Exploits?

[Baz Foobar 102]

I run a Dedicated Server and noticed that someone was able to unlock doors that were locked and kill someone who was within their protective barrier (after somehow unlocking their doors).  He was able to do this to two different players (that I know of, im still going through backup saves to see what else was done).

Now I suppose it's possible that this guy is just lucky and managed to find backup keys that the other players may have hidden (assuming they exist), but that still doesn't explain how he was able to kill someone in their own barrier.

Anyone else seeing these potential exploits out in the wild?

I have an enforced no-griefing policy, no exceptions rule on my server, so he's banned for now, but if these exploits are out there, I suspect I'll be dealing with others.

[Baz Foobar 102]

I did some further forensics on what was going on during this reign of terror and I discovered that this player had multiple containers on him that contained regular items of various types.  He's a bag full of tricks, that's for sure.

[Baz Foobar 102]

OK, I think opening the doors was done by sheer luck of finding spare keys outside of people's houses, so no exploit there.  I'm still not sure how they were able to kill someone within their active barrier, nor can I explain how they were storing general objects in specialized containers.  The investigation continues...

[Baz Foobar 102]

OK, after reviewing my backup files from today, I was able to piece together the chain of events that this guy followed.  Aside from the inventory exploit (which I've been able to reproduce), looks like he got into two properties through legitimate break-in techniques.  The first one was done by using /freecam at night to scan for vulnerabilities (parts of the floor that touched or crossed through the barrier) and once he located that, he tunneled down, under, and up.  The first victim had a spare key in a container that wasn't locked and he robbed the place and unlocked the front door and walked right out.  He then took their boat by breaking the anchor which was locked.

The second house had no vulnerabilities through the barrier that he could take advantage of, but after casing the joint for a while he finally found a container outside that held backup keys to the house and let himself in the front door.  He killed the owner, but it turns out this was not through an exploit but through a bug that had nothing to do with him - the owner's association to the protective barrier was glitched and it did not recognize the owner.  I've seen this happen to a handful of people now, not exactly sure what causes it, but usually resets after death and coming back.

So, lessons learned: Harden your structures - Don't expand out to touch the barrier boundary, give yourself some buffer space.  Don't leave spare keys where someone will find them, or at least keep them far away so if someone does find them, they won't know what they're for.  Accept that boats are vulnerable and don't get attached to them - it is a trivial exercise to remove a locked helm or anchor lever and replace it with a new one and keeping a boat in your barrier does nothing to protect it.  Finally, make sure your barrier is associated to you - try to deactivate/activate it to confirm it's associated to you and if not, have your server admin give you a new one (they'll have to compose one and bring it in via editor).

To the guy who I banned today - nothing personal, I admire your tenacity, but I do have rules on my server.  You asked me where they were right before the ban - you already knew where they were since you logged in to the server (sign that you see as soon as you get in), and you logged into my Discord (Pinned message in the channel you enter).  If you ignored both of them, well that's no excuse.  Either way, no second chances on my server.