Let's talk about the security nightmare of handling hundreds of different game installations. Over the years I have become the de facto security engineer responsible for EA's "game package managers" Origin and the EA App and we have our own unique issues.

You can see all Attack Surface Analysis posts at https://parsiya.net/categories/attack-surface-analysis/

You install a game at a specific location. How do you set the permissions for the installation path? Do you give RWX to everyone? Do you only give RX to standard users?

If you have restrictive permissions the game might not work. Permissive ACLs might have security implications and might lead to Local Privilege Escalations (LPEs).

I will assume the user can download the content they have access to¹ and there are license checks to prevent them from running a game they do not own. These are security concerns, but I will not talk about them here.

There are only a few "package managers" in the world. Your first reaction here is probably "Not a few, I can recite half a dozen off the top of my head." True, but mainly because there are no alternatives. How many different editors do you use daily? Usually one or two. How many can you name? A dozen. How many more editors can you find by searching? Thousands!

There are only a few game package managers. Most gamers can name Steam, GOG Galaxy, Ubisoft Connect, Battle.Net, Epic Games Launcher, Windows Store, Origin, and EA App. Is there more? Probably, but I think this covers most of the major games.

A game package manager allows you to buy, download, install, and run games (among other things). I am going to focus on the installation part here. As a package manager you usually get an installer or a compressed file with some directives (dependencies, registry keys, special paths).

A game package manager has to install a wide range of games. Each of these games might be from a different developer, packaged with a different installer, and be new or from 20 years ago. Backwards compatibility is decent in Windows gaming².

Windows Software Installation Paths

Most games are made for Windows³ (pun not intended). Microsoft pays each of us a monthly stipend to not work on Linux games :p. Windows is a lot more permissive in its directory structure. There are mostly guidelines.

Program Files

Contains most game files that are usually not modified except when the game is updated. Standard users cannot write to this path by default hence why most updates need admin access.

There are two versions of this Program Files and Program Files (x86) directory.

ProgramData

Usually used when you need to modify a file frequently, but it's not a user file (e.g., system-wide settings). Popular place to store updates before execution. Standard users have write access here by default. It's usually located at C:\ProgramData. More info at Microsoft Docs.

AppData

This is a popular place to store user specific configuration files. Some apps install themselves completely in this path to avoid dealing with Program Files. C:\%username%\Documents\ is another popular location for save games and user configurations.

Local Privilege Escalation happens when you can go down this list:

1. Remote attacker.
2. Standard user.
3. Local admin/SYSTEM.

I have deliberately omitted domain connected machines because the overwhelming majority of machines running games run on normal consumer machines.

In the context of game updates, we mostly care about going from standard user to admin. You can make the case about MITM-ing the game update files as a remote attacker, but in the current age of TLS that's usually not an issue.

Most bugs of this type happen when apps run something as admin from a path where standard users have write access. It's very common for apps to store their updates in ProgramData where users have write access and then execute them as admin.

I even found a security bug where the updater wanted to run without admin access so it had modified the program directory ACL in ProgramFiles and given write access to standard users.

How do Game Package Managers Install and Update Games?

The software runs as standard user, but needs to run as admin/SYSTEM to install and update games. This is usually done in two ways:

1. Most game package manager use a Windows service (e.g., Origin, EA App, and Steam). This is seamless.
2. The Epic Games Launcher appears to be the only exception I can think of. It just pops a manual UAC prompt and wants to run the installer as admin.

When using a Windows service we have to pay attention to two items:

1. Where are the updates stored? We will need to run them as admin/SYSTEM when updating the game. Can users modify the updates before they are executed?
2. How do we trigger the Windows Service? We need to signal the service to download and install and update from userland. Can an attacker just point the Windows Service to any random binary?

Older Games and Installation Paths

Most modern games adhere to the path guidelines we saw before. You can install them under ProgramFiles and have a Windows service (or pop a manual UAC) to update the installations.

With EA App and Origin we try to take advantage of this. For example, Lost in Random is by default stored at C:\Program Files\EA Games\Lost In Random and has correct permissions:

PS> Get-Acl -Path 'C:\Program Files\EA Games\Lost In Random' | Format-List

Path   : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\Program Files\EA Games\Lost In Random
Owner  : BUILTIN\Administrators
Group  : NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Access : ...
         BUILTIN\Users Allow  ReadAndExecute, Synchronize

Older games are a completely different ball game. Most of them should be run as admin. They were designed in the age before ProgramFiles and write their configuration files, save games, and similar to their root directory. Installing these games under ProgramFiles with default ACLs will prevent them from working if we execute them as standard users.

Most game package manager modify the ACLs of these games and give write access to standard users. This is what Steam does. Check the security permissions for C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common.

PS> Get-Acl -Path 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\' | Format-List

Path   : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\
Owner  : Parsia-PC\Parsia
Group  : Parsia-PC\None
Access : BUILTIN\Users Allow  FullControl

Custom paths are another headache. If you install the game in a different path, it's probably insecure and can lead to LPE.

But This is Insecure!

I know! There's no good way to fix it. Additionally:

1. More than 90% of users run our desktop apps as admin. This is expected and I am sure other game companies see a similar pattern.
2. For old games, compatibility trumps security. Users just want a seamless experience (buy > download > play).
3. Insecure system is insecure. If you install games (or Origin/EA App) at an insecure location there's not much we can do.

Actually, the 3rd one is a lie. There are some things we can do. We store the binaries associated with Windows services at C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\. We already do some of this for modern games. Look under C:\Program Files\Common Files\EAInstaller to see the cleanup crew (the files are named Cleanup, har har!)