Call of Duty's upcoming Kernel-level anti-cheat driver already leaked

[Daniel Sims]

What just happened? Activision courted some controversy when it announced it was bringing kernel-level anti-cheat, which has brought about privacy concerns, to its latest Call of Duty game as well as Warzone. A recent leak could seriously complicate those plans.

A Twitter account called "Anti-Cheat Police Department," which tracks news about cheating in online games, revealed today that the driver has leaked for the "RICOCHET" anti-cheat system coming to Call of Duty: Vanguard and Call of Duty: Warzone. RICOCHET is supposed to launch alongside Vanguard on November 5 and then come to Warzone later.

"P2C devs are already reversing it, this is already very bad," the tweet reads.

Click image to enlarge.

Two screenshots accompany the tweet as proof. One shows what looks like a forum post purporting to contain a link to an obfuscated driver (above). The second shot shows the signature details of the driver, indicating Activision signed it on September 30th (below). The struggle between game developers and cheaters is always a cat-and-mouse game, but at the very least, this leak could give cheat developers a serious head start.

Activision unveiled RICOCHET just yesterday. Kernel-level anti-cheat is controversial because it gains access into a user's system so deep that it may pose a security risk. However, It is becoming increasingly popular, with games like Valorant, PUBG, and Ark: Survival Evolved utilizing it. Valorant developer Riot Games says it needs kernel-level anti-cheat to detect cheating software that itself uses kernel-level drivers. To assuage privacy concerns, Activision pointed out that RICOCHET at first won't be always-on but will only activate once you start playing Call of Duty.

In a subsequent tweet, AntiCheatPC is optimistic about the effectiveness of Valorant's anti-cheat. Their investigation seems to indicate that it's difficult to find working Valorant cheats that the game can't detect.

"Anybody that plays Valorant could probably vouch that @RiotVanguard anti-cheat Works," they write.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/91764-call-duty-upcoming-kernel-level-anti-cheat-driver.html

 

[Dimitriid]

Oh I see they're going for the Nvidia approach to new security measures: leak them before they're even officially out.

 

[m4a4]

So, they get a few weeks head start to look at an older driver (as they will probably have an updated one on launch) that was going to be in the game files anyways?

Not a big deal.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Was it wise to show their hand before Vanguard is even out?

 

[Geralt]

Oooops.

 

[Godel]

Are players having to turn off their anti-virus to run these games? AVs are usually not fond of root kits.

 

[trparky]

Are players having to turn off their anti-virus to run these games? AVs are usually not fond of root kits.

Unless, of course, the antivirus companies give them a pass.

 

[texasrattler]

So, they get a few weeks head start to look at an older driver (as they will probably have an updated one on launch) that was going to be in the game files anyways?

Not a big deal.

A 2 week old driver isn't old. This is bad on a lot of levels. It just shows that the cheating in this game isn't likely to stop as long as there is a company willing to put them out. We will see what Activision n Raven have to say but most players have lost what little faith they had left.

 

[cuerdc]

I play sometimes thinking getting to old for this not as good as I used to be, I can tell myself they are all cheating to feel a little better funny thing they probably are.

 

[Uncle Al]

Seems to me the only way you're going to stop the cheaters is to completely ban them from the servers they play on; of course that too will be a challenge ..... the never ending battle.

 

[m4a4]

A 2 week old driver isn't old. This is bad on a lot of levels. It just shows that the cheating in this game isn't likely to stop as long as there is a company willing to put them out. We will see what Activision n Raven have to say but most players have lost what little faith they had left.

It'll be 5 weeks old when the game launches. More than enough time to update it if needed.

And again, it's a dll that will ship with the game. The file was always going to get in their hands.
Not that it's even live yet to complain about it's effectiveness

 

[Pastuch]

I play sometimes thinking getting to old for this not as good as I used to be, I can tell myself they are all cheating to feel a little better funny thing they probably are.

It's both. I'm 40 years old and I've almost got my kdr to 2.0 in Warzone. I did 6 months of aim training every day which helped immensely. My human benchmark scores are the same 170ms I had when I was 30 but I take a lot of supplements and do a good amount of fitness. The problem is that I'm playing against kids half my age with 100ms reaction tiimes and uber autoaim on their controllers. I would love to play warzone with Age based matchmaking and/or mouse and keyboard only lobby. That being said, Battleroyale saved gaming for me. I need the competition. I want to sweat!

 

[FaTaL]

Why don't these companies develop these anti-cheat modules offline? in a closed network enviroment ? so people dont steal it

 

[texasrattler]

It'll be 5 weeks old when the game launches. More than enough time to update it if needed.

And again, it's a dll that will ship with the game. The file was always going to get in their hands.
Not that it's even live yet to complain about it's effectiveness

They are claiming it was a test. So you maybe right if that is true what they are saying n the driver will be changing anyways.
We will find out at the end of Nov. Let's hope this version of anti cheat does what it needs to do. Maybe just maybe this will be the start of ending cheats.

 

[texasrattler]

It's both. I'm 40 years old and I've almost got my kdr to 2.0 in Warzone. I did 6 months of aim training every day which helped immensely. My human benchmark scores are the same 170ms I had when I was 30 but I take a lot of supplements and do a good amount of fitness. The problem is that I'm playing against kids half my age with 100ms reaction tiimes and uber autoaim on their controllers. I would love to play warzone with Age based matchmaking and/or mouse and keyboard only lobby. That being said, Battleroyale saved gaming for me. I need the competition. I want to sweat!

I'm in the same age group but I have never n will never use any aim lab, aim assist nonsense. Imo it all comes down to a couple of things, natural hand eye coordination, computer hardware and in-game settings. My kd is 2.5 but I don't play Battleroyal much, I play Plunder. I like it better.
Once the anti cheat is out n may play it more if I stick with Warzone.