Darktrace discovered a new botnet exploiting exposed Jenkins servers to launch DDoS attacks against Valve Source Engine game servers running Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2.
A newly discovered DDoS botnet is exploiting exposed Jenkins CI/CD servers to launch powerful amplification attacks against Valve Source Engine game infrastructure. Security researchers at Darktrace identified the malware after capturing it on one of their CloudyPots honeypot systems on March 18, 2026. The botnet specifically targets game servers running Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2, reflecting a broader trend where the gaming sector has become the fourth most targeted industry globally according to Cloudflare.
The infection process begins when attackers compromise a Jenkins instance with weak or default credentials, exploiting the tool’s remote code execution capabilities. Once inside, the malware drops payloads for both Windows and Linux systems. On Linux, it sets Jenkins environment variables to “dontKillMe” to prevent automatic process termination, deletes its original executable, and renames itself to mimic legitimate kernel processes like “ksoftirqd/0” or “kworker.” It uses a double-fork method to run as a background daemon, redirects all I/O to /dev/null, and intercepts termination signals to resist removal.
The botnet supports multiple DDoS methods including UDP floods, TCP push attacks, and HTTP request floods. A technique called “attack_dayz” sends TSource Engine Query packets that force game servers to return large volumes of data, creating a dangerous amplification vector. The C2 server, hosted at 103[.]177.110.202 by a Vietnamese provider, uses TCP port 5444 for communication and supports PING keep-alive, !stop, and !update commands.
Server operators should immediately remove public access to Jenkins endpoints, enforce strong authentication, block TCP port 5444 at the firewall, and monitor for the attacker IP 103[.]177.110.202.
Source: Cyber Security News — New DDoS Malware Exploits Jenkins to Attack Valve Source Engine Game S
