Awesome Windows Exploitation

A curated list of awesome Windows Exploitation resources, and shiny things.

There is no pre-established order of items in each category, the order is for contribution. If you want to contribute, please read the guide.

Table of Contents

• Windows stack overflows
• Windows heap overflows
• Kernel based Windows overflows
• Windows Kernel Memory Corruption
• Return Oriented Programming
• Windows memory protections
• Bypassing filter and protections
• Typical windows exploits
• Exploit development tutorial series
  • Corelan Team
  • Fuzzysecurity
  • Securitysift
  • Whitehatters Academy
  • TheSprawl
  • Expdev-Kiuhnm
• Tools

Windows stack overflows

Stack Base Overflow Articles.

• Win32 Buffer Overflows (Location, Exploitation and Prevention) - by Dark spyrit [1999]
• Writing Stack Based Overflows on Windows - by Nish Bhalla’s [2005]
• Stack Smashing as of Today - by Hagen Fritsch [2009]
• SMASHING C++ VPTRS - by rix [2000]

Windows heap overflows

Heap Base Overflow Articles.

• Third Generation Exploitation smashing heap on 2k - by Halvar Flake [2002]
• Exploiting the MSRPC Heap Overflow Part 1 - by Dave Aitel (MS03-026) [September 2003]
• Exploiting the MSRPC Heap Overflow Part 2 - by Dave Aitel (MS03-026) [September 2003]
• Windows heap overflow penetration in black hat - by David Litchfield [2004]
• Glibc Adventures: The Forgotten Chunk - by François Goichon [2015]
• Pseudomonarchia jemallocum - by argp & huku
• The House Of Lore: Reloaded - by blackngel [2010]
• Malloc Des-Maleficarum - by blackngel [2009]
• free() exploitation technique - by huku
• Understanding the heap by breaking it - by Justin N. Ferguson [2007]
• The use of set_head to defeat the wilderness - by g463
• The Malloc Maleficarum - by Phantasmal Phantasmagoria [2005]
• Exploiting The Wilderness - by Phantasmal Phantasmagoria [2004]
• Advanced Doug lea's malloc exploits - by jp

Kernel based Windows overflows

Kernel Base Exploit Development Articles.

• How to attack kernel based vulns on windows was done - by a Polish group called “sec-labs” [2003]
• Sec-lab old whitepaper
• Sec-lab old exploit
• Windows Local Kernel Exploitation (based on sec-lab research) - by S.K Chong [2004]
• How to exploit Windows kernel memory pool - by SoBeIt [2005]
• Exploiting remote kernel overflows in windows - by Eeye Security
• Kernel-mode Payloads on Windows in uninformed - by Matt Miller
• Exploiting 802.11 Wireless Driver Vulnerabilities on Windows
• BH US 2007 Attacking the Windows Kernel
• Remote and Local Exploitation of Network Drivers
• Exploiting Comon Flaws In Drivers
• I2OMGMT Driver Impersonation Attack
• Real World Kernel Pool Exploitation
• Exploit for windows 2k3 and 2k8
• Alyzing local privilege escalations in win32k
• Intro to Windows Kernel Security Development
• There’s a party at ring0 and you’re invited
• Windows kernel vulnerability exploitation
• A New CVE-2015-0057 Exploit Technology - by Yu Wang [2016]
• Exploiting CVE-2014-4113 on Windows 8.1 - by Moritz Jodeit [2016]
• Easy local Windows Kernel exploitation - by Cesar Cerrudo [2012]
• Windows Kernel Exploitation - by Simone Cardona 2016
• Exploiting MS16-098 RGNOBJ Integer Overflow on Windows 8.1 x64 bit by abusing GDI objects - by Saif Sherei 2017
• Windows Kernel Exploitation : This Time Font hunt you down in 4 bytes - by keen team [2015]
• Abusing GDI for ring0 exploit primitives - [2016]

Windows Kernel Memory Corruption

Windows Kernel Memory Corruption Exploit Development Articles.

