CPUID Hacked to Serve Trojanized CPU-Z and HWMonitor Downloads

The CPUID website, popular in the PC hardware community, was recently hacked and altered to deliver malicious versions of CPU-Z, HWMonitor, and PerfMonitor.

CPU-Z, HWMonitor, and PerfMonitor provide essential PC hardware insights: CPU-Z delivers detailed system information on the processor, motherboard, memory, and graphics; HWMonitor monitors real-time sensor data such as voltages, temperatures, and fan speeds; and PerfMonitor tracks processor performance. The applications, used by individuals and enterprises, have millions of downloads.

According to the maintainer of CPUID, a secondary feature (side API) was compromised, causing the website to randomly display links to third-party domains hosting trojanized versions of CPU-Z, HWMonitor, and PerfMonitor. The original files were not affected.

Kaspersky has also analyzed this supply chain and watering hole attack, noting that during the compromise window the CPUID website served malicious installers for CPU-Z, HWMonitor, HWMonitor Pro, and PerfMonitor.

The security firm has identified over 150 victims, mostly individuals but ...