New GTA Online exploit takes cheating to a whole new level

A newly discovered exploit in GTA Online’s code allows unscrupulous PC mods to remove other players’ money, reduce their reputation level and even completely ban them from the game.

Twitter user Tez2 (opens in new tab) recently highlighted the problem – which he claims was discovered by another Twitter user HarryGotTaken (opens in new tab) – explaining that this exploit allows cheaters to “remotely add/delete/modify your stats and permanently corrupt your account, also known as ban/delete”. Tez2 warned GTA Online players not to play now as long as the exploit can still be exploited by cheaters, or to “avoid playing without a firewall rule”.

News of the exploit has also spread to the GTA Online community itself. Thousands have responded to a post from a Reddit user Daddy Xan (opens in new tab) highlighting Tez2’s tweet encouraging GTA Online players to massively report the issue to developer Rockstar,

While the exploit only affects those playing the game on PC, it’s disheartening to see cheaters have the power to outright corrupt other players’ accounts. To make matters worse, there are reports of players receiving unsolicited “gifts” from hackers and then being banned by Rockstar for profiting from the exploit (via Hacker News (opens in new tab)).

Hacked

While this exploit is particularly nasty, cheating has long been a problem in GTA Online. I’ve seen a few Reddit threads (opens in new tab) highlighting the many cheating problems of Grand Theft Auto Online over the years.

So is Rockstar’s Red Dead online also suffered at the hands of hackers. This lead some (opens in new tab) to claim that Rockstar just wasn’t fighting cheaters at all – which the developer denied in a interview with PCGamesN (opens in new tab).

Grieving and cheating are as old as online games themselves, but developers have often devised proactive responses to protect their communities. Call of Duty: Vanguard famous cheaters dragged to death by making enemy players invisible to detected hackers, while third-person sci-fi shooter Outriders from People Can Fly permanently branded cheaters by adding a fixed watermark to their screen and forcing them to match exclusively with other cheaters.

It is my hope that Rockstar will follow in the footsteps of other developers and try to address these new exploits quickly. However, given their track record with previous cheating-related issues, I’m not holding my breath.