Nintendo Switch: Critical vulnerability enabled "complete takeover of the console"

In the past few months, we have wondered about one or the other update for older Nintendo games, most recently for Mario Kart 7.

Now we know the real reason why: Nintendo has patched a critical vulnerability affecting games on the Switch, Wii U and 3DS.

what could have happened

The discovery of the exploit called “ENLBufferPwn” is attributed to PabloMK7, Rambo6Glaz and Fishguy6564, which is said to have been noticed for the first time in 2021.

And it was no small feat, according to the Common Vulnerability Scoring System Version 3.1 Calculator, the exploit had a score of 9.8 on a scale of 10.

how Nintendo Everything reported the exploit has been fixed in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, ARMS, Splatoon 2, Super Mario Maker 2, Splatoon 3, and Nintendo Switch Sports.

Along with other OS exploits, “the vulnerability could allow an attacker to take over the console entirely,” it says. An attack was therefore possible simply by being in an online session with the attacker.

Affected Wii U games, such as Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon, have not been patched and it is unclear whether they will receive patches. It is also unclear whether how many and which games could still be affected.