Security flaw in EA’s Origin gaming client can run malicious software on your system

A major security vulnerability has been discovered on Electronics Art’s PC gaming client Origin by security researchers. According to them, the hackers could trick gamers and run malicious software on their system remotely. [caption id=“attachment_6462471” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”]  Apex Legends - Kings Canyon map. Image: Apex Legends.[/caption] As reported by TechCrunch, two security researchers Daley Bee and Dominik Penner of Underdog Security were able to discover that the Origin client could be tricked into running any application remotely on the target’s system. The Origin client is a platform where gamers can buy games published by EA. In order to run those purchased or free to play games like Apex Legends, Origin is also required just like Steam. The flaw was found only in the Windows version of the gaming client that’s used by millions of players worldwide. It could have been exploited by hackers to run any app they want on the system with the same level of privileges. This means if Origin was running with Admin privileges, the malicious software could also have been run with the same privileges and potentially cause a lot of damage. Another big potential risk was the hackers gaining access to the gamer’s accounts by hijacking a user’s account access token. A token is used to authenticate the login of a user with their credentials and anyone who gets access to it, can use their account. This means, the hackers wouldn’t even need to know the password. EA has already released an update to the gaming client that fixes this massive security lapse. So make sure that you’re updated Origin to the latest version. Gamers can download the latest update of Origin for their Windows PC from here.