• Remote Windows Kernel Exploitation - by Barnaby Jack [2005]
• windows kernel-mode payload fundamentals - by Skape [2006]
• exploiting 802.11 wireless driver vulnerabilities on windows - by Johnny Cache, H D Moore, skape [2007]
• Kernel Pool Exploitation on Windows 7 - by Tarjei Mandt [2011]
• Windows Kernel-mode GS Cookies and 1 bit of entropy - [2011]
• Subtle information disclosure in WIN32K.SYS syscall return values - [2011]
• nt!NtMapUserPhysicalPages and Kernel Stack-Spraying Techniques - [2011]
• SMEP: What is it, and how to beat it on Windows - [2011]
• Kernel Attacks through User-Mode Callbacks - by Tarjei Mandt [2011]
• Windows Security Hardening Through Kernel Address Protection - by Mateusz "j00ru" Jurczyk [2011]
• Reversing Windows8: Interesting Features of Kernel Security - by MJ0011 [2012]
• Smashing The Atom: Extraordinary String Based Attacks - by Tarjei Mandt [2012]
• Easy local Windows Kernel exploitation - by Cesar Cerrudo [2012]
• Using a Patched Vulnerability to Bypass Windows 8 x64 Driver Signature Enforcement - by MJ0011 [2012]
• MWR Labs Pwn2Own 2013 Write-up - Kernel Exploit - [2013]
• KASLR Bypass Mitigations in Windows 8.1 - [2013]
• First Dip Into the Kernel Pool: MS10-058 - by Jeremy [2014]
• Windows 8 Kernel Memory Protections Bypass - [2014]
• An Analysis of A Windows Kernel-Mode Vulnerability (CVE-2014-4113) - by Weimin Wu [2014]
• Sheep Year Kernel Heap Fengshui: Spraying in the Big Kids’ Pool - [2014]
• Exploiting the win32k!xxxEnableWndSBArrows use-after-free (CVE 2015-0057) bug on both 32-bit and 64-bit - by Aaron Adams [2015]
• Exploiting MS15-061 Microsoft Windows Kernel Use-After-Free (win32k!xxxSetClassLong) - by Dominic Wang [2015]
• Exploiting CVE-2015-2426, and How I Ported it to a Recent Windows 8.1 64-bit - by Cedric Halbronn [2015]
• Abusing GDI for ring0 exploit primitives - by Diego Juarez [2015]
• Duqu 2.0 Win32k exploit analysis - [2015]

Return Oriented Programming

• The Geometry of Innocent Flesh on the Bone: Return-into-libc without Function Calls
• Blind return-oriented programming
• Sigreturn-oriented Programming
• Jump-Oriented Programming: A New Class of Code-Reuse Attack
• Out of control: Overcoming control-flow integrity
• ROP is Still Dangerous: Breaking Modern Defenses
• Loop-Oriented Programming(LOP): A New Code Reuse Attack to Bypass Modern Defenses - by Bingchen Lan, Yan Li, Hao Sun, Chao Su, Yao Liu, Qingkai Zeng [2015]
• Systematic Analysis of Defenses Against Return-Oriented Programming -by R. Skowyra, K. Casteel, H. Okhravi, N. Zeldovich, and W. Streilein [2013]
• Return-oriented programming without returns -by S.Checkoway, L. Davi, A. Dmitrienko, A. Sadeghi, H. Shacham, and M. Winandy [2010]
• Jump-oriented programming: a new class of code-reuse attack -by T. K. Bletsch, X. Jiang, V. W. Freeh, and Z. Liang [2011]
• Stitching the gadgets: on the ineffectiveness of coarse-grained control-flow integrity protection - by L. Davi, A. Sadeghi, and D. Lehmann [2014]
• Size does matter: Why using gadget-chain length to prevent code-reuse attacks is hard - by E. Göktas, E.Athanasopoulos, M. Polychronakis, H. Bos, and G.Portokalidis [2014]
• Buffer overflow attacks bypassing DEP (NX/XD bits) – part 1 - by Marco Mastropaolo [2005]
• Buffer overflow attacks bypassing DEP (NX/XD bits) – part 2 - by Marco Mastropaolo [2005]
• Practical Rop - by Dino Dai Zovi [2010]
• Exploitation with WriteProcessMemory - by Spencer Pratt [2010]
• Exploitation techniques and mitigations on Windows - by skape
• A little return oriented exploitation on Windows x86 – Part 1 - by Harmony Security and Stephen Fewer [2010]
• A little return oriented exploitation on Windows x86 – Part 2 - by Harmony Security and Stephen Fewer [2010]

