The Call of Duty: Black Ops PS4 and PS5 ports have run into serious trouble, with modders actively exploiting the game’s lobbies and Activision now confirmed to be investigating the situation.
What’s Happening With the Black Ops PS4/PS5 Exploits?
Activision dropped ports of Black Ops 1 and 2 on PS4 and PS5 last week, and fans were largely pleased to see the classics back on PlayStation. That goodwill didn’t last long. Within days, modders began flooding lobbies in the Black Ops 1 port, allowing players to rank up at an absurd rate and effectively breaking the progression system entirely – with some players calling the game “unplayable.”
YouTuber Tdawgsmitty interviewed one of the modders behind the exploits to get a clear picture of what’s going on, and the root cause is pretty damning. The issue traces back to the same save-file vulnerabilities that existed on PS3.
“Essentially, what you’re doing is that it’s like PS3 where you copy [a save file] to your USB, and there’s a website that lets you unencrypt it,” said the modder. “The save data is the exact same as PS3. What sucks about this port is that Iron Galaxy and Activision didn’t bother changing the encryption on the files, which is the whole reason why this is available right now. That’s the only reason why.”
In plain terms: a security flaw from a console generation ago was simply carried over into a brand-new release, and modders spotted it, leading to the lobbies being compromised. The modder also noted that people are now selling services to have other players’ stats and games modded – a paid black market built on a decade-old oversight. On a more reassuring note, the primary source is clear that there are currently no aimbots present that let players kill others with minimal effort, so the situation, while bad, could be worse.
What Is Activision Doing About It?
Activision moved relatively quickly after the issue blew up, pulling certain playlists to limit the damage. The publisher has also confirmed to Tdawgsmitty directly that it is actively investigating these issues and working to resolve them, which at least signals these ports aren’t being left to rot.
It’s a frustrating situation for anyone who picked up the port in good faith – and it’s a reminder of how quickly older codebases can be torn apart when security fundamentals aren’t updated. Publishers addressing exploit problems is something the industry has had to get better at across the board, as seen in how other live shooters have handled post-launch technical issues on PS4 and PS5.
For now, the safest advice is to be wary of unfamiliar lobbies while Activision works through its investigation. More fixes are expected, but no concrete timeline has been given.
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