Behaviour Interactive published a short but consequential note from the Dead by Daylight security team: from 30 July 2026 players must update outdated versions of certain software and drivers, or the game will stop launching. The decision follows internal investigations and consultation with their partners.
Which categories are affected
The studio deliberately does not publish a specific application list — too many different programs and versions fall under the criteria. Only the categories where exploitable vulnerabilities were found are named:
- RGB and motherboard utilities;
- CPU/GPU overclocking and tuning utilities;
- certain BIOS utilities;
- hardware monitoring utilities;
- utilities using direct port access;
- OEM updater utilities;
- other anti-cheat, anti-hack and antivirus utilities.
For technical issues the studio points players to its support team.
What this actually is
This is textbook BYOVD defence — “bring your own vulnerable driver”. The scheme is simple: take a signed driver from a legitimate utility (temperature monitoring, overclocking, RGB) that contains a flaw granting arbitrary kernel memory read and write. No signature break is needed — Windows loads the driver because the signature is valid. Everything without its own signature then rides through that hole.
That is why the list looks so odd: Afterburner-style tuners, RGB panels and “utilities using direct port access” have been the most popular transport for kernel bypasses in recent years. Developers are not fighting hardware vendors — they are closing off known driver versions that became tools.
The line about third-party anti-cheats and antivirus is notable on its own: they install kernel-level drivers too, and old builds of those drivers have ended up in exploit chains as well.
Current line statuses are on the Dead by Daylight page.
What this means for players running software
- The game simply will not start — and that is not a ban. If DBD refuses to launch on 30 July, look at the list above first, not at your software: an RGB panel, an old Afterburner, a utility from your laptop vendor’s site.
- Update, do not uninstall. The announcement says “update older versions”. Current builds of the same utilities are not the problem.
- Builds relying on vulnerable drivers break first. If your software advertises kernel mode and asks you to disable Secure Boot and install a driver, a blocklist update will very likely break it. Wait for the developer’s word instead of testing blind.
- 30 July is the cut-off. No behaviour change is promised before that date. After it, only a clean and updated system is worth logging in with.
- This is a trend, not a one-off. Vulnerable-driver blocklists are already used by Riot, Activision and BattlEye. Dead by Daylight simply joined publicly and named a date.
Bottom line
Behaviour is not running a ban wave — it is raising the bar for what may run on your system. For an honest player that means one utility update at most. For anyone using software with a kernel-level driver, 30 July is a real date after which “it worked yesterday” stops being an argument.
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