Cudaminer.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Cudaminer.exe process is related to a malevolent program that can properly be identified as a coin miner virus. That malware type utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer roughly unusable because of high CPU use.
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What is Cudaminer.exe process?

Cudaminer.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus

As I have mentioned before, Cudaminer.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file can be different, however, the effects are generally the identical. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all possible hardware capacity of your PC to run this process. This virus doesn’t care about the fact that you probably need to make use of your system for other tasks – it will consistently use over 80% of your CPU power.

Cudaminer.exe Windows Process

Cudaminer.exe – Extremely high CPU and GPU use

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their operations. In that situation, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as essential as CPU for system work, so Cudaminer.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize all of it. It often can lead to unhappy consequences.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Cryptocurrency mining means the operation of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral part of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a very powerful desktop is required. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of tens and hundreds of video cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Crooks who gain money via this coin miner use someones’ hardware instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

  • Microsoft Defender is stopped;
  • CPU and GPU is loaded at 80-90% exactly after the system start
  • Cooling fans are running at high speed and create a lot of noise
  • A single process in Task Manager consumes all CPU and GPU power
  • How dangerous is the Cudaminer.exe miner?

    Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system

    First of all, Cudaminer.exe malware makes your computer overloaded. It is not able to run your applications now, as all processor power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your demands, all it focuses on is generating profits on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely struggle with extremely slow efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any sort of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person that does a job online.

    Cudaminer.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name Cudaminer.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Telegramunosetup.exe, Bsmss.exe, Setupsmss.exe
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Cudaminer.exe removal.

    “Visible” damage is not a single negative thing coin miners perform to your PC. Cudaminer.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To complete all malicious operations properly, it ruins the protection components of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to prevent recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new notes – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your PC to a malicious mining network. All these changes are about to be reverted to the initial state in the process of computer recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your computer slow, running at peak power for long times can trigger damage to your machine as well as raise electricity costs. Hardware components are created to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only when they are in a good shape.

    Small and covered CPU fan is not very easy to broke. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily broke if affected while running, for instance, by the user much before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Cudaminer.exe can easily lead to GPU failure3. Graphic cards are also prone to have increased wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is surely an undesirable case when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Cudaminer.exe coin miner virus?

    Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources

    Coin miners are the most prevalent malicious programs through “severe” viruses. Adware sometimes functions as a carrier for Cudaminer.exe malware injection: it demonstrates you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any kind – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics show that about 30% of all viruses spread through the malevolent banners are coin miners – and Cudaminer.exe is just one of them.4

    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    One more way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the untrustworthy site as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. Hence, there is a very big temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and acquire a coin for each setup. Before blaming these individuals for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid buying the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus program and new parts for your desktop.

    How to remove the Cudaminer.exe miner from my PC?

    The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software

    Removing such a virus involves making use of specific tool. Proper antivirus should have high performance at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization even on weak PCs. On top of that, it is better to have proactive security in your security tool – to prevent the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender lacks these functions for various factors. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that purpose. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb choice that fits all of the specified qualities.5

    Prior to the virus removal, it is important to reboot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Cudaminer.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU capacity, it is needed to halt it before launching the security program. Otherwise, your scan will last for years, even though the GridinSoft program is pretty lightweight.

    Booting the PC into Safe Mode with Networking

    Press the Start button, then choose Power, and click on Reboot while holding the Shift key on the keyboard.

    Boot into Windows Safe Mode

    Windows will reboot into recovery mode. In that mode, choose Troubleshoot→ Startup Settings→ Safe Mode with Networking. Press the corresponding button on your keyboard to choose that option.

    windows safe mode boot option with command prompt

    When your computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, along with the majority of non-crucial system components, are not started with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the PC without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Cudaminer.exe coin miner virus with GridinSoft Anti-Malware

    Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware. You can use this anti-malware program for free during its 6-day trial period. In that term, all functions are available, and it takes no payments to remove malware from your system.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware free trial

    After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.

    Scanning in GridinSoft Anti-Malware

    When the scan is finished, press the Clean Now button to remove all detected elements from your system. This procedure takes less than a minute.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware after the scan process

    Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.

    Remove Cudaminer.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Cudaminer.exe

    Description: The Cudaminer.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Cudaminer.exe will create your CPU to go for very warm temperatures for prolonged periods of time, which could reduce the life of the CPU.

    Operating System: Windows

    Application Category: Trojan

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    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
    3. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
    4. Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
    5. Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

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    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    I'm Robert Bailey, a passionate Security Engineer with a deep fascination for all things related to malware, reverse engineering, and white hat ethical hacking.

    As a white hat hacker, I firmly believe in the power of ethical hacking to bolster security measures. By identifying vulnerabilities and providing solutions, I contribute to the proactive defense of digital infrastructures.

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