Windows memory protections

Windows memory protections Introduction Articles.

• Data Execution Prevention
• /GS (Buffer Security Check)
• /SAFESEH
• ASLR
• SEHOP

Bypassing filter and protections

Windows memory protections Bypass Methods Articles.

• Third Generation Exploitation smashing heap on 2k - by Halvar Flake [2002]
• Creating Arbitrary Shellcode In Unicode Expanded Strings - by Chris Anley
• Advanced windows exploitation - by Dave Aitel [2003]
• Defeating the Stack Based Buffer Overflow Prevention Mechanism of Microsoft Windows 2003 Server - by David Litchfield
• Reliable heap exploits and after that Windows Heap Exploitation (Win2KSP0 through WinXPSP2) - by Matt Conover in cansecwest 2004
• Safely Searching Process Virtual Address Space - by Matt Miller [2004]
• IE exploit and used a technology called Heap Spray
• Bypassing hardware-enforced DEP - by Skape (Matt Miller) and Skywing (Ken Johnson) [October 2005]
• Exploiting Freelist[0] On XP Service Pack 2 - by Brett Moore [2005]
• Kernel-mode Payloads on Windows in uninformed
• Exploiting 802.11 Wireless Driver Vulnerabilities on Windows
• Exploiting Comon Flaws In Drivers
• Heap Feng Shui in JavaScript by Alexander sotirov [2007]
• Understanding and bypassing Windows Heap Protection - by Nicolas Waisman [2007]
• Heaps About Heaps - by Brett moore [2008]
• Bypassing browser memory protections in Windows Vista - by Mark Dowd and Alex Sotirov [2008]
• Attacking the Vista Heap - by ben hawkes [2008]
• Return oriented programming Exploitation without Code Injection - by Hovav Shacham (and others ) [2008]
• Token Kidnapping and a super reliable exploit for windows 2k3 and 2k8 - by Cesar Cerrudo [2008]
• Defeating DEP Immunity Way - by Pablo Sole [2008]
• Practical Windows XP2003 Heap Exploitation - by John McDonald and Chris Valasek [2009]
• Bypassing SEHOP - by Stefan Le Berre Damien Cauquil [2009]
• Interpreter Exploitation : Pointer Inference and JIT Spraying - by Dionysus Blazakis[2010]
• Write-up of Pwn2Own 2010 - by Peter Vreugdenhil
• All in one 0day presented in rootedCON - by Ruben Santamarta [2010]
• DEP/ASLR bypass using 3rd party - by Shahin Ramezany [2013]
• Bypassing EMET 5.0 - by René Freingruber [2014]

