SuspendThread Anti-Debugging

Suspending threads is a technique used by malware to disable user-mode debuggers and make it more difficult for security analysts to reverse engineer and analyze the code. This can be achieved by using the SuspendThread function from the kernel32.dll library or the NtSuspendThread function from the NTDLL.DLL library.

The malware can enumerate the threads of a given process, or search …

Call to Interrupt Procedure Anti-Debugging

This anti-debugging technique involves using the INT n instruction to generate a call to the interrupt or exception handler specified with the destination operand.

To implement this technique, the int 0x03 instruction is executed, followed by a ret (0xCD03, 0xC3) nested in a __try, __except block. If a debugger is present, the except block will not be executed, and …

AddVectoredExceptionHandler Anti-Debugging

The AddVectoredExceptionHandler technique is an anti-debugging method that can detect the presence of debuggers using Vectored Exception Handlers. This technique works by calling AddVectoredExceptionHandler(1, ourHandler) to register a top-level exception handler that will catch any exceptions raised by the process, including those generated by debuggers.

After this call has taken place, stepping through the code will trigger an EXCEPTION_SINGLE_STEP exception, …

TLS Callback Anti-Debugging

TLS (Thread Local Storage) callbacks are a mechanism in Windows that allows a program to define a function that will be called when a thread is created. These callbacks can be used to perform various tasks, such as initializing thread-specific data or modifying the behavior of the thread.

As an anti-debugging technique, a program can use a TLS callback to …

AxProtector Packers

AxProtector encrypts the complete software you aim to protect, and shields it with a security shell, AxEngine. Best-of-breed anti-debugging and anti-disassembly methods are then injected into your software.

Themida Packers

Themida is a commercial known packer that embeds several features including anti-debugging, virtual machine emulation, encryption...

Anti-debugger techniques that detect/fool any kind of debugger
Anti-memory dumpers techniques for any Ring3 and Ring0 dumpers
Different encryption algorithms and keys in each protected application
Anti-API scanners techniques that avoids reconstruction of original import table
Automatic decompilation and scrambling techniques in target application …

NtSetInformationThread Anti-Debugging

NtSetInformationThread can be used to hide threads from debuggers using the ThreadHideFromDebugger ThreadInfoClass (0x11 / 17). This is intended to be used by an external process, but any thread can use it on itself.

After the thread is hidden from the debugger, it will continue running but the debugger won’t receive events related to this thread. This thread …

Debug Registers, Hardware Breakpoints Anti-Debugging

Registers DR0 through DR3 contain the linear address associated with one of the four hardware breakpoint conditions. For anti-debugging, malware will check the contents of the first four debug registers to see if the hardware breakpoint has been set.

IsDebugged Flag Anti-Debugging

While a process is running, the location of the PEB can be referenced by the location fs:[30h]. For anti-debugging, malware will use that location to check the BeingDebugged flag, which indicates whether the specified process is being debugged.

Interrupts Anti-Debugging

Adversaries may use exception-based anti-debugging techniques to detect whether their code is being executed in a debugger. These techniques rely on the fact that most debuggers will trap exceptions and not immediately pass them to the process being debugged for handling.

By triggering an exception and checking whether it is handled properly, the adversary's code can determine whether it is …

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