Unity Engine exploit dating from 2017 sparks emergency patches across gaming industry

A major security vulnerability affecting Unity engine versions dating back to 2017 has triggered emergency patches across the gaming industry on October 3, with both indie and AAA developers rushing to secure their titles after Unity publicly disclosed the exploit.

According to Unity, there is a critical security vulnerability that dates back to 2017.1 of the Unity engine, which also impacts Android, Windows, and Mac OS versions of Unity games. The exploit is related to abuses that can be done within the Unity Command Line Interface, causing the Unity shell to be able to gather information that it otherwise should not be able to, with the result varying depending on the platform the Unity engine is operating on.

Any game that runs Unity from 2017 onwards must update its games as soon as possible.

If you’re not a developer, you can also patch your Unity game yourself if you’d like. It’s advised for very technical people only, but there are step-by-step instructions on the Unity site if you’d like to try it out. You can download the remediation patch and follow the instructions depending on the platform you’re on.

Studios dash to patch exploit

V Rising developer Stunlock Studios confirmed they’ve already patched client versions and are working on server client fixes. “We highly recommend patching your game and dedicated server client as soon as it’s available, as well as being very cautious about any mods you download,” the studio warned players. Wyrd Studios echoed similar concerns, recommending players “refrain from playing those games (unpatched Unity games) until a patch is released.”

For now, it might be best to stay away from older Unity games for the time being until you can see patches roll out for those games. If you’re unsure if a game runs Unity, you can always search online for your game and what engine it runs on to ensure you’re safe.