BTN News: Rockstar Games has issued a startling update about Grand Theft Auto Online (GTA Online) after discovering a major security vulnerability, which is bad news for the millions of players who have been playing the game since it was first released. This issue has lead to a temporary halt in the PC version of the game for one of its bestselling feature, the Casino Heists. This is, of course, in response to word of potential exploits that could lead to players’ accounts being compromised and disrupting the fairness of the game as a whole.
The red flag went up on 13 June, when insider TezFunz2 reported backend changes suggesting Casino Heist planning was being turned off for PC players. Soon after that news broke, Rockstar Games stated via its Support account on X (formerly Twitter) that a critical exploit was discovered in GTA Online on PC so Casino Heists were turned off right away.
Though Rockstar has not exposed the specifics behind the vulnerability, the speculation circulating in the community is pointing toward a remote code execution (RCE) exploit. Malicious actors could use this kind of exploit to alter in-game assets like character stats, or worse, get into players’ personal files on their computers.
Rockstar, as a result, has not only stopped Casino Heists but also stopped players from setting up the Arcade Property required to perform these heists. The problem is, thankfully, only limited to the PC version of the game, so all you console players on Xbox or PlayStation can breathe a sigh of relief and get back to your game.
In the meantime, Rockstar says PC players affected should stay in closed sessions such as invite only lobbies as a temporary workaround. The exploit has seemly not been discovered in these sessions making them somewhat safer until a fix is made available.
Although, there is currently no timeline for fixing that issue, players can get up to GTA$ 100,000 from a new contract, Agency Security Contracts which starts with The Data Leaks probe.
We will likely keep you updated on this as Rockstar addresses the issue to keep GTA Online and its massive player base safe from outside threats.
