Apex Legends Hacked: EAC or Source Engine Vulnerability?

Apex Legends experienced one of its most severe and bizarre moments during the most recent ALGS. Several streamers were hacked mid-tournament and were remotely given hacks like aimbot and wall-hack. Due to the incident, the ALGS tournament is postponed until further notice. In the meantime, devs and gamers have been speculating where these hacks originated, with many believing they were injected via Easy Anti-Cheat software. 

ALGS Streamers Got Hacked

The North American Finals of ALGS just experienced one of its most terrifying moments when two pro players were given hacks via an apparent virus. During their matches, ImperialHal and Genburten suddenly have hacks activated that provide them with aimbot and wall hacks, respectively. The sudden injection of these cheats forced both players to abandon the match to save the run’s integrity. 

In the wake of the situation, Respawn and EA have put the NA Finals run on a temporary halt until they can investigate the matter. The problem is unprecedented and has raised serious concerns for the integrity of the game. It has also led to mass complaints from the community about the Apex Legend’s Anti-Cheat system, which seems to fail at its job spectacularly. Players reported spotting viruses in their PCs after scanning once the issue came to light. 

How this situation happened, especially during an official ALGS tournament, has yet to be determined. The tourney being put on hold due to hacks is unprecedented for any significant esports event, so Respawn and EA’s integrity is questioned. The icing on the cake is that no one even knows how the hacks were injected into the game.

EAC Might Be Compromised

There is no official confirmation on what caused the issue, but many players have been speculating that it was injected via the actual anti-cheat system. According to X user @AntiCheatPD, he posted how an RCE exploit has been going around in Apex Legends for months. While the account did not confirm that EAC has been compromised, they did mention that it is best to uninstall any game related to EA until the issue has been resolved.

RCE (remote code execution) is a command that allows hackers to inject viruses and hacks into machines remotely. Several people have already reported being hacked in the middle of the game, which would vary from being given hacks to being remotely controlled. However, while it’s still unclear if EAC is compromised, ACPD encouraged players who participated in the tournament to protect their personal information, including changing personal details of their Discord accounts and emails. 

EA Confident About Their Anti-Cheat

While speculations are going up regarding EAC, EA itself has declared that it is confident that the RCE issue did not come from the anti-cheat system. According to @TeedyEAC, there is no RCE vulnerability from the software, but they will continue to work with any partners using their system to investigate further. If true, the problem would stem from the servers or the Source Engine. However, we cannot wholly remove doubts from EAC since being confident does not mean that EA is 100% sure that the anti-cheat is entirely free from RCE vulnerabilities. 

Source Engine Vulnerability More Likely

Many have started speculating that the RCE vulnerability is in the Source Engine. Details about an issue with the Source Code that most Valve games have been using are circulating, and devs have been doing silent security fixes that would substantiate these claims. Respawn, which uses a similar but heavily modified engine, might still need to update theirs to protect itself from RCE attacks.

If EAC is indeed in the clear, then the problem would be with Apex Legends itself. While the Source Engine vulnerability is likely, any other platform-based application may also be the target. However, Respawn hasn’t released any official details about the issue, and devs might still be investigating and making full sweeps of their systems.

Who are the Hackers

Many believe that the infamous Destroyer 2009 is behind these hacks. Genburten’s stream featured a chat during the match indicating that Destroyer2009 and R4ndom had hacked the global series. Even the Anti-Cheat Police Department shared a screenshot of communicating with the alleged hacker regarding the hack. Destroyer2009 only confirmed that he used an RCE and that it has nothing to do with Apex Legends. However, we should take this information with a grain of salt since it is unclear what the hackers’ intentions are and whether they are trying to spread misinformation.

What to Do For Now

Aside from the players who participated in ALGS, everyone with Apex Legends is encouraged to uninstall the game. A full sweep of their PCs via Virus Scans should also be made to ensure their security. Since it is still unknown whether the issue originated from EAC, the Source Engine, or other platform-based applications, gamers should uninstall or refrain from playing any EA titles. 

Players should avoid EA games in general as we wait for further confirmations from them and Respawn. It is unclear how long it will take for the investigations to complete their sweep, but it’s best not to rush these things to ensure that devs can cover and scan everything. However, both companies should prioritize resolving the matter since players are already losing faith in their games.