Nintendo takes Wii U games ‘Mario Kart 8’ and ‘Splatoon’ offline over security issues

Nintendo has taken Wii U titles Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon offline indefinitely while it attempts to resolve security issues. “This network service is currently unavailable due to urgent maintenance required to fix a vulnerability related to online play,” reads a message posted to Nintendo’s website at 11:30PM ET on Thursday. “We do not yet have information on when network services can be restored. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.”

As VGC notes, the vulnerability could be related to an exploit that allows an attacker to take control of a victim’s system simply by way of being matched with them in an online multiplayer game. Dataminer OatmealDome suggested the issue is “almost certainly” due to ENLBufferPwn.

Mario Kart 7 on the 3DS was previously vulnerable to that exploit. Several Switch games apparently were too, including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Nintendo Switch Sports and Splatoon 2 and 3. Nintendo has seemingly patched all of those titles to protect them against the exploit.

A video posted by YouTuber PabloMK7 in December shows ENLBufferPwn in action on Mario Kart 7. It’s used to inject custom firmware onto …read more