GAME INSTALLS ROOTKIT: "nProtect GameGuard"

[Roenie]

As per title.

// UPDATE #1:

I've been receiving too many friend invites because of this thread. I don't accept them because I have enough people to help IRL. Others just want to 'talk tech' and I appreciate it but I don't want to spend more time chatting on the internet. You get more out of spending that time on (finding) local friends and family IRL so I recommend doing that instead.

The devs have responded in this thread in post #213 (page 15-ish) saying they're working on providing an easy removal method. The devs also wrote: "There are cases where the nProtect program can be used for other games than UNDECEMBER. For this reason, this security module is not being automatically deleted." I understand and had already considered that. My stance on that: the uninstall process should ask the user to make the decision and to help them make the decision ideally provide a link to a webpage that the GameGuard developers should maintain that lists all games currently using GameGuard. The uninstall process should at least inform the user that it's leaving it behind and why it's doing that.

There's now a notice on the store page on the right side to inform you that the game incorporates nProtect GameGuard. They didn't mention adding that notice but I'm pretty sure that wasn't there earlier when I installed the demo. So that's two steps in the right direction.

Because the store page makes you aware and the devs are working on hopefully providing a removal tool, I'm happy if a moderator wants to lock this thread so it doesn't keep coming back to page 1.

I would still strongly suggest adding a notice at the time of installation if at all possible because a lot of people will overlook the tiny warning on the store page. Wanting a rootkit on your system or not is everybody's personal choice. So you should always be made aware before the installation so that people who don't want it can opt out. It shouldn't be installed silently as part of the installation process of something else. When I installed the demo I wasn't aware that GameGuard comes with it.

Being unaware that it installs in the first place is a more important problem than the one where it doesn't get uninstalled when you uninstall the game and doesn't tell you, even though that's also bad.
// end UPDATE #1

// UPDATE #2

Link to removal tool

Link to removal tool provided by developer can now be found in this Undecember news post:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1549250/view/6456498378615365698

By sharing this link I am not responsible for whatever the removal tool does. It's probably made by the Korean company that makes GameGuard. I have not used it myself as I have already removed GameGuard using the manual process I described below.
// end UPDATE #2

nProtect GameGuard

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NProtect_GameGuard
Product page listing its features: https://gameguard.nprotect.com/en/index.html

This 'malware' will not be removed when you uninstall the game. In fact there is no uninstaller available to the public and there is no removal info on the website of the Korean company that creates it.

Notable sections of the Wikipedia page:

GameGuard hides the game application process, monitors the entire memory range, terminates applications defined by the game vendor and INCA Internet to be cheats (QIP for example[citation needed]), blocks certain calls to Direct X functions and Windows APIs, keylogs keyboard input[citation needed], and auto-updates itself to change as new possible threats surface.[1]

Since GameGuard essentially works like a rootkit,[2][6] players may experience unintended and potentially unwanted side effects. If set, GameGuard blocks any installation or activation of hardware and peripherals (e.g., a mouse) while the program is running. Since GameGuard monitors any changes in the computer's memory, it will cause performance issues when the protected game loads multiple or large resources all at once.[7]

Additionally, some versions of GameGuard had an unpatched privilege escalation bug, allowing any program to issue commands as if they were running under an Administrator account.[8]

GameGuard possesses a database on game hacks based on security references from more than 260 game clients. Some editions of GameGuard are now bundled with INCA Internet's Tachyon anti-virus/anti-spyware library, and others with nProtect Key Crypt, an anti-key-logger software that protects the keyboard input information.

Some of the other threads worth reading with additonal info about GameGuard (GG):

GG opening browser on its own to download file to reinstall itself:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1549250/discussions/0/3388420307306147309/

GG causing regular players to be unable to play:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1549250/discussions/0/3388420307303552350/

Thread similar to the current thread you're reading:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1549250/discussions/0/3388420307299415010/

Removing nProtect GameGuard

There is now a link to a removal tool more toward the top of this post. Look for the blue header: "Link to removal tool" in a section called UPDATE #2. The following is the manual removal process I described earlier:

Find and delete the main executable
Rootkits sometimes hide their main executable from being seen or deleted from within the operating system it's installed to, so just to be sure to not waste time trying to do it from within Windows I used linux to remove the executable after first trying to do it with a file manager program that crashed when I did. Possibly a coincidence. Reports from other users indicate that this particular rootkit doesn't hide or protect its executable file so you probably don't have to use linux but I'll explain the way I personally did it. I booted into linux (stored on a thumb drive) to find and delete GameMon.des that the game's installation process adds to the C:\Windows\SysWOW64 directory. Again reports from other users indicate you can probably see it and delete it from within Windows, so you can try that first.

