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Motherboard Flaw Exposes Games to Cheats
19 Dec, 2025
Summary
- A motherboard security flaw could bypass anti-cheat systems.
- BIOS updates are now available to fix the exploit.
- This vulnerability threatened all existing DMA detection methods.
A significant security vulnerability affecting numerous recent motherboards has been identified, posing a threat to the integrity of anti-cheat systems in video games. This flaw could be exploited by cheaters using Direct Memory Access (DMA) hardware, potentially bypassing crucial security protections. The vulnerability specifically targeted input-output memory management unit (IOMMU) protections that were not fully initializing, creating a loophole that anti-cheat software could not detect.
In response, major motherboard manufacturers including Asrock, Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI have begun releasing BIOS updates to patch this pre-boot loophole. Riot Games highlighted that had this issue gone unnoticed, it would have completely nullified all existing DMA detection and prevention technologies on the market, impacting multiple gaming companies.
