Activision Patches Black Ops 2 Ports to Fix Account-Bricking Exploit

Activision has deployed an emergency security patch for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 ports of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 to address a severe profile-bricking vulnerability, the publisher announced. It turns out that taking a trip down memory lane in a legacy shooter occasionally comes with the unexpected souvenir of a locked profile—a bit like visiting a museum and leaving with your hands glued to the exhibit.

The hotfix targets a security flaw that allowed malicious users to corrupt player data and trigger false ban notifications, according to Activision. For nostalgic players jumping back into the 2012 classic, the sudden "account banned" warnings looked like a permanent eviction. Activision clarified that these messages are entirely temporary side effects of the exploit, rather than real enforcement actions from the security team.

The details

• Affected systems: PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 ports
• The threat: Exploit allowing bad actors to brick profiles and trigger false ban alerts
• Publisher action: Emergency security patch deployed
• Account status: Confirmed that "banned" messages from the exploit are temporary and fake

With the patch now live, players can safely return to the multiplayer lobbies of yesteryear, secure in the knowledge that their old loadouts won't suddenly dissolve into a digital paperweight.