Gamers beware: malicious wallpapers on Steam found stealing accounts
1–10 of 28 posts
Re: Gamers beware: malicious wallpapers on Steam found stealing accounts
#2So this vulnerability isn't directly the result of using Steam, or any of the Steam profile customizations, such as avatars and profile page backgrounds. But rather, it is a vulnerability in a third-party application "Wallpaper Engine" which is available on Steam.
I recall when screen savers were a common malware vector on Windows. I suppose everything old is new again.
Re: Gamers beware: malicious wallpapers on Steam found stealing accounts
#3So this vulnerability isn't directly the result of using Steam, or any of the Steam profile customizations, such as avatars and profile page backgrounds. But rather, it is a vulnerability in a third-party application "Wallpaper Engine" which is available on Steam. I recall when screen savers were a common malware vector on Windows. I suppose everything old is new again.
First thing I thought of when I saw the title was "since when does Steam have wallpapers?".
The article is at the least titled misleadingly and an attempt to sell fear.
Re: Gamers beware: malicious wallpapers on Steam found stealing accounts
#4I love how the post is clearly written by AI. A human might've noticed all the screenshots appear to be of interactive hentai games distributed through Wallpaper Engine. And wouldn't have said:
> On the surface, this wallpaper sample (above) we uncovered in December 2025 looks completely harmless.
In reference to a screenshot of an anime woman with ripped clothes, eyes in fear, being monitored by CCTV camera.
From my knowledge, "adult entertainment" is targeted by malware because it's socially embarrassing to admit that was the attack vector. It's relevant to point that out.
Re: Gamers beware: malicious wallpapers on Steam found stealing accounts
#5I love how the post is clearly written by AI. A human might've noticed all the screenshots appear to be of interactive hentai games distributed through Wallpaper Engine. And wouldn't have said: > On the surface, this wallpaper sample (above) we uncovered in December 2025 looks completely harmless. In reference to a screenshot of an anime woman with ripped clothes, eyes in fear, being monitored by CCTV camera. From my…
Centipedes? In my waifu?!
Re: Gamers beware: malicious wallpapers on Steam found stealing accounts
#6I love how the post is clearly written by AI. A human might've noticed all the screenshots appear to be of interactive hentai games distributed through Wallpaper Engine. And wouldn't have said: > On the surface, this wallpaper sample (above) we uncovered in December 2025 looks completely harmless. In reference to a screenshot of an anime woman with ripped clothes, eyes in fear, being monitored by CCTV camera. From my…
Sexual arousal also tends to inhibit rational thought. I don't mean that in a snarky or sarcastic way, I mean that it is a biological process that has been well-studied and well-established [1]. This has obvious uses for scamming people and doing other things that their executive function might normally catch and prevent.
This is also why sexual imagery should generally be kept out of public spaces, not because of "puritanism" but because it just generally isn't a good idea to go around letting bad actors inhibiting people's executive function willy-nilly. That should generally be denied as a tool to bad actors like scammers.
[1]: For instance https://people.duke.edu/~dandan/webfiles/PapersPI/Sexual%20A... - note while the title mentions "sexual decision making" it also covers some 'bad decisions' that aren't particularly sexual on their own.
Re: Gamers beware: malicious wallpapers on Steam found stealing accounts
#7So this vulnerability isn't directly the result of using Steam, or any of the Steam profile customizations, such as avatars and profile page backgrounds. But rather, it is a vulnerability in a third-party application "Wallpaper Engine" which is available on Steam. I recall when screen savers were a common malware vector on Windows. I suppose everything old is new again.
The malicious wallpapers, which use "Wallpaper Engine" are also published through Steam Workshop. It's still a Steam problem.
Re: Gamers beware: malicious wallpapers on Steam found stealing accounts
#8Wallpaper Engine is pretty old now, and I remember using it years ago reading warning about not downloading unknown wallpapers. I believe there's even settings in the configuration not to run arbitrary code. 8 year old post about it, but honestly pretty sure it's been warned since day 1. [1]
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/wallpaperengine/comments/7xg27d/rem...
Re: Gamers beware: malicious wallpapers on Steam found stealing accounts
#9So this vulnerability isn't directly the result of using Steam, or any of the Steam profile customizations, such as avatars and profile page backgrounds. But rather, it is a vulnerability in a third-party application "Wallpaper Engine" which is available on Steam. I recall when screen savers were a common malware vector on Windows. I suppose everything old is new again.
Why do you need an "Engine" for wallpapers in the first place?
Re: Gamers beware: malicious wallpapers on Steam found stealing accounts
#10I love how the post is clearly written by AI. A human might've noticed all the screenshots appear to be of interactive hentai games distributed through Wallpaper Engine. And wouldn't have said: > On the surface, this wallpaper sample (above) we uncovered in December 2025 looks completely harmless. In reference to a screenshot of an anime woman with ripped clothes, eyes in fear, being monitored by CCTV camera. From my…
Sexual arousal also tends to inhibit rational thought. I don't mean that in a snarky or sarcastic way, I mean that it is a biological process that has been well-studied and well-established [1]. This has obvious uses for scamming people and doing other things that their executive function might normally catch and prevent. This is also why sexual imagery should generally be kept out of public spaces, not because of "p…
>This is also why sexual imagery should generally be kept out of public spaces, not because of "puritanism" but because it just generally isn't a good idea to go around letting bad actors inhibiting people's executive function willy-nilly
Okay but presumeably humans adapt to the level of "sexuality" around them to some degree (like they do nearly every other stimulus), because otherwise you could show less prude cultures having lower ability to do "rational thought".
Nudity is normal all over the world and yet people seem to function just fine. What constitutes content that justifies sexual arousal is socially constructed!