Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, originally released in 2009, has recently encountered a significant issue impacting its small but dedicated fan base of about 600 daily players. The PC servers on Steam for this revered classic have temporarily been taken offline due to reports of users encountering hacked lobbies that spread a self-propagating worm virus, identified as Wacatac.B!ml.
MW2’s community began reporting encounters with this malware as early as June 26. Interestingly, these were not your run-of-the-mill hacked lobbies that merely tweak your settings or mildly frustrate you. These lobbies served as hothouses for a worm virus that, upon infection, could potentially transform any player into a conduit for its propagation. The worm was coded to specifically target MW2, and strings found within the malware indicated its specialized nature. The phrase “User was randomly selected to be a spreader in modded lobbies” suggests an almost insidious mechanism of selection and dissemination.
While Activision, the game’s developer, has been less than forthcoming about the specifics of the “issue” leading to the server shutdown, its sudden move is hardly surprising. Earlier this year, they took definitive action against modding servers like X Labs, issuing cease and desist letters, to ensure safety and fair gameplay. However, it now appears that their official servers have fallen prey to an even more serious security issue.
📢 Multiplayer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) on Steam was brought offline while we investigate reports of an issue.
— Call of Duty Updates (@CODUpdates) July 26, 2023
Call of Duty has been no stranger to malicious attacks and hacks, with past incidents raising alarms about IP addresses and personal information being compromised. Although the scale of the current predicament might be smaller because of the reduced player base of MW2, the potential consequences cannot be downplayed. Each of these 600 or so players, who nostalgically engage with this 14-year-old game, now faces the risk of their PCs being compromised.
With the malware cleverly concealed within the game files as “dsound.dll”, it has the capability to spread just by joining a server. The immediate fallout has been the shutdown of the servers, but without swift action, it could signal the game’s eventual demise.
As MW2’s developers investigate the extent of this breach, an anonymous industry insider has confirmed the existence of the strings indicative of the worm within the malware. It’s a matter of some concern that, while the game’s servers remain offline, there has been no official update from Activision on their progress since the announcement of the shutdown. This has led to increased speculation and anxiety within the gaming community.
Hackers, it appears, have managed to exploit one or multiple vulnerabilities within the game to execute malicious code on the players’ computers, thus spreading the worm. Instances of malware dissemination via video games aren’t uncommon at all, though it’s typically through trojanized versions of game installers and cheats. This incident, however, underlines the increasing sophistication of such attacks and their potential impact, even on older games with relatively small communities of players.
Despite Activision’s hitherto laissez-faire approach to its older games, this episode underscores the need for companies to remain vigilant about their entire portfolio.
If you’re missing some classic Call of Duty action, don’t forget the servers for other older Call of Duty games are up as well. But, if you want something more modern, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which set a new record at launch last year, will welcome its fifth and final season next month, welcoming a bevy of features and new playable operators like Nicki Minaj. Finally, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be revealed by then as well.
