Counter-Strike 2 Anticheat

Anticheat measures found in the binaries of Counter-Strike 2. The analysis is based on the 6 June 2023 update.

What's new

6 June 2023

• new functionality added to CUserMessage_Inventory_Response to collect VMT pointers of entities from entity system
• new CUserMessageRequestDiagnostic / CUserMessage_Diagnostic_Response to detect debuggers

Detections which use protobufs

Request proto	Response proto	What is does
CUserMessageRequestDllStatus	CUserMessage_DllStatus	Trusted Mode
CUserMessageRequestUtilAction	CUserMessage_UtilMsg_Response	Checks ConVars for unathorized modifications
CUserMessageRequestInventory	CUserMessage_Inventory_Response	Checks VMT pointers of global interfaces, checks if read-only sections of game DLLs were modified, checks VMT pointers of game entities
CUserMessageRequestDiagnostic	CUserMessage_Diagnostic_Response	Debugger detection

CUserMessage_Inventory_Response

VMT pointer check of global interfaces

// E8 ? ? ? ? 48 8D 8C 24 ? ? ? ? E8 ? ? ? ? F6 43 20 02 (relative jump) @ client.dll
void collectInterfacesData(CUserMessage_Inventory_Response& protobuf);

This function iterates over g_pInterfaceGlobals array (name from Source 1 engine) and for every interface fills InventoryDetail protobuf:

message InventoryDetail {
    optional int32 index = 1; // index in the g_pInterfaceGlobals array
    optional int64 primary = 2; // *g_pInterfaceGlobals[index] (address of the interface)
    optional int64 offset = 3; // **g_pInterfaceGlobals[index] (address of virtual method table of the interface)
    optional int64 first = 4; // address of the first function in the VMT
    optional int64 base = 5;
    optional string name = 6;
    optional string base_name = 7;
    optional int32 base_detail = 8;
    optional int32 base_time = 9;
    optional int32 base_hash = 10; // interface name hash
}
(fields without a comment are unused)

List of checked interfaces

VApplication001
VEngineCvar007
VStringTokenSystem001
TestScriptMgr001
VProcessUtils002
VFileSystem017
VAsyncFileSystem2_001
ResourceSystem013
ResourceManifestRegistry001
ResourceHandleUtils001
SchemaSystem_001
ResourceCompilerSystem001
VMaterialSystem2_001
PostProcessingSystem_001
InputSystemVersion001
InputStackSystemVersion001
RenderDeviceMgr001
RenderUtils_001
SoundSystem001
SoundOpSystemEdit001
SoundOpSystem001
SteamAudio001
VP4003
Localize_001
VMediaFoundation001
VAvi001
VBik001
MeshSystem001
MeshUtils001
RenderDevice003
VRenderDeviceSetupV001
RenderHardwareConfig002
SceneSystem_002
SceneUtils_001
WorldRendererMgr001
AssetSystem001
AssetSystemTest001
ParticleSystemMgr003
VScriptManager010
PropertyEditorSystem_001
MATCHFRAMEWORK_001
Source2V8System001
PanoramaUIEngine001
PanoramaUIClient001
PanoramaTextServices001
ToolFramework2_002
PhysicsBuilderMgr001
VisBuilder_001
BakedLODBuilderMgr001
HelpSystem_001
ToolSceneNodeFactory_001
EconItemToolModel_001
SchemaTestExternal_Two_001
SchemaTestExternal_One_001
AnimationSystem_001
AnimationSystemUtils_001
HammerMapLoader001
MaterialUtils_001
FontManager_001
TextLayout_001
AssetPreviewSystem_001
AssetBrowserSystem_001
AssetRenameSystem_001
VConComm001
MODEL_PROCESSING_SERVICES_INTERFACE_001
NetworkSystemVersion001
NetworkMessagesVersion001
FlattenedSerializersVersion001
SerializedEntitiesVersion001
DemoUpconverterVersion001
Source2Client002
Source2ClientUI001
Source2ClientPrediction001
Source2Server001
Source2Host001
Source2GameClients001
Source2GameEntities001
EngineServiceMgr001
HostStateMgr001
NetworkService_001
NetworkClientService_001
NetworkP2PService_001
NetworkServerService_001
ToolService_001
RenderService_001
StatsService_001
VProfService_001
InputService_001
MapListService_001
GameUIService_001
SoundService_001
BenchmarkService001
KeyValueCache001
GameResourceServiceClientV001
GameResourceServiceServerV001
Source2EngineToClient001
Source2EngineToServer001
Source2EngineToServerStringTable001
Source2EngineToClientStringTable001
VPhysics2_Interface_001
VPhysics2_Handle_Interface_001
ModelDocUtils001
AnimGraphEditorUtils001
MODEL_PROCESSING_SCRIPT_INTERFACE_001
EXPORTSYSTEM_INTERFACE_VERSION_001
NavSystem001

