Asklemmy

It's also potentially a infiltration vector for malicious activity.

Genshin impacts anti-cheat has been used to enable ransomware taking over windows computers, and you don't even need to have Genshin installed.

It was a danger to all windows users just by existing, because the ransomware just came with the genshin anti-cheat, which it would install on its own. Because it was a "verified" piece of software windows would just go "oh ok seems cool, go right ahead" and the ransomware would gain complete control of the system through the anti-cheat.

Yup, kernel level "anti-cheat" is a rootkit spyware that "pinky swears" it's only spying for a good reason.

Yes, and I've seen it happening. Usually it doesn't instantly brick every PC, but it can sometimes brick certain PCs with specific configurations. Then it will be silently patched without acknowledgement for the bug.

I've seen it mess with (and crash) graphics and network drivers, rendering PCs useless until forced reboot. It can also mess up other games, processes, and even updates.

People have been warning gamers about kernel level anticheats since they were introduced, because no userland code should run with that level of privileges, period. However, people still installed those games not really understanding the threat, and that's why we have so many games with a kernel anticheat.

Helldivers 2 does the same thing. If this continues it will be extremely advisable to move any non-gaming use-cases to a different computer as you have no idea what the "anti-cheat" is doing with that level of authority over your computer.

Pro tip: don't install rootkits.

I'm less worried about bugs causing boot loops with these kernel anti cheats and more worried about security holes.

I'm sure they test these things thoroughly though and take security extremely seriously.... right?

In theory, yes. Vanguard uses ring 0 access; and Failures/crashes on the code that are running on that level will lead to BSOD.

In practice, Riot very likely tests Vanguard on various hardware as parts of their tests before shipping updates on it, as it's used by all players that play Lol and Valorant; and a fuckup like that would mess the trust they've built between the players. Players are trusting them to run ring 0 code on their computer, so they can have a cheatless experience after all.

Yes, the key difference being that nobody’s playing Valorant on airport displays. Just yesterday I installed a new early access game for two accounts at home and discovered that it just wouldn’t work with the non-admin account because of anti-cheat. All of this is making me consider going back to running games under flatpak.

Yes, works on the same layer.

Yup.