I don't think they're implying that, I think they're saying that searching through the source code could have identified this issue years earlier, which I think is 100% possible, but not guaranteed.

I mean, how do you know the source code for this "cheat" wasn't 100% obvious, such that looking at the code would have revealed itself right away? Obviously, no one can know that right now, since it's protected under DMCA, but what if.....