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 also organizations in sectors such as manufacturing, retail, telecoms, consulting, and agriculture. Kaspersky saw most infections in Brazil, China, and Russia, but it’s worth noting that the company has limited visibility in North America and Europe.  The attackers served both ZIP archives and standalone installers that delivered the legitimate software along with a malicious file (cryptbase.dll) loaded via DLL sideloading.  The ultimate goal is to distribute a recently discovered Windows malware tracked as STX RAT, which enables attackers to take control of the compromised machine and steal information such as browser credentials, cryptocurrency wallets, and FTP client passwords. CPUID’s maintainer said the incident occurred on April 10, and the website was compromised for roughly six hours, between 00:00 and 06:00 GMT.  However, Kaspersky saw a longer window of compromise, between April 9, 15:00, and April 10, 10:00 GMT.  Researchers at Breakglass Intelligence have linked this incident to a recent attack involving trojanized versions of the FileZilla software and reported that the CPUID attack was part of a 10-month campaign. Breakglass, which believes a Russian-speaking threat actor is behind the operation, has found evidence suggesting that the CPUID attack actually began on April 3.  Related: Guardarian Users Targeted With Malicious Strapi NPM Packages Related: North Korean Hackers Target High-Profile Node.js Maintainers Related: Mercor Hit by LiteLLM Supply Chain Attack WRITTEN BY Eduard Kovacs Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is senior managing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher before starting a career in journalism in 2011. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering. More from Eduard Kovacs Chrome 147 Patches 60 Vulnerabilities, Including Two Critical Flaws Worth $86,000 Microsoft Finds Vulnerability Exposing Millions of Android Crypto Wallet Users Apple Intelligence AI Guardrails Bypassed in New Attack Adobe Reader Zero-Day Exploited for Months: Researcher $3.6 Million Stolen in Bitcoin Depot Hack Data Leakage Vulnerability Patched in OpenSSL Massachusetts Hospital Diverts Ambulances as Cyberattack Causes Disruption  US Disrupts Russian Espionage Operation Involving Hacked Routers and DNS Hijacking Latest News International Operation Targets Multimillion-Dollar Crypto Theft Schemes Fake Claude Website Distributes PlugX RAT Gmail Brings End-to-End Encryption to Android and iOS for Enterprise Users Adobe Patches Reader Zero-Day Exploited for Months In Other News: Cyberattack Stings Stryker, Windows Zero-Day, China Supercomputer Hack Juniper Networks Patches Dozens of Junos OS Vulnerabilities Industry Reactions to Iran Hacking ICS in Critical Infrastructure: Feedback Friday Orthanc DICOM Vulnerabilities Lead to Crashes, RCE Trending Webinar: A Step-By-Step Approach To AI Governance April 28, 2026 With "Shadow AI" usage becoming prevalent in organizations, learn how to balance the need for rapid experimentation with the rigorous controls required for enterprise-grade deployment. Register Virtual Event: Threat Detection And Incident Response Summit May 20, 2026 Delve into big-picture strategies to reduce attack surfaces, improve patch management, conduct post-incident forensics, and tools and tricks needed in a modern organization. Register People on the Move The United States Department of War appointed David Vaughn as Technical Advisor for Data Infrastructure. Black Duck has named Dom Glavach as Chief Information Security Officer. Finite State has named Ann Miller as Vice President of Marketing. More People On The Move Expert Insights The Hidden ROI Of Visibility: Better Decisions, Better Behavior, Better Security Beyond monitoring and compliance, visibility acts as a powerful deterrent, shaping user behavior, improving collaboration, and enabling more accurate, data-driven security decisions. (Joshua Goldfarb) The New Rules Of Engagement: Matching Agentic Attack Speed The cybersecurity response to AI-enabled nation-state threats cannot be incremental. It must be architectural. (Nadir Izrael) The Next Cybersecurity Crisis Isn’t Breaches—It’s Data You Can’t Trust Data integrity shouldn’t be seen only through the prism of a technical concern but also as a leadership issue. (Steve Durbin) Why Agentic AI Systems Need Better Governance – Lessons From OpenClaw Agentic AI platforms are shifting from passive recommendation tools to autonomous action-takers with real system access, (Etay Maor) The Human IOC: Why Security Professionals Struggle With Social Vetting Applying SOC-level rigor to the rumors, politics, and 'human intel' can make or break a security team. (Joshua Goldfarb) Flipboard Reddit Whatsapp Email