GTA Online PC players hit with game-breaking exploit

A new exploit in the PC version of Grand Theft Auto Online is causing players to lose game progress and in-game currency, with some accounts being corrupted or banned. The exploit, an “external code execution”, was distributed through the developer of the North Online GTA cheat mod.

The exploit can reportedly affect anyone, not just players in the same multiplayer lobby as the attacker, according to Beeping computer. That means anyone currently online and playing the game on PC is at least theoretically vulnerable to attack. (Console players are not affected.) cafe-madrid has reached out to Rockstar for comment, and we’ll update this article if we hear back.

The company tweeted this admission of the fiasco on Monday.

North’s developer removed the offending elements on Jan. 21 and apologized (their changelog read, “poor judgment on my part for adding this audience.”) While GTA Online doesn’t block harmless community-made mods, those that do block those cheats or other hacks that spread the game’s competitive balance can affect the real world. Rockstar and parent company Take-Two Interactive have previously taken legal action against cheat makers, including the creator of an infinite money hack who was ordered to pay $150,000 plus attorney’s fees in 2019.

A workaround for corrupted accounts, which some players claim works, is to delete the “Rockstar Games” folder from the Windows Documents folder before reloading the game. However, we recommend avoiding the PC version until Rockstar cleans things up.