According to fans, a "serious exploit" found in the "Dark Souls" systems could allow hackers to steal a victim's account, plant malicious malware, and brick an infected device.
The severity of this issue prompted Bandai Namco to temporarily shut down its PVP servers for "Dark Souls 3," "Dark Souls 2," and "Dark Souls: Remastered."
There is no update on how long this system fix could last.
Dark Souls PvP Down Explained: A Dangerous Exploit Discovered
User TripleBrownMeow shared full details of the security exploit on Dark Souls Reddit. The post said that "it is now possible for 'Dark Souls 3' invaders to run code on your PC without permission. AKA RCE, Remote Code Execution. This same hack is possible in Elden Ring."
Kotaku further elaborated on the issue in its report, saying that malicious hackers can use the exploit to invade a victim's device. Once in full control, a hacker can steal sensitive data like user accounts and passwords. The hacker can also execute malicious programs like bitcoin miners or spyware without the victim's awareness.
Lastly, users should be warned that this exploit could be used to "brick a computer." This implies that hackers can destroy an infected device's software or firmware, causing system-level damage. When this happens, a device might no longer start or even function, resulting to a dead device called a "brick."
Bandai Namco officially acknowledged the issue in the Reddit post. They commented, "Thanks very much for the ping, a report on this topic was submitted to the relevant internal teams earlier today, the information is much appreciated!"
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'Dark Souls' Exploit Currently Being Fixed
Shortly after the exchange on Reddit happened, the Dark Souls official Twitter account announced that "PvP servers for Dark Souls 3,' 'Dark Souls 2,' and 'Dark Souls: Remastered' have been temporarily deactivated to allow the team to investigate recent reports of an issue with online services. Servers for 'Dark Souls: PtDE' will join them shortly." The team promptly apologized for the inconvenience.
This downtime does not affect PvP servers for Xbox or PlayStation consoles.
— Dark Souls (@DarkSoulsGame) January 23, 2022
Notably, the exploit discovered was only applicable for PC platforms. Gamers on the Xbox and PlayStation consoles can continue to play their games without issues.
The recent tweet led many fans to believe that the team is working to resolve the exploit discovered. However, Bandai Namco didn't share more details.
'Dark Souls' Down: The 'Elden Ring' Release Date
It is worth noting that developer teams might be rushing to fix the exploit because it is linked to the incoming "Elden Ring." According to IGN, it is scheduled to officially release on February 25, so both developers and gamers hope the issue will be fully resolved by the date.
"Dark Souls: The Elden Ring" will be playable on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. Hopefully, more updates about the game and its security fixes will be available later this week.
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