All you need to know about the recent cheating/RCE event.

[Kain]

So, as everything is very chaotic, some being super scared about RCE and nobody seems to know or find answers, heres what we know and whats right.

But first things first.
Can you play singleplayer? Yes!
Can you play in invite/friends sessions? Yes!
SHOULD you stay out of public? Yes.

Should you be worried? Yes and no. Heres why:

Certain cheat developers found out how to make things worse as it already is;
- alter players account stats. Give or take money, level/RP and so on.
- put you in bad sports lobbies for several years
- change certain values in player save data, which "corrupts" local data and forces players to delete these files
( https://support.rockstargames.com/articles/202892738/Grand-Theft-Auto-Online-save-data-could-not-be-loaded-from-the-Rockstar-cloud-servers )

This is paired with abilities cheaters already have long before this "new wave" started, like
- stalking players through multiple sessions
- force self-inviting into your invite-only/friends sessions
- crashing your game without even being in the same session as you.

All these requires the cheater to have your Rockstar ID; so this would only happen if the cheater is in the same session with you, wants to piss you off in particular or randomly found your ID.

You might have read that invite only isnt safe from these exploits, but they never were. If you havent been attacked the past years in your own private session, then you don't have to worry about it now aswell.

About the RCE Problem

There was never an actual RCE option* in these cheating tools. No, players can not just steal your data or crash your system. This is all speculation and talked POTENTIAL.

Nobody knows if RCE potential is even true or not, all we know is that it is possible, as we saw 4 years ago. (yet chances are low)
( https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/10/grand-theft-auto-v-hack-exposed-single-player-games-to-malicious-trolls/ )

*You may (or may not) still call this current exploit an RCE, as code will still be executed on your side of the game, but not outside of it.
(Edit: this might be referred to as a "partial RCE", which is the potential backdoor to a full RCE)

Now people might be confused as why alot of players are pretty worried or scared about this. First you have to understand that these news spread like wildfire and secondly, that cheat development makes alot of money, so the best way to earn money, is to make the craziest abilities and hit the biggest targets.

As I said earlier, you need the ID of certain players to directly hit them, and the most public people (like youtubers) are the easiest targets. One hit, and a complaint on social media later and suddenly you have thousands of players talking about a new "big" threat to legit accounts.

This is also the reason why Rockstar keeps their mouth shut about it. Talking about a (potential) threat, would be to legitimize it, stop players from playing (and paying), and promote the cheats to people that would like to have a taste of power.

Dont get me wrong, there is still a threat to the legitimacy of accounts, but there is no known crazy security hole that will burn your computer down. There are no RCE attacks on computers. The amount of cheaters that use these features is not as high as you are being told, and now even lower as one of the cheating tools removed the new features.

If you prefer to stay away from gta online this weekend, dont feel bad about. Better safe than sorry and gives you the opportunity to try other things out. And most importantly, try to keep up with good sources of information than clickbait and drama influencers.

https://gtaforums.com/topic/885020-psa-cheat-awareness-discussion-notices-news

[shado]

Originally posted by uebie420:

Originally posted by FEAR:

There's a simple fix to this. Delete the game or become a cringe FiveM rp'er

You forgot the 3rd option be a cringe forum poster telling people to delete the game

4th option is to tell everyone that everything is fine because you're running a overpriced mod menu and therefore you are part of the problem

[ZombieHunter]

Originally posted by Shadowi:

Originally posted by uebie420:

You forgot the 3rd option be a cringe forum poster telling people to delete the game

4th option is to tell everyone that everything is fine because you're running a overpriced mod menu and therefore you are part of the problem

There is no issue beyond local save file issues that can be corrected or local session issues which we have all seen a million times. The problem is people are trying to make this into something it is not. There is no proof that any of it is dangerous. I rather think the people that are being calm about it are the ones that make the most sense. But do what you will and believe what you want.

There is no reason to play in public lobbies anymore anyways since R* allows us to go to private sessions and still run businesses albeit at a reduced income. But that is more than worth any hassle you might get in a lobby. The game can be a blast online with friends and so that part of it has been preserved.

[uebie420]

Originally posted by Shadowi:

Originally posted by uebie420:

You forgot the 3rd option be a cringe forum poster telling people to delete the game

4th option is to tell everyone that everything is fine because you're running a overpriced mod menu and therefore you are part of the problem

Awww someones mad they got called out for being cringe, it's funny you assume I use mod menus when your the one that knows how much they cost, so how many mod menues have you spent money on?

