Counter-Strike 2 Security Exploit Reportedly Allows Loading External Images in-Game, Possibly More

A new security exploit in Counter-Strike 2 appears to be allowing malicious agents to display unauthorized images in-game, with potential additional consequences.


Published: December 11, 2023 11:21 AM /

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Counter-Strike 2 Terrorists in action

Today news about an ongoing security exploit within Valve's recently launched FPS Counter-Strike 2 has started making the rounds on Social Media.

According to Reddit user u/Disa_Bro, also reported by Twitter user @Ozzny_CS2 users are able to use HTML code to display external images in-game, appearing as the player's username. Of course, the well-established "TTP" (Time to Penis) industry rule applied here as well. 

Some potential consequences like executing code and detecting users' IPs are also alleged, albeit not confirmed.

Counter-Strike 2 terrorists in action during  a match

According to Reddit user u/xHypermega, a workaround to protect yourself until Valve patches the issue is to toggle "clean player name" in the game's options.

TechRaptor has reached out to Valve to hear their side of the story and inquire about a possible timeline for a solution, and we'll let you know if we hear back with anything relevant.

This is the latest of a series of issues that have hit the game over the past couple of months, starting with VAC bans delivered to players for using a feature within the then-released AMD drivers, and more bans caused by an update.

While the former took a little while to solve, the latter was fixed by Valve rather promptly. Hopefully, the solution to today's issue will be just as quick.

Counter-Strike 2 is currently playable for free exclusively for PC via Steam following its release back in September

The game was announced pretty much out of the blue earlier this year as the next iteration of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

When it launched, Valve defined it "the largest technical leap forward in Counter-Strike’s history" and pledged that it ensures "new features and updates for years to come."

If you're unfamiliar with the Counter-Strike series, it pretty much shaped the competitive shooter genre in over two decades since the launch of the original Counter-Strike in 2000.

That being said, it actually debuted in 1999 as a mod for Half-Life before becoming its own independent game the following year. It's one of the biggest examples in the industry of modders pretty much making history. 

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Started as News Editor at TechRaptor in January 2023, following over 20 years of professional experience in gaming journalism both on print media and on the… More about Giuseppe