Microsoft paves the way for Linux gaming success with plan that would kill kernel-level anti-cheat

Back in July, after the massive Crowdstrike outage that ended up grounding flights and bringing businesses around the world to their knees, there was talk from Microsoft about locking down the Windows kernel in order to prevent similar issues from arising in the future. Now, according to a Microsoft blog post about the recent Windows Endpoint Security Ecosystem Summit, the company is committing to providing “more security capabilities to solution providers outside of kernel mode.”

According to the blog post, Microsoft and many of its security partners and vendors discussed several aspects of the future of security in Windows, but moving security features out of the kernel has some interesting implications for the future of gaming on Linux. Removing kernel-level security software would mean that anti-cheat software would all have to be implemented with user access, making it much less intrusive and far easier to emulate with translation layers, like WINE or Valve's Proton. 

Theoretically, this should make it easier for devices like the Steam Deck to run games like Paladins and Fortnite — whether Tim Sweeney likes it or not. Many games that use kernel-level anti-cheat software, like EAC (Easy Anti-Cheat), are not compatible with Linux, despite that compatibility reportedly being a single toggle in software — however, game developers and publishers are hesitant to enable Linux compatibility, for some reason. 

Somewhat comically, Microsoft directly calls out the Crowdstrike vulnerability in the blog post, although it doesn't go so far as to outright blame the outage for the proposed new approach to security. Microsoft also outlined its plan for the new security platform for Windows, highlighting resiliency and tamper-proofing as main goals of the new security platform. 

"Both our customers and ecosystem partners have called on Microsoft to provide additional security capabilities outside of kernel mode which, along with SDP, can be used to create highly available security solutions. At the summit, Microsoft and partners discussed the requirements and key challenges in creating a new platform which can meet the needs of security vendors.

Some of the areas discussed include:

• Performance needs and challenges outside of kernel mode

• Anti-tampering protection for security products

• Security sensor requirements

• Development and collaboration principles between Microsoft and the ecosystem

• Secure-by-design goals for future platform

Given this focus on “tamper-proofing,” there may still be other ways for anti-cheat vendors to keep Linux gamers out of their games if they so please. Unfortunately, we will have to wait and see. 

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