UltimateAntiCheat is an open-source anti-cheat system made to detect and prevent common attack vectors in game hacking, which includes: memory editing, module injection, debugging, unsigned drivers & modules, and more. The project also features a client-server design with a heartbeat being sent every 60 seconds to clients.
This project is meant to serve as an anti-cheat program for educational purposes and is not intended to be commercial software or overly complex to crack. This example includes basic but fundamental protections, and in a production scenario we would aim to have many more detection methods along with a sophisticated server-side design. We aim to cover all attack surfaces such that the attacker is not able to gain a foothold into our process without being detected. Any modification to a single aspect will lead to being detected: for example, if someone tries to debug our code from usermode, they will likely re-map and perform memory edits to try and disable debugger detection which leads to their memory edit or remapping being detected. UltimateAntiCheat runs in usermode and has no driver associated with it. It's recommended that if possible you run VMProtect or a similar program on the compiled binary for added security through obscurity.
If there is anything not working for you (throws exceptions, can't build, etc) please raise an issue and I will answer it ASAP. If you have code suggestions or techniques you'd like to see added, or want assistance with adding anti-cheat to your game, please send me an email. More techniques and better design will be added to the project time permitting. The file changelog.md contains a dated updates list.
- Detects unsigned modules loaded into the process
- Debugger detection (hardware/DR, PEB, VEH, kernelmode)
- Integrity checks on program memory (.text section checks, WINAPI hook checks, IAT hook checks)
- Remapping sections & re-re-mapping checks (anti-tamper)
- TLS Callback (anti-DLL injection)
- Parent process check
- Blacklisted Processes checks & whitelisted loaded modules check
- Loaded module name random renaming (process manipulation)
- Exported function names random renaming (process manipulation, anti-injection)
- Data/obfuscation class to help hide sensitive variables
- Check for if Windows is in 'Test Signing mode'
- TLS Callback spoofing (changing TLS callbacks at runtime)
- Networked heartbeat system to ensure client is running the AC module
- Stops multiple instances of the process from being run by mapping shared memory
- Return address checks in important routines such as heartbeat generation to prevent remote calling
Networking is currently being added to the project; the server can be found in the Server folder as its own solution. Using networking is optional, and can be turned on/off through the variable bool serverAvailable in the file API/API.hpp. If you choose to use networking, please follow the instructions in the README.md file of the server.
Visual Studio 2013 or other earlier versions may not be able to open the .vcxproj file (missing .props file error), thus it's recommended you use Visual Studio 2022 for working with this project.