A Hypervisor bypass recently appeared giving game crackers an alternative way to circumvent protections like Denuvo DRM. The bypass is so effective that popular game repacker, FitGirl, has declared that “all single-player/non-VR Denuvo games are now cracked/bypassed.” The announcement comes after four Hypervisor bypasses were released for EA Sports games. The Hypervisor bypass appears to rely on installing a new Hypervisor driver in Ring -1, granting it very low-level access, which present significant security concerns, as acknowledged by FitGirl themself.

The announcement of this universal Denuvo bypass has prompted Denuvo to implement a new workaround: require a regular DRM check with an online server every two weeks, according to recent reports from players online. This updated check has seemingly been applied to games published by 2K, namely NBA 2K25 and 2K26 and Marvel’s Midnight Suns. Irdeto, the company behind Denuvo, has also spoken out about the issue, stating that “We’re already working on updated security versions for games impacted by hypervisor bypasses. For players, performance will not be compromised by these strengthened security measures.” Notably, Denuvo also said that whatever workaround is released will not operate in Ring -1, as has been theorized.

Denuvo’s response is notable, because the DRM software is notorious for causing performance regressions in games, especially when played on low-powered hardware—even though we did not find this to necessarily be true in our testing in 2019. Game studios also have a habit of adding Denuvo to games at the last minute before launch, which often leaves pre-orderers blindsided by a change that may or may not affect their performance. Arguments about performance aside, there are also arguments to be made about game ownership and preservation, the latter of which becomes impossible if the Denuvo DRM servers are taken offline towards the end of the game’s life cycle.