Activision says it fixed a 'workaround' in Call of Duty anti-cheat that banned 'a small number of innocent players,' but a cheat maker claims they could ban anyone by typing two words into chat

black ops 6
(Image credit: Activision Blizzard)

The nice thing about automated anti-cheat tools is they can get a lot of good done in a short amount of time. Take Call of Duty's Ricochet anti-cheat, a kernel-level program that's banned hundreds of thousands of cheater accounts in the years since its introduction. The bad thing about automated anti-cheat is that, sometimes, its deep access can be used for evil. Activision revealed today that it recently "disabled a workaround" in its systems that banned innocent players.

"RICOCHET Anti-Cheat identified and disabled a workaround to a detection system in Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone that impacted a small number of legitimate player accounts," a tweet from the Call of Duty Updates account today said. "We have restored all accounts that were impacted. An examination of our systems was conducted for safety and monitoring will continue."

The statement doesn't mention what exactly this troublesome workaround was, but it's possible Activision closed an exploit that allegedly allowed anyone to weaponize Ricochet against any account they wanted. Yikes.

In an article posted on Twitter (first spotted by The Verge), cheat developers claim that people have been using this "remote perma ban" exploit for months to target random players and well-known streamers, and all it took to get someone banned was to type two words into chat while they're in the same lobby: "Trigger Bot".

The gist of the exploit, if accurate, is that Ricochet creates a specific signature in your RAM to signal that a known cheat is present on your system. The cheat dev says it was possible to force a false ban by typing those signatures into chat and therefore injecting them into players' system memory. One of the detected phrases is supposedly "Trigger Bot," a type of cheat that clicks your mouse for you, so exploiters could send a message like "Nice Trigger Bot" in game chat (or through a friend request username) and trigger a ban.

At least one well-known streamer is convinced he was targeted by the exploit. Warzone streamer BobbyPoff spent weeks fighting cheating allegations online and appealing to Activision after his account was permanently banned on Oct. 3. Then yesterday his account was restored, but not before he was the subject of a parody music video called "It Wasn't Me".

We can't verify the exploit is real (and can't exactly test it now if Activision just fixed it), but the claims are at least consistent with Activision's description of the problem as a "workaround of a detection system". It's also unclear how many accounts could have been caught up in this mess—Activision says a "small number," but who knows what that means when it regularly hands out bans in the tens of thousands.

It Wasn't Me - BOBBYPOFF BANNED - TheMainDevent - YouTube It Wasn't Me - BOBBYPOFF BANNED - TheMainDevent - YouTube
Watch On
Morgan Park
Staff Writer

Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though.

Read more
black ops 6 season 1
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has now banned 136,000 accounts as part of the ongoing struggle to ensure fair play but still says that IP banning isn't an option
Ghost, from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022), looks bleakly at a fellow passenger in a transport.
For COD’s sake: One player’s 763-day legal quest to make Activision unban their account ends in total success: ‘Worth the effort’
Marvel Rivals units - Three superheroes
Marvel Rivals admits that it accidentally banned some players for trying to run the game in a different operating system, which isn't cheating
talk to the joneses fortnite
Epic will give Fortnite cheaters 'a second chance' with a new, more forgiving ban policy, as long as they didn't do anything too awful or illegal
A zombie santa with six fingers leaps at the screen.
Call of Duty admits it's using generative AI to 'help develop some in-game assets', and suddenly all those poorly made calling cards make sense
talk to the joneses fortnite
Epic sues Fortnite cheater, donates his winnings to charity, forces him to publicly apologise, bans him for life, and all but sends him to his room without dinner
Latest in Call of Duty
A soldier looks out over the Verdansk map, as a single tear rolls down his cheek.
The original Verdansk map is returning to Call of Duty: Warzone, to celebrate which we get a soldier crying to Nat King Cole
black ops 6 season 1
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 3 has been delayed, as the devs say they're 'taking the time to deliver a great experience' for what will be a 'big moment' for Call of Duty
A zombie santa with six fingers leaps at the screen.
Call of Duty admits it's using generative AI to 'help develop some in-game assets', and suddenly all those poorly made calling cards make sense
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in Black Ops 6.
Call of Duty's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover costs like $90 and even the die-hards are in shellshock: 'Cash cow-abunga!'
Ghost, from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022), looks bleakly at a fellow passenger in a transport.
For COD’s sake: One player’s 763-day legal quest to make Activision unban their account ends in total success: ‘Worth the effort’
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2 will let players battle on boats and bullet-trains, with the Terminator entering the fray 'shortly after launch'
Latest in News
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'