Wii U servers Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon temporarily offline due to vulnerabilities

Nintendo has temporarily taken the servers of Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon for the Wii U console offline. The Japanese company has discovered vulnerabilities in the online servers of these games and is working on an emergency patch. When it will come is not yet clear.

On a status page from Nintendo reads that the company is providing an extended maintenance period and does not yet know when gamers will be able to play these two Wii U games online again. The company also does not provide details about the nature or severity of the vulnerabilities.

According to Twitter user and Dolphin developer OeamealDome is almost certainly about it the ENLBufferPwn vulnerability which was discovered in 2021 in Mario Kart 7 for the 3DS game console. This vulnerability allows a hacker to execute code on another online player’s game console while playing online games and access the service’s personal information on the console as well as the camera and microphone.

The vulnerability was also spotted in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Splatoon, Splatoon 2, Splatoon 3, Super Mario Maker 2, and Nintendo Switch Sports. Nintendo had already released a patch for these games, but not yet for Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon.

Mario Kart 8, Wii U