Update: Valve has confirmed that both CS:GO and TF2 are safe, provided you play on official servers. The official Twitter accounts for both CS:GO and Team Fortress 2 both responded. After having crawled through the code, no confirmed security issues were found.
The leak of the source code for both Team Fortress 2 and CS:GO has been spotted online and has led to a lot of speculation and alarm throughout the communities for both games. The leak was spotted early this morning by Steam Database. The tweet announcing the leak has said that the code could be use to spread malicious elements to unsuspecting users, and cautioned users to not download the code, and to possibly not play online.
The code is dated back to 2017 or 2018, based on markers found in the files. The source of the leaked data seems to be that Valve shared the source code to Source engine licensees as part of the process of developing games, it seems that the older build of the game was leaked online at some point.
The leak of the source code for both Team Fortress 2 and CS:GO has led to some major security problems. The potential for exploits that would allow for malicious code to be sent to users just got much worse. The only potential saving grace is that this new code leak could be too out of date to contain relevant exploits. Still, it’s a very good idea to avoid playing these games for a while. In a report by TechRadar, Twitter user @HeavyUpdateOut – who is apparently a well-known member of the Team Fortress 2 community – is quoted as warning people not to play the game.
“Do not launch TF2 under any circumstances, Remote Code Execution exploits have already been found,” HeavyUpdate explained, “which means you can receive a virus from simply joining a server with a cheater.” The Team Fortress 2 subreddit is echoing the concern, while also saying that users should not download the code. The warning comes for both legal and security reasons.
These potential issues have caused major chaos in the communities for both games. Some server operators for Team Fortress 2 have closed down their servers until any necessary fixes for exploits are released. There have been no confirmed reports from Valve or any other source showing exploits in action, although some reports have surfaced online which show suspected, but unconfirmed, exploits.
With millions of players for these two games across the globe, there’s a ton of risk here. And not having an official confirmation from Valve has sewn more concern among gamers. We will update this story as we learn more.