You may not want to play Dark Souls online for a while, although it is a little doubtful that you can play online. . . As Dexerto and The Verge reported, attackers discovered a vulnerability in Dark Souls 3 for Windows (and potentially Elden Ring) that could allow attackers to execute remote control and effectively take over your computer. Publishers like The_Grim_Sleeper learned about the potential damage firsthand. In this publisher’s case, the intruder launched Microsoft PowerShell and ran a text-to-speech script.
This attacker may not be malicious. A post on the SpeedSouls Discord channel claimed that the hacker tried to warn developer FromSoftware about the Dark Souls 3 vulnerability, but turned to attack publishers to highlight the extent of the problem. While few people seem to know how to exploit this vulnerability beyond the perpetrator, a patch is already in place for the unofficial Blue Sentinel anti-cheat tool.
FromSoftware and its publisher, Bandai Namco, have made their own response to the disclosure after this incident. While the security team is investigating the issues, they have temporarily shut down the player vs player (PvP) servers for Dark Souls 3 and earlier. It’s unclear when the servers will be back online. However, it can be said that From and Bandai will not be offering the service again until they are reasonably confident that players are safe. More malicious attackers can exploit this vulnerability to steal sensitive information, destroy players’ systems, and otherwise inflict serious damage. . .