If the nProtect GameGuard system service exists (see next paragraph) then the file gamemon.des will of course also exist even if you can't see it in File Explorer from within Windows in which case you can liveboot linux to find and delete the file. I briefly explained that process in this post: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1549250/discussions/0/3388420307302919948/?ctp=5#c3388420307306305282

If you can't find the executable, a useful trick is to go to the properties of the nProtect GameGuard system service to check what executable file path it points to. (WinKey+R --> services.msc) If the redirection between system32 and SysWOW64 causes confusion, read this post: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1549250/discussions/0/3388420307302919948/?ctp=25#c3487500856975883781

System service (optional)
After removing the main executable, the system service that points to it no longer functions. Delete the orphaned nProtect GameGuard service that remains in services.msc. To check if it's there: press WinKey+R and type services.msc. To remove the service, open a command prompt run as administrator, then enter the command: sc delete npggsvc. You may have to refresh the Services window with F5 to see the result.

Registry key (optional)
GameGuard creates a registry key called INCAInternet with various subkeys.
Press Windows-Key + R. type "regedit".
Search for (Ctrl+F, F3 to repeat) and delete that entire key. It should be here: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\INCAInternet

"gameMonitor" is added to several values in subkeys of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SecurityManager\CapabilityClasses\ (see post #31 to #34 for why I crossed out the latter: these entries were not related to it.)

Learning about rootkit anti-cheat in general

The 1st video also covers the potential for system instability - big reason for me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaL7owZmbEA
The 2nd video is more focused on the security risks, and covers what happened when the game Genshin Impact's rootkit anti-cheat was abused by a ransomware actor to disable antivirus software. (Do note that antivirus even when active is often inadequate to protect against ransomware.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY41wMvwrLQ
Server side anti-cheat is a thing but it's not perfect either. It does help to write the game's code in a way that the client doesn't receive and send more data than it strictly needs so it can't manipulate it either, but there is no perfect solution and the more is done server side the more expensive it gets for the deverloper, hardware wise, to get the same server performance. Many multiplayer games employ client side anti-cheat, often a rookit, in an attempt to protect the developer's profits with the unfortunate side effect of making your PC less secure. I don't really play multiplayer games anymore especially not competitive ones so I can realistically avoid having any client side anti-cheat installed. This time though I was unaware that one was getting installed along with the demo.

General advice if you can't avoid anti-cheat rootkits

If you do important things with your system or store important documents and like to play multiplayer games so can't avoid client side anti-cheats, I recommend using a dedicated gaming/entertainment/web browsing PC (inherently insecure) and a 2nd PC or laptop to do everything else with. The entertainment PC should be in a different IP address range so it's not able to communicate with other devices on your home network, it only gets internet access. Even better for security is to use a managed network switch to create VLANs so you can "physically" leave the gaming PC out of your main VLAN. The 2nd PC typically doesn't have to be fast thus can be cheap but if you can't afford one or don't want one: another solution albeit not as secure, is to "dualboot": install another operating system onto your gaming PC so you can choose which one to boot into: your gaming/entertainment OS or your serious/home office OS. I like Linux for the latter but both can be Windows if you want. On the entertainment OS don't assign a drive letter to the storage where you keep your documents. The technical how-to of all this is beyond the scope of this thread, so Google is your friend.

Clarifying my main concern

The user should always be aware of the installation because it's their computer, freedom of choice and all that. The main issue I personally have with rootkit anti-cheat isn't even that it reduces system security, even though that's very important (people don't care about security until it's too late), for me it's that whenever I have a problem with a PC or game I don't want to have additional variables to exclude in search of a possible cause. Especially programs that don't want you to know they're there so you're likely to not think about them. If an anti-cheat ever DOES cause an issue (even if unlikely) you'll spend way too much time eliminating every other possible cause first. And if a game you have an issue with won't start without the anti-cheat, you can't eliminate it as a possible cause at all. So while you stress test RAM, CPU, disable certain programs or overlays etc etc maybe even reinstall your OS you have this nagging voice in the back of your mind saying "what if it's actually the anti-cheat and I'm just wasting my time?"

[Seraphiel]

Originally posted by Roenie:

Delete this entire key:
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\INCAInternet

Done.

Thanks you ver much for the help!! :)

[Roenie]

For the record, were you able to remove gamemon.des, just using File Explorer from within the running Windows environment?

The first attempt at removing it, I used totalcommander, a file management program and it crashed when I did that. Not wasting any more time I went straight to linux to do it from there. So I never even attempted to use explorer. My experience with rootkits is that they often hide from explorer and also block deletion by explorer. Not sure if that's the case with this one or not.

[Seraphiel]

Yes. I could delete the file using the explorer. Im using Win 11 latest version.

[Roenie]

GameGuard doesn't have Win11 support officially, so what you said could mean one of two things: either Win10 users can delete it using explorer too (weakest rootkit ever) or in your case on Win11 the rootkit wasn't actually working thus unable to protect itself.

[Seraphiel]

Im not an IT specialist so I don´t know :D.

[Roenie]

Time will tell as other users report in.

[IchigoMait]

Originally posted by Roenie:

You can give me jesters all you want - thanks for the free points, but I'm a systems and network administrator by trade, as well as a vendor trained specialist in corporate security solutions and this is NOT something you want installed on your computer.

