Apex Legends Hacker Claims Exploit Used in Tournament Patched

The individual responsible for a high-profile security breach during an Apex Legends esports tournament claims that the vulnerability used to compromise professional players has been addressed by developer Respawn Entertainment.

Closing the Security Gap

The incident, which took place in March, forced organizers to halt the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) on March 17 after the hacker remotely injected cheats into the games of prominent streamers ImperialHal and Genburten. The two players command a combined audience of 2.5 million followers on Twitch, turning the mid-game disruption into a major controversy within the gaming community.

Following the event, Respawn released a series of updates. On March 19, the studio stated on X that it had initiated a “layered series of updates” to secure the player base. A second update followed on March 26, aimed at bolstering “competitive integrity.” While the developer did not explicitly confirm these patches addressed the tournament exploit, the hacker—known as “Destroyer2009″—claims the fix is effective.

Hacker’s Assessment

In an online communication, Destroyer2009 confirmed that the specific exploit utilized during the ALGS tournament is “fully patched.” The individual noted that they tested the vulnerability following Respawn’s second update announcement on March 26, though they acknowledged it could have been resolved earlier.

Despite the confirmation, the hacker has declined to provide technical specifics regarding the nature of the bug. “No one likes when severe vulnerabilities in your product are exposed publicly,” the hacker stated, adding that they and a collaborator decided against a public post-mortem of the incident.

Silence from Respawn and EA

Respawn Entertainment and its parent company, Electronic Arts (EA), have remained tight-lipped regarding the technical details of the recent security updates. Neither company responded to multiple requests for comment seeking verification on whether the vulnerability has been permanently closed.

As for the future, Destroyer2009 indicated that they do not intend to perform further public hacks against the game. The hacker cited the potential for severe legal and real-world consequences, noting that any further disruption would escalate beyond the scope of their previous actions, which they previously described as being done “for fun.”

The developer has faced additional scrutiny recently, including an unrelated botched in-game update earlier this week. Addressing this, Destroyer2009 remarked: “[I] don’t think embarrassing them even more is fair.”