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Names:

Denuvo Anti-Cheat1

Developers:

Irdeto1

Years Active:

2020-05-142 - Current (As of 2024-02-02)

Known Versions & Differences:

2.7.0.40281: Only known version (found as file and product version in multiple files).

TODO: Versions appear inconsistent, with different files having different versions associated with them within the same version of Denuvo Anti-Cheat. Also, some games (such as Mech Arena) appear to contain a bundled version of Denuvo Anti-Cheat, but immediately update it to the newest available version.

Known Samples:

Confirmed:

Unconfirmed:

  • Marauders.10 11
  • Zero Hour.12
  • Some Ubisoft games post 201913.

Categories:

Anti-Cheat

Supported Platforms:

  • Windows1
  • iOS1
  • PS4/51
  • Xbox Series X/S1
  • Android1

Protection Features:

Kernel-Mode Driver1; Real-time Monitoring14

Software Known to Detect:

BinaryObjectScanner15

Preservation Instructions:

N/A

Overall Description:

Denuvo Anti-Cheat is a form of anti-cheat, though information on what games use it is rather sparse. It's known to have been in development since at least 201716. In 2018, Irdeto mentioned how Denuvo Anti-Cheat would be "soon to be launched as a full end-to-end solution"17. It also appears that Denuvo started providing anti-cheat services for Ubisoft in 2019, and this appears to still be active as of 202313. Which game or games are protected is unclear, but due to this information seemingly only being available in this document (as far as I'm able to find), which itself is only available in Chinese, it may be that this service is being used for China-exclusive games. The document also states:

由于Ubisoft实施了Denuvo的反作弊解决方案，迄今为止共有112个作弊工具开发者被识别和清除。

Translated to English via Google Translate:

As a result of Ubisoft's implementation of Denuvo's anti-cheat solution, a total of 112 cheat developers have been identified and removed to date.

Assuming this information is correct, this essentially confirms that Denuvo Anti-Cheat has been around since presumably 2019, with some level of success. This predates the first documented game to have used Denuvo Anti-Cheat, which is Doom Eternal. It was added in Update 13 on 2020-05-14, before being completely removed in Update 1.14 on 2020-05-27 (less than 2 weeks later!). It's been explicitly stated that the removal was due to the community's negative response, not any issues with Denuvo Anti-Cheat itself.18 Since then, there have been several documents released by Irdeto about it, as well as a few other games confirmed to have it. The documents include a Q&A about the Denuvo Anti-Cheat kernel-mode driver19, an updated datasheet14, and a case study about Denuvo & Ubisoft regarding anti-cheat13.

It has been somewhat difficult to find examples of games that use Denuvo Anti-Cheat, presumably partially due to the fact that it considers itself a "white-label solution"1, which would allow itself to be rebranded for customer use.

Interestingly, the Q&A about the driver19 says that Denuvo Anti-Cheat is only installed and ran when competitive multiplayer is used. This means that this was done sometime after 2020, as the version used in Doom Eternal was known to be installed at launch and was required for singleplayer features.18 This does appear to have been implemented by late 2021, as the game "Zero Hour" states that Denuvo Anti-Cheat is only installed when a certain game mode is played.12

Denuvo Anti-Cheat itself works via a kernel-mode driver1 that allows the anti-cheat to monitor the game processes and the Windows kernel to send the information along to the server, where all the actual checks take place14. There, the game company can decide if cheating is actually occurring, and what to do about it.

Known Associated Executable Sections:

N/A

Known Associated Extensions:

N/A

Known Associated Files:

  • "denuvo-anti-cheat.sys"15
  • "denuvo-anti-cheat-update-service.exe"15
  • "denuvo-anti-cheat-update-service-launcher.dll"15
  • "denuvo-anti-cheat-runtime.dll"15
  • "Denuvo Anti-Cheat Installer.exe"15
  • "denuvo-anti-cheat-crash-report.exe"15
  • "denuvo-anti-cheat-crash-report.exe.config"15
  • "Denuvo-Anti-Cheat_install_run_as_Admin.bat"15
  • "denuvo-anti-cheat-installer.zip"15

Known Associated Magic Numbers:

N/A

Media:

N/A

Additional Resources:

