Vizor told TechCrunch that he manipulated the anticheat system to wrongly target even innocent players. He admitted to exploiting the vulnerability for amusement and believed that if aimed at unknown players, this scheme could have gone unnoticed for years.
Vizor’s actions helped expose a cheat developer named Zebleer, who was well-versed in the Call of Duty hacker community. Zebleer confessed to knowing about the vulnerability for months and closely monitoring Vizor.
The incident highlighted the ongoing battle between game developers and hackers. Over the years, hackers have attempted to bypass anticheat systems to create and sell cheats, profiting from their illicit activities. In 2021, Activision introduced the Ricochet system operating at the kernel level of the operating system to thwart hackers.
Despite Activision’s efforts, Vizor managed to exploit Ricochet against players. He discovered that the system used specific text strings as “signatures” to detect cheaters, such as the term “Trigger Bot” for automatic shooting. Vizor exploited a loophole by sending players messages containing these text strings, triggering automatic bans.
This situation with Ricochet’s vulnerability echoes past instances where hackers found loopholes in Call of Duty. In July 2023, players of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (2009) were at risk of computer infections through hacked game lobbies. Hackers exploited network vulnerabilities to spread a virus that infiltrated players’ devices, prompting Activision to temporarily shut down servers for investigation.
In March 2024, a new wave of attacks targeted the theft of players’ account data using malicious software. Attackers managed to steal passwords from game accounts and even cryptocurrency wallets through vulnerabilities and third-party cheats. Despite Activision’s assurances of server security, the incident underscored the ongoing challenge of securing game systems.