Apex Legends With Big Problems; Anticheat or Source Engine Exploit Allows Unauthorized Software Installation
Opponents of EA's anticheat were quick to blame this security exploit as the source of a major safety vulnerability that disrupted the finals of the Apex Legends tournament. However, the source of the exploit could also be the game engine.
Gamers, for obvious reasons, don't like cheaters, but that doesn't mean they have no reservations about protections against them. Especially when information appears that the publisher's "anti-cheat" could be used to install hostile software on the user's computer.
During the American final of the Global Series tournament, two players suddenly noticed the presence of cheats in their game (wallhack / aimbot), as shown in the clip below (via Twitch). In this way, an exploit in Apex Legends was discovered that allowed remote code activation on the user's computer (Remote Code Exploit, abbreviated as RCE; via Anti-Cheat Police Department on X).
The game developers had to interrupt the match and postpone the replay of the final indefinitely (via X).
Of course, the players aren't thrilled, not only because of the interruption of the game. The fact that the hacker was able to install "helpful" software on the player's computer confirmed concerns about the anti-cheat system (EAC). It operates at the system kernel level, and although this is an increasingly common solution (including the new EA security), many people have pointed out its potential danger.
Anticheat or Source Engine? Gamers are looking for the source of the problem
The interference with the U.S. finals seems to confirm this, though it's not clear how serious the exploit is, or even whether it's only present in Apex Legends, and if the source is the EAC. However, some gamers don't want to take the risk and, as a result, many people encourage others to avoid all titles that use this security feature. There are even lists of these games circulating on the Internet (via X / SteamDB).
However, there are also speculations that the source of the vulnerability is not anti-cheat, but the Source engine used by the devs. They cite similar issues found in Team Fortress 2 and CSGO. Apex Legends was actually developed on a heavily modified version of this technology, but it's possible that it's the exact same exploit (via Reddit).
At the moment, we don't have official information about the source of this dangerous vulnerability.