  1. Official Denuvo Anti-Cheat website (Archived 2023-07-05).
  2. "Denuvo Anti-Cheat goes LIVE!" announcement. (Archived 2023-07-05)
  3. Denuvo Anti-Cheat Troubleshooting website (Archived 2023-07-05).
  4. DOOM Eternal Update 1 Changelog (Archived 2023-07-05).
  5. DOOM Eternal Update 1.1 Changelog (Archived 2023-07-05).
  6. Denuvo Anti-Cheat Datasheet (Archived 2019-05-12).
  7. Denuvo Anti-Cheat Newer Datasheet (Archived 2023-07-05).
  8. Denuvo Anti-Cheat Newer Datasheet (PDF) (Archived 2023-07-05).
  9. Japanese Ubisoft & Denuvo Announcement (Archived 2023-07-05).
  10. Chinese Ubisoft & Denuvo Case Study Landing Page (Archived 2023-07-05).
  11. Chinese Ubisoft & Denuvo Case Study (Archived 2023-07-05).
  12. Chinese Ubisoft & Denuvo Case Study (PDF) (Archived 2023-07-05).
  13. AWS Marketplace listing for Denuvo Anti-Cheat (Archived 2023-07-05).
  14. BinaryObjectScanner's Denuvo page.
  15. Client-Side Security Award for Denuvo Anti-Cheat (Archived 2023-07-5).
  16. "Leveling the Playing Field with Denuvo Anti-Cheat" (Archived 2019-04-05)
  17. Announcement that Denuvo Anti-Cheat is available on Steamworks (Archived 2023-07-05).
  18. Announcement that Denuvo Anti-Cheat was available to PS5 publishers (Archived 2023-07-05).
  19. Reddit post regarding the removal of Denuvo Anti-Cheat from Doom Eternal (Archived 2020-07-05)
  20. PC Gaming Wiki article for Denuvo, including Anti-Cheat (Archived 2023-06-27).
  21. Datasheet for Denuvo Anti-Cheat and Anti-Tamper on mobile. (Archived 2023-07-05).
  22. Datasheet for Denuvo Anti-Cheat and Anti-Tamper on mobile. (PDF) (Archived 2023-07-05).
  23. Irdeto Global Gaming Survey Report (Archived 2023-07-05).
  24. Irdeto Global Gaming Survey Report (PDF) (Archived 2023-07-05).
  25. Denuvo Anti-Cheat brochure for PC games (Archived 2023-07-05).
  26. Denuvo Anti-Cheat brochure for PC games (PDF) (Archived 2023-07-05).
  27. Denuvo Anti-Cheat brochure for console games (Archived 2023-07-05).
  28. Denuvo Anti-Cheat brochure for console games (PDF) (Archived 2023-07-05).
  29. Denuvo Anti-Cheat Kernel-Mode Driver FAQ (Archived 2023-07-05).
  30. Denuvo Anti-Cheat Kernel-Mode Driver FAQ (PDF) (Archived 2023-07-05).
  31. Denuvo Anti-Cheat Free Datasheet website (Archived 2023-07-07).
  32. "Denuvo Anti-Cheat: The only transparent premium cheat detection" (Archived 2023-07-05).
  33. "Denuvo Anti-Cheat: The only transparent premium cheat detection" (PDF) (Archived 2023-07-05).
  34. Main Denuvo website, which mentions Denuvo Anti-Cheat (Archived 2017-01-31).
  35. "Denuvo Joins Esports Integrity Coalition to Combat Cheating" (Archived 2019-04-05).
  36. Official Denuvo Anti-Cheat website (Archived 2021-06-11).
  37. Official Denuvo Anti-Cheat Resources (Page seemingly broken in Wayback) (Archived 2023-07-06).
  38. Support page for "Issues with installing Denuvo Anti-Cheat", which includes a download for the DAC installer. (Archived 2024-01-30)
  39. Reddit post comparing Denuvo Anti-Cheat to Riot Vanguard. (Archived 2024-02-02)

Authors/Contributors:

  • TheRogueArchivist - Entry author.

Footnotes:

Footnotes

  1. Official Denuvo Anti-Cheat website (Archived 2023-07-05). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  2. "Denuvo Anti-Cheat goes LIVE!" announcement. (Archived 2023-07-05) ↩

  3. DOOM Eternal Update 1 Changelog. (Archived 2023-07-05) ↩ ↩2

  4. DOOM Eternal Update 1.1 Changelog. (Archived 2023-07-05) ↩ ↩2

  5. Steam discussion page for "eFootball 2024" by the developer, talking about Denuvo being added to the game. (Archived (2024-02-03) ↩

  6. Konami announcement page for "eFootball 2024", talking about Denuvo being added to the game. (Archived 2024-02-03) ↩

  7. Konami announcement page for "eFootball 2024", which gives troubleshooting advice for Denuvo Anti-Cheat. ↩

  8. The "Terms of Use" for Plarium, which mentions that Denuvo Anti-Cheat may be installed alongside some games. (Archived 2024-02-02) ↩

  9. Support page for "Issues with installing Denuvo Anti-Cheat", which includes a download for the DAC installer. (Archived 2024-01-30) ↩

  10. Reddit post about DAC being added to the game "Marauders", including a comment by the developer regarding its addition (Archived 2024-01-30) ↩

  11. Steam page for the "Red Baron Hotfix #02" update for the game "Marauders. Unfortunately, Wayback isn't properly rendering the page, though the contents can still be viewed in the page source. (Archived 2024-02-02) ↩

  12. Steam page for the "Quality Of Life Update" for "Zero Hour", the version that added Denuvo Anti-Cheat. (Archived 2021-12-27) ↩ ↩2

  13. Chinese Ubisoft & Denuvo Case Study (PDF) (Archived 2023-07-05). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  14. Denuvo Anti-Cheat Newer Datasheet (PDF) (Archived 2023-07-05). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  15. BinaryObjectScanner's Denuvo page. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  16. Main Denuvo website, which mentions Denuvo Anti-Cheat (Archived 2017-01-31). ↩

  17. "Denuvo Joins Esports Integrity Coalition to Combat Cheating" (Archived 2019-04-05). ↩

  18. Reddit post regarding the removal of Denuvo Anti-Cheat from Doom Eternal (Archived 2020-07-05). ↩ ↩2

  19. Denuvo Anti-Cheat Kernel-Mode Driver FAQ (PDF) (Archived 2023-07-05). ↩ ↩2