An exploit has apparently been discovered in Minecraft that can allow an attacker to get any Xbox account banned. Microsoft has so far not made an official statement on the situation, but videos are circulating that provide rather overwhelming and irrefutable evidence. The exploit has been confirmed on the Java version of the game, and it’s pretty simple to run.
According to what can be observed from the videos that are circulating in these hours, such as that of YouTuber Gtamen, one of the first to report the fact, a “spoofing” tool is available for download, which basically allows a user to send messages on behalf of another account. Just post a series of insults/swear words/banned terms with the account you want to get banned, report them to Microsoft and wait a few minutes for the automatic moderation software to intervene.
One of the most high-profile users to fall victim to the exploit was GhillieMaster, a YouTuber with nearly 300,000 followers who is very active in Minecraft, but who was banned following 21 fake violations in the space of a few days at a time when he wasn’t even playing Minecraft. The ban was triggered during a session at GTA Online, to be precise.
The YouTuber himself has confirmed in the past few hours that the ban has been removed by Microsoft. Apparently, when the news began to circulate, the human moderators of the Redmond giant had the opportunity to intervene. It is, however, interesting to note that, as the GhillieMaster himself states, the integrated appeals system once again proved to be perfectly useless – all requests for a review of the ban were rejected.
