Dark Souls PC PvP servers disabled as Bandai Namco investigates security flaw that could affect Elden Ring

The PvP servers for all Dark Souls games on PC have been deactivated, as Bandai Namco and FromSoftware investigate reports that invading players are able to use a remote code execution (RCE) exploit to hack another person’s computer. The security flaw does not affect the PS4 or Xbox One versions of the games, but could affect Elden Ring if not fixed before its 25th February launch.

PvP servers for Dark Souls 3, Dark Souls 2, and Dark Souls: Remastered have been temporarily deactivated to allow the team to investigate recent reports of an issue with online services.
Servers for Dark Souls: PtDE will join them shortly.

We apologize for this inconvenience.

— Dark Souls (@DarkSoulsGame) January 23, 2022

The PvP servers for the entire Dark Souls series have been taken offline, meaning that you can no longer invade games of Dark Souls 3, Dark Souls 2, Dark Souls: Remastered, or the original Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition release on PC.

RCE exploits are a huge issue for Bandai Namco and FromSoftware to be dealing with, as they allow hackers to run arbitrary code that has free reign over a computer. This can be used to mess with and corrupt someone’s game save, but that’s getting off lightly when it could also install malware to capture login details, brick computers, install bitcoin miners and more. It’s critical for Bandai Namco to address this as soon as possible.

That’s especially true with Elden Ring’s release just around the corner, with claims by those who brought this to light that this exploit is also found within the upcoming game. This suggests that there is a large amount of reused networking code though FromSoftware’s games, which is logical, and hopefully means that it’s easier to diagnose and fix.

The upcoming Elden Ring is reportedly also affected by the Dark Souls RCE exploit.

Arguably, it’s the release of Elden Ring that has pushed Bandai Namco to address the issue for games that are now half a decade old. There have been reports of PC exploits over the last few years, but they have gone unaddressed up until this point. That’s a tad irresponsible, to put it lightly.

That said, the community has already stepped up. A PvP overhaul mode for Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition and the anti-cheat Blue Sentinel mod for Dark Souls 3 both claim to have patched the RCE exploit. That should give some reassurance, but the safest thing is to simply avoid Dark Souls PvP while Bandai look into it.

Source: Twitter

Source: https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2022/01/24/dark-souls-pvp-rce-exploit-elden-ring-multiplayer-servers-disabled-blue-sentinel-fix/