CS2's Recent Wallhack Exploit Explained
Over the past few days, a recent development in CS2 has turned game lobbies into a Hack vs Hack disaster, with a significant amount of individuals exploiting a new bug in the CS2 game files that gave players wallhacks. The bug was recently discovered, and after a streamer played with it live on stream, many individuals caught on and began to exploit the bug.
The bug gave players the ability to see enemy hitboxes through walls, essentially giving them wallhacks that would usually require a download or purchase, but this bug was nothing more than a command in the game.
The exploitation of the bug broke the game for 48 hours, and almost every game that one played had someone abusing the bug, an extremely disappointing sight to see.
Do They Deserve a 2-Year Ban?
In response to the bug, FACEIT banned hundreds of players abusing the bug, slapping them in the face with a 2-year ban from the FACEIT client. As a result, the CS2 community has been plunged into the debate: do the players who abused the bug deserve a 2-year ban? On one hand, the exploit was accessible from the game itself, not due to any third-party software. On the other hand, the abuse of the exploit not only ruined games for players playing fairly but also can be a "gateway" into third-party cheating. If the players are willing to abuse a bug to cheat, they are probably willing to download a more hardcore cheat.
Our AC team has identified users who played on FACEIT with the cheat exploit and bans are currently going out to those individuals.
— FACEIT Darwin (@FACEIT_Darwin) April 7, 2024
On one side of the debate, we have an argument summed up well by analysts Pimp and Mauisnake. Both argue that while the players deserve retributions for their actions, a 2-year ban for abusing a bug is unfair.
there's no way you should be banned for TWO YEARS for using console commands even if they are exploitative in a faceit pug. reverting ELO gains (even handing out losses) is fair and a shorter ban makes sense, but 2 years is an absurd punishment
— alex ellenberg (@Mauisnake) April 8, 2024
I don't agree with Faceit handing out a 2 year BAN, I do however very much agree with them handing out BAN's.
— Jacob “Pimp” Winneche (@PimpCS2) April 8, 2024
Let me make it abundantly clear, cheating is wrong and you should not cheat, regardless of it being a 3rd party download, or exploiting a command in the console.…
On the other hand, we have individuals like Graham Pitt, Complexity's CS2 Team's General Manager, who argued that the bans were necessary to set an example.
If an example is never set, everyone will expect leniency.
— Graham Pitt (@messioso) April 8, 2024
They cheated. They got the standard punishment for cheating.
They can still play any other platform, they just cannot play faceit.
If that is a concern for their careers, maybe they shouldn't have cheated. https://t.co/zM3ZafJJrR
Professional Players Banned
The bans didn't only affect FACEIT players, though. Eternal Fire, Turkey's premier CS2 team, released two players from their academy roster as a response to their abuse of the bug. The players, Depact and Cyber, allegedly "used an in-game console code that allows cheating in CS2 during a FACEIT match played yesterday," which refers to the wallhack exploit discussed in this article.
Some individuals complained that a career-ruining punishment such as this was not the optimal solution. Similarly, Pimp explained that "a 2 year BAN is career-defining, and using an exploit in a PUG for 1-2-3 rounds doesn't warrant for someone's career to be defined," and suggested that FACEIT should "Give people a BIG slap on the wrist, make them known that cheating is not allowed on Faceit at all. However no need to kill anyone's career in that process, given the circumstances."
Conclusion
There is no real answer to the question of whether or not these bans were warranted. Did the players intentionally abuse a console command to cheat in a game? Yes. Do they deserve punishment for cheating? Of course. Should player's careers be ended as a result of a mistake like this? Probably not. Does FACEIT need to set an example that cheating is never tolerated? Yes.
The situation is extremely complicated, and it's going to be hard to solve it without making at least some amount of people upset. In the end, it is the decision of FACEIT to ban the players, and if they feel that the ban is just, it is within their rights to carry it out.