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United StatesCulture5 days ago

Bug in FIFA World Cup internal system gave anyone ability to modify TV stream

A security researcher known as BobDaHacker discovered a vulnerability in FIFA's internal systems that allowed unauthorized access to the TV streams of World Cup games. By registering as a player agent on FIFA's official platform, the researcher exploited a flaw in the back-end API that failed to verify user authorization. This enabled access to internal systems used by broadcasters to control what appears on viewers' TVs and commentators' screens. The researcher highlighted the potential risk of an attacker hijacking all cameras or disrupting the broadcast. FIFA addressed the issue shortly之后,但

In Brief

Posted:

11:13 AM PDT · June 16, 2026

Image Credits: Image Photo Agency / Getty Images

A security researcher said she was able to access several internal FIFA platforms due to a simple security flaw, which allowed her to watch and have full control of the TV stream of every World Cup game.

The researcher, who goes by BobDaHacker, said she simply registered as a player agent on FIFA’s official agent registration platform. Then, thanks to having that account and a flaw in FIFA’s back-end API, which didn’t check if a user actually had the proper authorization, she was able to access several internal FIFA platforms.

This included the system that allows broadcasters to control what gets displayed on people’s TVs across the world, and what gets displayed on commentators’ screens as they narrate the match, per the researcher.

“A single attacker could hijack every camera simultaneously. An attacker could have rickrolled the entire FIFA World Cup,” BobDaHacker wrote in a blog post published on Tuesday.

BobDaHacker reported the flaw on Tuesday night Japan time, and FIFA fixed the issue a few hours later, without ever acknowledging the researcher’s report.

FIFA did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.

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Source document: FIFA's official agent registration platform

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TechCrunchParty-alignedCenter5 days ago
Bug in FIFA World Cup internal system gave anyone ability to modify TV stream

A security researcher known as BobDaHacker discovered a vulnerability in FIFA's internal systems that allowed unauthorized access to the TV streams of World Cup games. By registering as a player agent on FIFA's official platform, the researcher exploited a flaw in the back-end API that failed to verify user authorization. This enabled access to internal systems used by broadcasters to control what appears on viewers' TVs and commentators' screens. The researcher highlighted the potential risk of an attacker hijacking all cameras or disrupting the broadcast. FIFA addressed the issue shortly之后,但

Bias read (Center): The article presents a technical discovery without overtly favoring any political perspective. It focuses on the security flaw and its implications without taking a stance on related policy or governance issues.

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  • organisation FIFA's official agent registration platform

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  • organisationFIFA's official agent registration platform