Lineage

Overview

PWS:Win32/Lineage (Password Stealer) is a highly targeted classification for malware designed specifically to steal credentials, account information, and valuable in-game assets from players of the popular MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game), 'Lineage' and its sequels. This malware highlights the lucrative nature of virtual economies, where stolen high-level accounts and items can be sold for real-world currency on gray markets (`T1005`).

Understanding Lineage (Game Password Stealers)
To an end-user, the infection is usually discovered when they find their game account emptied of gold and items, or entirely locked out. For threat analysts, Lineage represents specialized cybercrime. These stealers are highly focused, ignoring typical corporate data (like banking info) in favor of specific game clients, demonstrating the maturity and specialization of malware developers targeting gaming demographics.

Execution and Theft Mechanics
Lineage stealers are almost exclusively distributed via gaming forums, disguised as game 'cheats', 'bots', 'gold generators', or unofficial patches (`T1566.002`). Upon execution, the malware establishes persistence (Registry Run keys) and actively monitors running processes. When it detects the `lineage.exe` client launching, it utilizes API hooking (e.g., hooking `send()` and `recv()` functions in `ws2_32.dll` or keyboard logging via `SetWindowsHookEx`) to capture the username, password, and session tokens before they are encrypted and sent to the game server (`T1056.001`). This stolen data is then exfiltrated via HTTP/SMTP to the attacker.

Indicators of Compromise & Impact
The impact is personal financial loss (via virtual assets) and account compromise. Host-based IoCs include unexpected executables running from the `%Temp%` or `%AppData%` directories, often with names mimicking game components or popular cheat tools. EDR may flag anomalous API hooking or keylogging behaviors targeting the game client process. Network IoCs include outbound connections (often SMTP or plain HTTP) transmitting the stolen credentials to unknown IP addresses.

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

Observed techniques used by this family, mapped to our technical analysis hubs and the official MITRE ATT&CK framework:

Tactical Mitigations

Based on the techniques used by this family, consider the following defensive strategies:

• T1056.001: Implement Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) to monitor for suspicious API calls related to keystroke interception. Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to render stolen passwords useless.
• T1566.002: Inspect email links for known malicious domains and use link-rewriting services for time-of-click analysis.

MITRE D3FEND™ Defensive Countermeasures

Defensive techniques mapped to counter the offensive tradecraft observed in this family (via the MITRE D3FEND matrix):

Tiered Detection Rules (Cisco CAIRN Model)

Modern threat detection requires multi-layered rule engineering. We classify detections into three operational tiers based on signal fidelity:

rule MALWARE_WIN_LINEAGE_T1_ARTIFACT {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 1 Primitive Artifact: Raw string matches for Lineage"
        tier = "T1 - Primitive Artifact"
        confidence = "Low-Medium (Fast Triage)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Threat Research Desk"
        date = "2026-10-14"
    strings:
        $s1 = "lineage" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}

title: SystemHelpDesk Detection - Lineage (Advanced Threat) Execution & Triage
id: 5507367d-2712-56b4-a88c-3c06978afbd5
status: production
description: Detects execution, defense evasion, and persistence behaviors associated
  with the Lineage malware family. Detects proxy execution, reflective DLL loading,
  and remote command injection associated with modular enterprise backdoors.
references:
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/families/lineage
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/defensive/backdoor-rat-protection
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/
author: Ricky Jordan, Lead Threat Intelligence Analyst, SystemHelpDesk MSP
date: '2026-10-14'
modified: '2026-10-14'
tags:
- attack.advanced-threat
- author.ricky-jordan
- source.systemhelpdesk-mfc
- attack.t1056_001
- attack.t1005
- attack.t1566_002
logsource:
  category: process_creation
  product: windows
detection:
  selection_process:
    Image|endswith:
    - \powershell.exe
    - \cmd.exe
    - \rundll32.exe
    - \regsvr32.exe
    CommandLine|contains:
    - DownloadString
    - IEX(
    - '/s /n /u /i:'
    - sc create
    - start-process
  condition: selection_process
falsepositives:
- Legitimate enterprise administrative scripts during approved change windows
- Authorized IT software deployment utilities and backup management agents
level: high

rule MALWARE_WIN_LINEAGE_T3_ATTRIBUTION {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 3 Attribution Fingerprint: Heuristic detection for Lineage tradecraft"
        tier = "T3 - Attribution Fingerprint"
        confidence = "High (Confirmed Family Signature)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Threat Research Desk"
        date = "2026-10-14"
    strings:
        // Core family identifier & heuristic payload signatures
        $attrib_str = "lineage" ascii wide nocase
        $pe_magic = "MZ" ascii
        $net_marker = "http" ascii nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and ($attrib_str and $net_marker) and filesize < 15MB
}

Containment & Response Steps

Ordered checklist for responders. Adapt to your environment and engage professional support for active incidents.

1. Immediately change the passwords for the Lineage account and the associated email address from a known clean device.
2. Run a full system scan with updated antivirus/anti-malware software to locate and remove the persistent stealer executable.
3. Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) or OTP (One-Time Password) systems provided by the game publisher to mitigate future credential theft.
4. Contact game support immediately; many MMOs have processes for restoring items stolen via account compromise if reported quickly.

What to Avoid

Common mistakes during response to this family that can destroy evidence, spread the infection, or worsen recovery.

1. Do not attempt to log into any sensitive accounts (banking, email) on the infected machine until it has been completely sanitized, as the keylogger may capture those as well.
2. Avoid downloading unofficial patches, 'bots', or 'trainers' from untrusted gaming forums, as these are the primary vector for game stealers.

References & External Analysis

• Search "lineage" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)
• Search "lineage" on Any.Run (Sandbox Sandbox)
• Search "lineage" on MalwareBazaar (Malware Samples)

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Threats (Category: Advanced Threat)

Explore other documented threats in the same operational category:

• Russoturisto
• Fakeoff
• Openshopper
• Crawler
• Keybase
• Refog
• Sillysharecopy
• Mapsgory

Machine-readable

Get this profile as JSON: https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/api/lineage.json

Ecosystem & Interactive Environments

This profile is part of the Malware Families Catalog, a public dataset of 2,899 malware families. The catalog is also published across our ecosystem: Hugging Face, Kaggle, Zenodo, Replit, StackBlitz, CodeSandbox, and CodePen.