheater on your team over and over again intentionally is considered cheating, then using their remote cheats should also be considered cheating.
- Hal intentionally used the remote cheats when he continued to shoot at other teams, knowing he was being affected by remote cheats. Not only that, he refused to leave the match by telling his team he was staying, and he refused to stop shooting, like he said he would. This is disgraceful behavior.
- Gen unintentionally used the remote cheats and left with very little hesitation when he found out that he suddenly had them. It could be argued that Gen installed them himself and was cheating too, but I don't think he was, at least it doesn't seem like it to me. In the ALGS, Gen knocked down a Bloodhound off screen and thought it was the player he was shooting at. A few moments later the cheat GUI popped up and Gen backed up, told his team, put his hands in the air, and left when told to. I didn't know who Gen was until yesterday, but I have newfound respect for a stranger.
I'll also say this again, Gen suddenly having cheats should of been what had ended the ALGS match as any instance of cheating ruins the integrity and fairness of the game. Why was the match allowed to continue after cheating was reported?
Edited 1: After the ALGS match, Hal went to go into ranked, and got banned on the spot. Despite this, (and I just found out about this tweet), he's streaming on an alt while his main account is banned. https://twitter.com/ImperialHal/status/1770151571558461601 If you're banned, (be it your fault or not), and you alt, that's called ban evading.
Edited 2: Going over the videos again, did anyone else notice that Gen's inputs switched from controller, to MNK, then back to controller? Feels a little weird to do on your own intentionally, which seems to suggest that this is a PC issue, (if anything), as console doesn't have MNK support.
Hal also didn't get the chat box going off, saying it was a hack either, nor did he had any indicator of what his inputs were. I'm unsure if we can hide the buttons from the HUD, but that just seems odd. The only indication of input, (besides knowing he switched to a controller), is the "L to toggle zoom" prompt. It makes me wonder if his input switched to, and if that matters and/or plays a role.
@Midnight9746Hal did it so they would see it and stop the whole thing. He didn't install the cheats or try to win using them. Hal also said EA told him his account is suspended while they do their investigation. They don't want a bunch more data clogging his account.
Thor found malware that helped another PC connect to his today live on stream.
@hayhor Doesn't excuse the fact that he had knocked down players from another team. If he was "trying to make EA see", there was other ways to make it known, such as leaving the match and reporting it directly to the ALGS team.
Just saying, using the cheats, even to "make it be aware", is still cheating.
Also, if EA banned him to better look into things, why wasn't his account banned the moment it became known he had them? As in, the moment he told his team he had cheats, why wasn't it dealt with then? Why was he allowed to que into ranked almost an hour later before he was hit with a ban?
If the "competitive integrity" was "compromised" in match 3, why was match 4 allowed to play out? It was clear that Gen got hacked, and it should of prompted EA to investigate EVERY player who was playing in the finals to see if it was a problem for more than just Gen. They would of most likely found out Hal was compromised and would of been less embarrassed as a result.
Chill, Hal played yesterday and streamed worldwide from his smurf account (level 30 predator). It didn't affect him anyhow. Maybe he just don't have those 4000 packs from Destroyer2009 on this smurf account.
IMO, the very fact that EA/ Respawn did not and has not pulled the game pending an investigation for OUR BEST INTERESTS, should tell you everything you need to know.
EA - "We care about your money." - "We do not care about the safety of yous, your accounts, private information and so on, sorry... not sorry."
