Every day, numerous players use an application on Steam to create animated desktop backgrounds and load them onto their PC. However, many currently contain malicious executable files.
How does malware get onto the PC? With the popular app “Wallpaper Engine,” users create and load dynamic backgrounds for Windows. Attackers attempted to access users’ account data through the application while the program runs in the background.
The problem: So-called “application backgrounds” are essentially standalone programs. They allow foreign code to be executed directly on the computer. Exactly in this type of wallpaper, attackers have integrated malware, as the security site Securelist reports.
Since the tool for sharing content relies on the Steam Workshop, anyone can publish a background image, making it a magnet for malicious actors. The cybersecurity company Kaspersky has already identified dozens of infected packages in the workshop that have been downloaded tens of thousands of times.
Has the problem been fixed yet? According to Securelist, Valve has already removed the identified malicious wallpapers and links. However, this is not a long-term solution. New infected files can appear in the Steam Workshop at any time, so one should not blindly rely on Valve’s filters. Experts recommend scanning downloaded wallpapers with an antivirus program if in doubt.
Wallpaper Engine has been one of the most used applications on Steam for years and is the only “non-game” that consistently ranks high in the charts. Even today, around 110,000 players are active in the application (source: SteamDB).
One reason for the popularity of Wallpaper Engine lies in China. There, the program is used by many as a kind of cloud storage to exchange files that are otherwise strictly prohibited in the country – such as “adult films”.
The risk of malware on Steam is by no means new. Only in May 2026 did hackers manage to infect a free, AI-generated horror game with a virus. In that case, Steam support had to intervene to save players from data theft while they were playing.
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