Typical windows exploits

• Real-world HW-DEP bypass Exploit - by Devcode
• Bypassing DEP by returning into HeapCreate - by Toto
• First public ASLR bypass exploit by using partial overwrite - by Skape
• Heap spray and bypassing DEP - by Skylined
• First public exploit that used ROP for bypassing DEP in adobe lib TIFF vulnerability
• Exploit codes of bypassing browsers memory protections
• PoC’s on Tokken TokenKidnapping . PoC for 2k3 -part 1 - by Cesar Cerrudo
• PoC’s on Tokken TokenKidnapping . PoC for 2k8 -part 2 - by Cesar Cerrudo
• An exploit works from win 3.1 to win 7 - by Tavis Ormandy KiTra0d
• Old ms08-067 metasploit module multi-target and DEP bypass
• PHP 6.0 Dev str_transliterate() Buffer overflow – NX + ASLR Bypass
• SMBv2 Exploit - by Stephen Fewer
• Microsoft IIS 7.5 remote heap buffer overflow - by redpantz
• Browser Exploitation Case Study for Internet Explorer 11 - by Moritz Jodeit [2016]

Exploit development tutorial series

Exploid Development Tutorial Series Base on Windows Operation System Articles.

• Corelan Team

  • Exploit writing tutorial part 1 : Stack Based Overflows
  • Exploit writing tutorial part 2 : Stack Based Overflows – jumping to shellcode
  • Exploit writing tutorial part 3 : SEH Based Exploits
  • Exploit writing tutorial part 3b : SEH Based Exploits – just another example
  • Exploit writing tutorial part 4 : From Exploit to Metasploit – The basics
  • Exploit writing tutorial part 5 : How debugger modules & plugins can speed up basic exploit development
  • Exploit writing tutorial part 6 : Bypassing Stack Cookies, SafeSeh, SEHOP, HW DEP and ASLR
  • Exploit writing tutorial part 7 : Unicode – from 0x00410041 to calc
  • Exploit writing tutorial part 8 : Win32 Egg Hunting
  • Exploit writing tutorial part 9 : Introduction to Win32 shellcoding
  • Exploit writing tutorial part 10 : Chaining DEP with ROP – the Rubik’s Cube
  • Exploit writing tutorial part 11 : Heap Spraying Demystified

• Fuzzysecurity

  • Part 1: Introduction to Exploit Development
  • Part 2: Saved Return Pointer Overflows
  • Part 3: Structured Exception Handler (SEH)
  • Part 4: Egg Hunters
  • Part 5: Unicode 0x00410041
  • Part 6: Writing W32 shellcode
  • Part 7: Return Oriented Programming
  • Part 8: Spraying the Heap Chapter 1: Vanilla EIP
  • Part 9: Spraying the Heap Chapter 2: Use-After-Free
  • Part 10: Kernel Exploitation -> Stack Overflow
  • Part 11: Kernel Exploitation -> Write-What-Where
  • Part 12: Kernel Exploitation -> Null Pointer Dereference
  • Part 13: Kernel Exploitation -> Uninitialized Stack Variable
  • Part 14: Kernel Exploitation -> Integer Overflow
  • Part 15: Kernel Exploitation -> UAF
  • Part 16: Kernel Exploitation -> Pool Overflow
  • Part 17: Kernel Exploitation -> GDI Bitmap Abuse (Win7-10 32/64bit)
  • Heap Overflows For Humans 101
  • Heap Overflows For Humans 102
  • Heap Overflows For Humans 102.5
  • Heap Overflows For Humans 103
  • Heap Overflows For Humans 103.5

• Securitysift

  • Windows Exploit Development – Part 1: The Basics
  • Windows Exploit Development – Part 2: Intro to Stack Based Overflows
  • Windows Exploit Development – Part 3: Changing Offsets and Rebased Modules
  • Windows Exploit Development – Part 4: Locating Shellcode With Jumps
  • Windows Exploit Development – Part 5: Locating Shellcode With Egghunting
  • Windows Exploit Development – Part 6: SEH Exploits
  • Windows Exploit Development – Part 7: Unicode Buffer Overflows

• Whitehatters Academy

  • Intro to Windows kernel exploitation 1/N: Kernel Debugging
  • Intro to Windows kernel exploitation 2/N: HackSys Extremely Vulnerable Driver
  • Intro to Windows kernel exploitation 3/N: My first Driver exploit
  • Intro to Windows kernel exploitation 3.5/N: A bit more of the HackSys Driver
  • Backdoor 103: Fully Undetected
  • Backdoor 102
  • Backdoor 101

