The open-source foundation behind most DMA card "firmwares" used in the wild
PCILeech is an open-source project created by Ulf Frisk that enables Direct Memory Access (DMA) over PCIe devices to read and write host memory. It is primarily used for research, memory forensics, and security testing.
The project includes firmware for supported FPGA boards, device bitstreams, and host-side tools capable of dumping, mapping, and manipulating system memory.
PCILeech supports various FPGA-based PCIe platforms. The FPGA loads a bitstream that allows DMA transactions to the host memory space.
Using DMA, the device issues read/write requests directly to RAM. The host-side tool translates virtual addresses, resolves structures, and performs operations like dump, search, and patch.
Because DMA operates below the operating system, traditional software protections and many anti-cheat mechanisms cannot intercept these transactions.
PCILeech is widely used in security research, incident response, and memory forensics for legitimate analysis of system memory.
Many commercial or gray-market DMA/FPGA cards advertise custom or proprietary "firmware" for gaming purposes.
In practice, the vast majority of these offerings are forks or repackaged builds that ultimately rely on PCILeech as the foundational technology. They often add thin wrappers, configuration presets, or UI tools, but the core DMA capability derives from PCILeech.
Some sellers do not properly attribute the original project or disclose their reliance on PCILeech.
Respect open-source licenses, provide attribution, and use the technology for legitimate research and educational purposes.
This page is for educational purposes only. While PCILeech enables powerful DMA-based research capabilities, using it (or derivatives) to cheat in games violates terms of service and may be illegal depending on jurisdiction.
If you want to learn, start with the official repository and documentation and avoid untrusted third-party binaries or "firmwares".