A security vulnerability in the PC version of Grand Theft Auto (GTA) Online is enabling hackers to remotely add, change or delete players’ stats, steal in-game money and ranks, and even permanently corrupt players’ accounts by banning or deleting them from game servers.
For those unaware, GTA Online is a story-driven online multiplayer action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. The game was originally released on October 1, 2013, and receives free content updates.
The security vulnerability was first revealed by credible GTA insider Tez2 along with the evidence of the flaw, which was later validated by moderators of the GTA Online subreddit.
The bug is allegedly allowing a partial remote code execution “RCE” in the PC game client that could allow malicious hackers access to remotely activate malware on PCs running the game as well as breach the security of the computer.
According to a changelog seen by BleepingComputer, the North GTA Online cheat developer added these new “features as part of its 2.0.0 release” on January 20, 2023.
The vulnerability associated with the exploit has already received an official CVE designation and is being tracked as CVE-2023-24059.
The CVE description of the bug reads, “Grand Theft Auto V for PC allows attackers to achieve partial remote code execution or modify files on a PC, as exploited in the wild in January 2023.”
While the new and abusive features added by the developer of the North GTA Online cheat on January 20, 2023 were removed on January 21, 2023, the damage has already been done affecting many users.
According to Tez2, Rockstar is already aware of the situation and has been logging any affected accounts before the first mod menu started abusing the new exploits.
Rockstar is aware and have been logging any affected account before the first mod menu started abusing the new exploits.#GTAOnline https://t.co/eDtVrOGXQn
— Tez2 (@TezFunz2) January 21, 2023
Soon after the issue surfaced online over the weekend, Rockstar too has now confirmed that it is aware of potential new exploits in GTA Online for PC.
The developer said it is aiming to resolve this in an upcoming planned security-related Title Update. It has also encouraged players to reach out to Rockstar’s Support page for any related problems.
We are aware of potential new exploits in GTA Online for PC, which we aim to resolve in an upcoming planned security-related Title Update.
If you think you might have experienced any related issues, please reach out to Rockstar Support: https://t.co/Yqqj0SEDwa
— Rockstar Support (@RockstarSupport) January 23, 2023
While the official fix has yet to be released by Rockstar Games, it is advisable for players to avoid playing the GTA Online game on PC until then.
