Call of Duty: WW2 removed from Game Pass due to hackers who hacked PCs and trolled players with gay content

Call of Duty: WW2, which recently appeared on PC Game Pass, has been urgently removed from Game Pass. Hackers, code vulnerabilities, and player trolling are to blame.

According to players and cybersecurity researchers, an exploit — remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability was found in the game. To put it simply, it allows attackers to literally take full control of other users’ PCs, install malware, and steal data. In fact, hackers can run any code on someone else’s PC without permission, right through the game.

The so-called Xbox PC version of the game, which appeared in the Game Pass library just a few days ago, was the most affected. It is still available on Steam and Battle.net, but the risks seem to apply to all PC players, regardless of the store. If earlier Activision allegedly «mistakenly» offered skins for $20-40 right in the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 menu, now it’s full-fledged PC hacking.

The exploit was discovered almost immediately after the game appeared on Game Pass. Players started publishing videos where «Notepad» windows appear during the game, desktop wallpapers change, and the system is forced to shut down. In some cases, hackers trolled more — showed gay content 18+.

In comments on the situation, the administrator of the cyber community VX-Underground with the nickname Smelly explained the situation. This attack allowed launching ransomware, RAT servers (remote administration tools), and stealing personal information. At the same time, the wallpaper was changed to a photo of a lawyer hired by Activision to fight Call of Duty fraudsters — it was obvious that they were trolling the company.

Activision has not publicly confirmed the fact of RCE. However, the company did state that Call of Duty: WWII was «disabled» while it investigated the «issue». The reason why this particular game was targeted is believed to be its old code and the lack of Ricochet protection, which appeared only in Modern Warfare (2019). In addition, WW2 still uses P2P connections, where players connect directly to each other, which makes computers vulnerable to such attacks.

No problems have been reported on consoles, as the system architecture of Xbox and PlayStation does not allow the use of such exploits. However, playing COD: WW2 is not safe to play on PC, regardless of the platform. So far, Steam and Battle.net have not removed the game, but users are advised to refrain from playing until the situation is fully resolved. At least this problem is unlikely to occur with the new Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

Source: PC Gamer