Hackers Find Origin Exploit, Can Get At Your PC [UPDATE]

Ars Technica reports that a vulnerability on Origin, the game platform by EA, has been found. It’s an exploit that allows Origin to become an “attack platform” that can install malware on your computer.

Under normal circumstances, the Origin website creates links which allow it to uninstall or launch games, along with other similar tasks. If a user clicks on a special Origin link created by an attacker, Origin will execute code that might be dangerous for your computer. The links start as “origin://,” so it goes without saying that you should be wary of clicking anything like that if it’s not coming from Origin itself.

This exploit is similar to one found before on Steam—only those links start as “Steam://.” It might be a good idea to set your browser such that it asks you before automatically opening either Origin or Steam links, just to be safe. Otherwise, it might open them automatically if you click on them—and it’s possible that an attacker manages to trick you into doing so.

UPDATE: EA comments:

“Our team is constantly investigating hypotheticals like this one as we continually update our security infrastructure.”

Bug in EA’s Origin game platform allows attackers to hijack player PCs [Ars Technica]