In a recent turn of events, a hacker known as Vizor has admitted to exploiting a loophole in Activision’s anti-cheat system, leading to the wrongful banning of numerous Call of Duty players. This revelation contradicts Activision’s earlier claim that only a small number of players were affected by a bug in their anti-cheat system back in October. Vizor made this disclosure during an interview with TechCrunch, shedding light on the severity of the situation.
According to Vizor, he could have continued exploiting the flaw undetected for years if he had not targeted high-profile players. The hacker found pleasure in manipulating the system, describing it as amusing to abuse the exploit. Zebleer, a cheat developer well-versed in the Call of Duty hacking community, introduced Vizor to TechCrunch and affirmed that he had been aware of Vizor’s activities for months.
The hacker discovered a clever method to bypass Activision’s Ricochet anti-cheat system, which was rolled out in 2021. Vizor learned that Ricochet utilized specific hardcoded text strings as “signatures” to detect cheaters. For instance, one of the strings identified by Vizor was “Trigger Bot,” a cheat that automatically fires a player’s weapon when their crosshair aligns with a target. By sending a private message containing one of these signatures to another player, Vizor could trigger an unjustified ban.
Despite Activision’s efforts to update their anti-cheat system with new signatures, Vizor continued to employ his method over several months. Surprisingly, Activision has not yet addressed the hacker’s claims. An anonymous source familiar with the company’s security operations revealed to TechCrunch that Vizor’s technique could have easily circumvented Ricochet. The source criticized Activision for banning players based solely on a memory scan of the “trigger bot” signature, branding it as “incredibly foolish” and suggesting that the company should have implemented better protection for their signatures.
The aftermath of Vizor’s actions has raised concerns about the efficacy and reliability of Activision’s anti-cheat system. The incident serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerability of online gaming platforms to malicious exploitation. Players and security experts alike are eagerly awaiting Activision’s response and hoping for a swift resolution to prevent similar incidents in the future.