Aside from all the potential problems with performance, stability and security it can cause as the Wikipedia article mentions, a rootkit effectively hands over complete control of your machine to the creator of the rootkit to do whatever they want IF they so choose. The creators are:
© INCA Internet Corporation. All rights reserved.
53, Magokjungang 14-ro, Gangseo-gu
Republic of Korea 07789
Do you know and trust the people behind that company?

On the wikipedia page you'll find a list of games that install this rootkit onto your machine. I strongly recommend that you avoid them. If you are not technically inclined and can't do what I did to remove it, the only way you're getting rid of it is to format your drive and reinstall Windows from scratch.

Go play more korean games, nProtect has existed for decades, first time saw it in Gunbound like 20 years ago. nProtect was founded in 2000.
And you're ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ about it in 2022.

And if I wanted to get rid of it, I could very easily do so, I have my unlocker, I know how to find stuff in appdata, windows, programdata folder and in regedit, plus my InstallTakeOwnership and RemoveTakeOwnership (saves the headache of doing it manually). If the app can't run in the background it won't do anything.

[Roenie]

Originally posted by IchigoMait:

Go play more korean games

Yeah I was thinking more along the lines of this being the first and last Korean game I ever try. :)

[Fili]

More related to the "Linux version", I think it functions similar to PSO2 New Genesis which also uses nProtect. I think proton also runs the nProtect sort of isolated from the rest of the system.

[Ara]

Tell me if I'm wrong but for a rootkit to be installed, the computer needs to be rebooted so that it loads kernel level (ring 0) stuff in memory before anything else, and I never had to reboot.
What it tells me is that, while nProtect can offer rootkit level of "protection", it's probably not what vast majority of game devs/publishers go with, as it's certainly not on the cheap end of offers.

[koji]

it was an interresting game dont like the rootkit stuff tho thanks for the warning

[6005122851162932]

blah-blah-blah but muh Valorant blah-blah-blah

The fact that Valorant uses must intrusive anticheat ever created (literally rootkit which allows some company to remotely access your files and devices) makes it no excuse for other games to use same technology too. It should be frowned upon, not praised.

Valorant's promise was that you get 100% cheater free games. But as a price, you give out full access for your PC files and documents to some shady China company "for verification to make sure you are not cheating". There is some reasoning behind it, true, but only under circumstance that you finally do get 100% cheater free games.

Really cheats exist in valorant since day 1, search "valorant cheats" on youtube to see that they were never gone. Having a china owned rootkit on your PC does not protect you from Valorant cheaters in the end, why even keep it then? And most importantly, why do you protect it personally?

[GeneralClayman]

Originally posted by +j¶rÁ¬eüKú÷R|sÌônÞ-¤I:

blah-blah-blah but muh Valorant blah-blah-blah

The fact that Valorant uses must intrusive anticheat ever created (literally rootkit which allows some company to remotely access your files and devices) makes it no excuse for other games to use same technology too. It should be frowned upon, not praised.

Valorant's promise was that you get 100% cheater free games. But as a price, you give out full access for your PC files and documents to some shady China company "for verification to make sure you are not cheating". There is some reasoning behind it, true, but only under circumstance that you finally do get 100% cheater free games.

Really cheats exist in valorant since day 1, search "valorant cheats" on youtube to see that they were never gone. Having a china owned rootkit on your PC does not protect you from Valorant cheaters in the end, why even keep it then? And most importantly, why do you protect it personally?

Because half of people arguing think "root access software// anticheat" just stands for " Anticheat collecting your data". That's why they're bringing up EGS with its launcher sending info over to Tencent, and people comparing being against Nprotect as hypocritical if you're using any popular social media platform.
It's not that hard to understand that "Kernel Access" basically means that it's a backdoor to your entire computer, which covers more than just your R34 folders and google search data being saved.

For those who still don't seem to understand, it's software that allows another person to use your computer without you knowing what they're doing, while basically being permitted to do so because you installed their software and didn't read the 100page long TOS where it is written down that you hitting accept means you're complying to said software being allowed and running on your computer.
If you're just playing games and browsing YouTube, yeah it might not be that terrible for you, but that's not what's being covered by OP and a couple of others who noted Nprotect being used.

Imagine the possibilities a government has with access to a certain million or so computers in a sudden time of war. The "rules" don't matter anymore at that point!

[Bunny]

Originally posted by Roenie:

For the record, were you able to remove gamemon.des, just using File Explorer from within the running Windows environment?

On my Win10 I wasn't able to find it and neither did the console command. But on the registry, the stuff was there and I deleted it. Not sure if that's enough.

[Hykaru]

Originally posted by Roenie:

GameGuard doesn't have Win11 support officially, so what you said could mean one of two things: either Win10 users can delete it using explorer too (weakest rootkit ever) or in your case on Win11 the rootkit wasn't actually working thus unable to protect itself.

You can delete it directly from the explorer in Win10. Right click -> Delete and was gone. Just had to click yes in the UAC

The command and registry key also deleted with out issue.

I noticed that after unistalling the game, nothing related with the anti-cheat was running, but it doesn't uninstall with the game, and that's odd, maybe is realted to another game, will have to check that.

Thanks for the advice