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Anticheat

VMaNGOS ships two independent anti-cheat systems: a movement anticheat that validates movement packets server-side, and an implementation of the vanilla Warden anti-cheat client module. Sources: src/game/Anticheat/.

Movement Anticheat

MovementAnticheat/MovementAnticheat.cpp inspects every movement packet (HandlePositionTests, HandleFlagTests) and runs a battery of checks:

Check Method Catches
Speed hack CheckSpeedHack movement faster than allowed per move type
Teleport hacks CheckTeleport, IsTeleportAllowed3D position jumps without teleport packets
Wall climbing CheckWallClimb Z-gain while touching geometry
Falling abuse CheckNoFallTime, CheckFallReset/Stop fly-hack signatures (no fall time)
Fake transports CheckFakeTransport, CheckTeleportToTransport bogus transport positions
Forbidden areas CheckForbiddenArea entering out-of-bounds maps
Time desync CheckTimeDesync packet timestamp manipulation

Reactions & Logging

  • Actions per detection level (log, notify, kick, ban) are controlled by the Anticheat.* settings - 125 of them, documented in the mangosd.conf.
  • Detections are written to the unified logs_player table (type = 'Anticheat').
  • Suspected bot characters can be flagged into logs_trashcharacters.

Warden

The Warden system (WardenAnticheat/) implements the client-side anti-cheat challenge protocol for Windows (WardenWin.cpp) and macOS (WardenMac.cpp):

  • Modules are binary payloads loaded from disk: point Warden.ModuleDir (default warden_modules/) at a folder containing the Windows/macOS modules; missing files log "No ... Warden module found - reduced cheat detection capabilities!".
  • Module contents are decrypted with WardenModuleMgr; scan definitions come from the warden_scans world table.
  • The server schedules scans via Warden.NumScans, Warden.ScanFrequency, Warden.ClientResponseDelay etc. (mangosd.conf).
  • Scan outcomes are written to logs_player (type = 'Anticheat').
  • Enable/disable per platform with Warden.WinEnabled / Warden.OSXEnabled.

Warden only works with clients whose Warden module matches what the server expects; it is primarily useful against known cheat tooling.

  • mangosd.conf - Anticheat.*, Warden.* categories
  • Player Bots - the legitimate "bots" the core ships for testing/population