Integrity of read-only sections of game DLLs

This check is present in client.dll under the name "ComputeInventory2". Game DLLs register themselves by calling Plat_RegisterModule(moduleHandle) function from tier0.dll. The list of registered modules can be retrieved by calling Plat_GetRegisteredModules().

When game server sends CUserMessageRequestInventory protobuf message to the client, the client responds with CUserMessage_Inventory_Response message containing info about registered modules.

For every registered dll:

struct DllSectionsResult {
    void* baseOfDll;
    IMAGE_NT_HEADERS* ntHeaders;
    void* buffer; // allocated with VirtualAlloc in processDllSections()
    DWORD timestamp; // from IMAGE_FILE_HEADER::TimeDateStamp
    DWORD pad; // padding
    CSHA1 sha1; // sizeof(CSHA1) == 192, seems not to be computed currently
    CRC32 readOnlySectionsHash;
};

// E8 ? ? ? ? 8B 8C 24 ? ? ? ? 0F B6 D8 (relative jump) @ client.dll
bool processDllSections(DllSectionsResult& output, HMODULE dll);

processDllSections() allocates the buffer of size IMAGE_OPTIONAL_HEADER::SizeOfImage and does the following:

• copies the headers to the buffer (IMAGE_OPTIONAL_HEADER::SizeOfHeaders bytes at dll base)
• copies every unwritable section ((IMAGE_SECTION_HEADER::Characteristics & IMAGE_SCN_MEM_WRITE) == 0) to the buffer
• iterates over base relocation table (IMAGE_DIRECTORY_ENTRY_BASERELOC) and undoes relocations in the buffer (only IMAGE_REL_BASED_DIR64 relocations)
• zeroes import address table (IMAGE_DIRECTORY_ENTRY_IAT) and export directory (IMAGE_DIRECTORY_ENTRY_EXPORT) in the buffer
• computes CRC32 of read-only sections in the buffer

processDllSections() is called by another function:

// E8 ? ? ? ? 0F B6 C0 85 C0 74 7B (relative jump) @ client.dll
bool processDll(
    HMODULE dll,
    CRC32& readOnlySectionsHash,
    char* pdbPath,
    DWORD& sizeOfImage,
    DWORD& timestamp,
    void** imageBase
);

processDll() does the following:

• calls processDllSections() and copies the fields of returned DllSectionsResult to the output parameters
• copies PDB path from debug directory to pdbPath output buffer

Later PDB file name is extracted from path and hashed.

InventoryDetail protobuf is filled with the gathered info.

message InventoryDetail {
    optional int32 index = 1; // index in the array of registered modules
    optional int64 primary = 2; // image base from IMAGE_OPTIONAL_HEADER
    optional int64 offset = 3; // size of image
    optional int64 first = 4;
    optional int64 base = 5; // dll handle
    optional string name = 6;
    optional string base_name = 7;
    optional int32 base_detail = 8; // crc32 of read-only sections
    optional int32 base_time = 9; // timestamp from IMAGE_FILE_HEADER
    optional int32 base_hash = 10; // PDB filename hash
}
(fields without a comment are unused)

CUserMessage_Diagnostic_Response

At first Plat_GetDebugMonitor() from tier0.dll is called and the response is filled with data from DebugMonitor.

Then a thread of id provided through a parameter is opened (OpenThread(THREAD_ALL_ACCESS, 0, threadId)) and suspended. Thread context is then queried and the thread is resumed.

Following values are copied from thread context into response:

• Dr0
• Dr1
• Dr2
• Dr3
• DebugControl
• Rsp
• Rip