[shado]

Originally posted by uebie420:

Originally posted by Shadowi:

4th option is to tell everyone that everything is fine because you're running a overpriced mod menu and therefore you are part of the problem

Awww someones mad they got called out for being cringe, it's funny you assume I use mod menus when your the one that knows how much they cost, so how many mod menues have you spent money on?

no, you.

[Tashnaladar]

theres another option you haven't considered or did not mention op. if events like this one destroy gta online on the pc, then the hackers will turn their attention on the xbox and playstation versions of the game. so i know ps5 and xboxers may be rejoicing right now, but long term there is a danger to them. i really hope rockstar finds an effective way to deal with this

[Tashnaladar]

Originally posted by claws2017:

Originally posted by Tashnaladar:

theres another option you haven't considered or did not mention op. if events like this one destroy gta online on the pc, then the hackers will turn their attention on the xbox and playstation versions of the game. so i know ps5 and xboxers may be rejoicing right now, but long term there is a danger to them. i really hope rockstar finds an effective way to deal with this

I wouldn't bet on it. Rockstar aren't known for caring much about their games or the players. It's all about monetization. They take players money and disappear with it...

ps5 and xbox players pay money too

[vkus-o4ka]

So if 1ucks not given about cheating and modifications anymore, how about punishing cheaters by their own means? I like the idea of patrolling open sessions messing down the accounts of all halfwits who use/request the usage of modmenus.

[Kain]

Originally posted by Bloody Paul:

So if 1ucks not given about cheating and modifications anymore, how about punishing cheaters by their own means? I like the idea of patrolling open sessions messing down the accounts of all halfwits who use/request the usage of modmenus.

Something like this was supposed to be a thing. Kinda like bad sports lobbies, but for cheaters. Cheaters only get matched with other cheaters and have to deal with each other's dindunuffins. Sadly never became a thing, as banning them makes more sense.

[Tashnaladar]

Originally posted by Kain:

Originally posted by Bloody Paul:

So if 1ucks not given about cheating and modifications anymore, how about punishing cheaters by their own means? I like the idea of patrolling open sessions messing down the accounts of all halfwits who use/request the usage of modmenus.

Something like this was supposed to be a thing. Kinda like bad sports lobbies, but for cheaters. Cheaters only get matched with other cheaters and have to deal with each other's dindunuffins. Sadly never became a thing, as banning them makes more sense.

still banning is a waste of time tho even if it makes sense. think, epic games probably gave away literally trillions of copies of this game some time ago. additionally, what is the game now in terms of cost? 15 bucks? thats nothing to alot of people, a meal at the fast food place of your choice costs more. so banning really doesn't solve the problem. what does tho? this reinforces my belief that you should only play with people you know personally that you trust implicitly, that way you dont get burned ....

[Kain]

Originally posted by Tashnaladar:

still banning is a waste of time tho even if it makes sense. think, epic games probably gave away literally trillions of copies of this game some time ago. additionally, what is the game now in terms of cost? 15 bucks? thats nothing to alot of people, a meal at the fast food place of your choice costs more. so banning really doesn't solve the problem. what does tho? this reinforces my belief that you should only play with people you know personally that you trust implicitly, that way you dont get burned ....

There are several more effective ways to keep cheaters out. Though if you ask me, just banning the account is the most lucrative. If a cheater gets banned 5 times and buys gta 5 times again, thats still 5 more sales you've made. Who then cares about some players that had a bad day thanks to that cheater?

[Zero McDol]

Thank you for the info .

[Kain]

Originally posted by Zero McDol:

Thank you for the info .

You're welcome :)

[Kain]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2815782999

[BORG]

Sorry, but it's not 'speculation'. It's reality.
https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2023-24059

[Kain]

Originally posted by BORG:

Sorry, but it's not 'speculation'. It's reality.
https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2023-24059

Have you checked the links at references? They're all just mentioning tez' tweet which also is just speculation. There are still no RCE attacks.

What is being talked about is PARTIAL RCE, which I have mentioned in my OP. Code is being executed inside the game, not outside of, as that's the only way for cheaters to change other players data after Rockstar patched the old methods.