• TheSprawl

  • corelan - integer overflows - exercise solution
  • heap overflows for humans - 102 - exercise solution
  • exploit exercises - protostar - final levels
  • exploit exercises - protostar - network levels
  • exploit exercises - protostar - heap levels
  • exploit exercises - protostar - format string levels
  • exploit exercises - protostar - stack levels
  • open security training - introduction to software exploits - uninitialized variable overflow
  • open security training - introduction to software exploits - off-by-one
  • open security training - introduction to re - bomb lab secret phase
  • open security training - introductory x86 - buffer overflow mystery box
  • corelan - tutorial 10 - exercise solution
  • corelan - tutorial 9 - exercise solution
  • corelan - tutorial 7 - exercise solution
  • getting from seh to nseh
  • corelan - tutorial 3b - exercise solution

• Expdev-Kiuhnm

  • WinDbg
  • Mona 2
  • Structure Exception Handling (SEH)
  • Heap
  • Windows Basics
  • Shellcode
  • Exploitme1 (ret eip overwrite)
  • Exploitme2 (Stack cookies & SEH)
  • Exploitme3 (DEP)
  • Exploitme4 (ASLR)
  • Exploitme5 (Heap Spraying & UAF)
  • EMET 5.2
  • Internet Explorer 10 - Reverse Engineering IE
  • Internet Explorer 10 - From one-byte-write to full process space read/write
  • Internet Explorer 10 - God Mode (1)
  • Internet Explorer 10 - God Mode (2)
  • Internet Explorer 10 - Use-After-Free bug
  • Internet Explorer 11 - Part 1
  • Internet Explorer 11 - Part 2

Tools

Disassemblers, debuggers, and other static and dynamic analysis tools.

• angr - Platform-agnostic binary analysis framework developed at UCSB's Seclab.
• BARF - Multiplatform, open source Binary Analysis and Reverse engineering Framework.
• Binary Ninja - Multiplatform binary analysis IDE supporting various types of binaries and architecturs. Scriptable via Python.
• binnavi - Binary analysis IDE for reverse engineering based on graph visualization.
• Bokken - GUI for Pyew and Radare.
• Capstone - Disassembly framework for binary analysis and reversing, with support for many architectures and bindings in several languages.
• codebro - Web based code browser using clang to provide basic code analysis.
• dnSpy - .NET assembly editor, decompiler and debugger.
• Evan's Debugger (EDB) - A modular debugger with a Qt GUI.
• GDB - The GNU debugger.
• GEF - GDB Enhanced Features, for exploiters and reverse engineers.
• hackers-grep - A utility to search for strings in PE executables including imports, exports, and debug symbols.
• IDA Pro - Windows disassembler and debugger, with a free evaluation version.
• Immunity Debugger - Debugger for malware analysis and more, with a Python API.
• ltrace - Dynamic analysis for Linux executables.
• objdump - Part of GNU binutils, for static analysis of Linux binaries.
• OllyDbg - An assembly-level debugger for Windows executables.
• PANDA - Platform for Architecture-Neutral Dynamic Analysis
• PEDA - Python Exploit Development Assistance for GDB, an enhanced display with added commands.
• pestudio - Perform static analysis of Windows executables.
• Process Monitor - Advanced monitoring tool for Windows programs.
• Pyew - Python tool for malware analysis.
• Radare2 - Reverse engineering framework, with debugger support.
• SMRT - Sublime Malware Research Tool, a plugin for Sublime 3 to aid with malware analyis.
• strace - Dynamic analysis for Linux executables.
• Udis86 - Disassembler library and tool for x86 and x86_64.
• Vivisect - Python tool for malware analysis.
• X64dbg - An open-source x64/x32 debugger for windows.