Nintendo has announced that it has taken Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon offline due to security issues. The company posted a message on its website stating that urgent maintenance was required to fix a vulnerability related to online play. Nintendo has not yet provided an estimated time for when the network services will be restored. The company apologizes for any inconvenience caused by this situation.

Mario Kart 8

According to Dataminer OatmealDome, the issue is “almost certainly” due to ENLBufferPwn. This exploit could allow an attacker to take control of a victim’s system by simply being matched with them in an online multiplayer game. It was previously found to be a problem in Mario Kart 7 on the 3DS and several other Switch games, including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Nintendo Switch Sports, Splatoon 2 and 3. However, Nintendo has already patched those titles to protect them against the exploit.

A video posted by YouTuber PabloMK7 showed ENLBufferPwn in action on Mario Kart 7. It allowed custom firmware to be inserted onto the targeted console, and it could have potentially been used to steal account or credit card information, as well as to record a victim using the 3DS’ mic and cameras.

Although it may disappoint those still playing the games on the discontinued Wii U system, it seems that Nintendo had little choice but to take the online features offline until the security issue is resolved. Nintendo takes its privacy issues quite seriously, and it doesn’t help that Mario Kart 8 was the biggest-selling game on the Wii U, with nearly 8.5 million copies sold. On the other hand, the original Splatoon sold almost 5 million copies.

The issue surfaced just a few weeks before March 27, as Nintendo is shutting down the Wii U and 3DS eShops. After that, owners of the systems will not be able to make purchases on the digital storefronts, but they will still be able to download titles they previously bought.

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