# [Speculation] The war on Denuvo may be over



## Uiaad (Dec 30, 2019)

​DRM has always been a divisive subject, from the early days of code tables and systems like LensLock to modern system like SecurOM and games that require an always on connection they generally have always managed to punish the paying customer rather than people pirating the software. In 2014 saw the first appearance of Denuvo and since it's launch we have seen reports of games performance suffering as well as reports of extra wear being placed on SSD's due to the way that the DRM operates. It's no secret that to begin with Cracking of Denuvo was slow, with games still being uncracked after months of release, but as time has gone on two veteran groups, CODEX and CPY have gone on to reduce this in to a matter of weeks rather than months.

This week has seen a massive blow to their efforts, thanks to one user ShivShubh of CorePack, who released an unfinished and stolen version of a crack for Need For Speed: Heat. When groups create cracks for games, they need to test them on a broad of a range of PCs as possible. One of the best ways to do this is to usually use a trusted 'Repack' Group, it's then fed back to the crackers on how it performed. After a month and a half of the game's release ShivShubh took it upon himself to released the unfinished crack, which was unreliable and in many cases did not work on many configurations. This has created a big problem for CODEX and any other group dedicated to cracking Denuvo as the techniques and tricks that allowed them to bypass the DRM is unencrypted so Irdeto, the company behind denovo can easily see the techniques used to defeat the DRM and implement further checks to make it ineffective in the future. 

CorePack have now closed down all operations and closing the doors on their website for good 


> We’re tired of apologizing all the time, even for the things that happened long before my time, to which I had no control over. I guess the recent incident with NFS Heat put the final nail in the coffin, so we’ve decided to close the doors forever and say goodbye to everyone.



This isn't the first time in the last couple of years that CorePack have come under fire for subpar repacks as little more than a year ago now it was found that malware had been in redist folder in their repacks. 

The real test starts now. With exploits in denovo's code now being closed up, will CODEX and other groups find new ways to take on the juggernaut that is Denuvo or will Denuvo be the PC piracy killer that it touts itself to be.
Fit-Girl, another repacker who discovered the leaked/stolen crack had this to say :


> Not only he leaked what had to stay private, but he leaked the unprotected crack. Which is now in hands of Denuvo engineers – and trust me, they are not dumb, they will make all their best to NOT allow those methods to work anymore. So, my dear ShivShubh (who confirmed that he shared that crack with COREPACK TESTERS before releasing the crack to public). You both just made Denuvo stronger. And nobody will tell when CODEX or CPY or anyone else will make their Denuvo cracks again, if ever....
> 
> ... let’s just hope that anti-Denuvo war will continue after that huge blow. But don’t expect miracles now. Even if it’s a New Year Eve. And yes, even if the crack would be perfect, after I’ve discovered it’s been stolen I would never make a repack based on it. Yep, I’m not a scene, but without those guys repackers are nothing and every single group deserves respect for their efforts.



 Source - Crackwatch - Fit-Girl Statement 
 Source - CorePack Closes
 Due to the nature of the 'scene' containing warez I am unable to give out first hand links to a lot of the information


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## Tom Bombadildo (Dec 31, 2019)

That's literally not even remotely the outcome that will happen here. Nothing will change, and everyone will forget in a few weeks or whenever Codex or CPY or whoever releases RDR2.

Just because previous cracks were encrypted doesn't mean it was impossible for Irdeto's engineers to figure out how it was done. Don't forget they designed the fucking DRM, it'd be pretty trivial for them to figure out basic encryption/back tracing where the exploit came from. The encryption was more to prevent rival groups from stealing Codex's methods, not preventing Irdeto from fixing their entry points. I mean, literally all of CPY's Denuvo cracks were "unprotected". Did Denuvo "win the war" when they were releasing games?

Oh right, no. 

What about when Voksi _literally released a public Youtube tutorial _for cracking a version of Denuvo? Did they "win the war" then, too?

Oh right, no. 

If that were the case, then Denuvo wouldn't go through so many "versions", (even though that's not actually a real thing, just a trivialization of the way Denuvo gets uniquely implemented in various titles) and Denuvo games would be getting cracked left and right because they can't figure out how Codex were getting past it. 


Literally expect nothing to change whatsoever.


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## jDSX (Dec 31, 2019)

Tom Bombadildo said:


> That's literally not even remotely the outcome that will happen here. Nothing will change, and everyone will forget in a few weeks or whenever Codex or CPY or whoever releases RDR2.
> 
> Just because previous cracks were encrypted doesn't mean it was impossible for Irdeto's engineers to figure out how it was done. Don't forget they designed the fucking DRM, it'd be pretty trivial for them to figure out basic encryption/back tracing where the exploit came from. The encryption was more to prevent rival groups from stealing Codex's methods, not preventing Irdeto from fixing their entry points. I mean, literally all of CPY's Denuvo cracks were "unprotected". Did Denuvo "win the war" when they were releasing games?
> 
> ...




I agree with this, the scene never changes and when RDR2 get cracked or some other big game everyone will forget this all happen.

Just remember it's the wild west for scene groups to out do the other.


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## Bladexdsl (Dec 31, 2019)

still waiting for anno 1800


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## GodKi (Apr 21, 2020)

We are in april 2020 and still no Denuvo cracks after the incident, oh and RDR2 remains uncracked (it does not have Denuvo DRM).
Do you still think that NFS Heat was not the cause?


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## The Real Jdbye (Apr 21, 2020)

In what world is SecuROM modern? 


GodKi said:


> We are in april 2020 and still no Denuvo cracks after the incident, oh and RDR2 remains uncracked (it does not have Denuvo DRM).
> Do you still think that NFS Heat was not the cause?


Patience. They'll come up with new methods.


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## GodKi (Apr 21, 2020)

The Real Jdbye said:


> In what world is SecuROM modern?
> 
> Patience. They'll come up with new methods.



I hope so, but i think they are compromised because of the leaked crack. After that it was easy for Irdeto to track down connections between repackers and scene groups, and certainly they have been warned. For some reason EMPRESS showed up after as a lone wolf just to crack Denuvo DRM games.


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## JoeBloggs777 (Jul 20, 2020)

The Return of the KING  ? , has the legendary PDX cracked Monster Hunter World Iceborne ? it's out there, but is it fake


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## Tom Bombadildo (Jul 21, 2020)

JoeBloggs777 said:


> The Return of the KING  ? , has the legendary PDX cracked Monster Hunter World Iceborne ? it's out there, but is it fake


It's legit.


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## JoeBloggs777 (Jul 21, 2020)

Tom Bombadildo said:


> It's legit.



I really hope it is PDX and they have cracked Denuvo and its not some leaked DRM free version. With CPY not releasing much thesec days its mostly all been down to CDX.


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