Activision has announced the temporary shutdown of servers for the PC version of Call of Duty: World War II due to the discovery of a critical security vulnerability. The publisher confirmed on July 5th via social media that it was launching an investigation into the exploit.
Reports of hackers targeting Call of Duty: WWII players on PC began circulating as early as July 3rd. Malicious actors were reportedly exploiting a remote code execution vulnerability to gain unauthorized access to players` computers. This access allowed hackers to perform various harmful actions, ranging from displaying offensive or mocking messages after in-game kills to installing malware, locking down devices, or even stealing personal information.
While this particular vulnerability in the PC version of Call of Duty: World War II is said to have existed for years, its severity and impact seemingly increased recently. This surge in activity coincided with the game`s addition to the Xbox Game Pass subscription service, which significantly boosted the active player count and, consequently, provided a larger pool of potential targets for the hackers. Activision has not yet provided an estimate for when the vulnerability will be patched or when the PC servers for the game will be brought back online.
Finley Holt