Trusted Developer Utilities Proxy Execution: MSBuild Defense Evasion [Mitre]

Adversaries may use MSBuild to proxy execution of code through a trusted Windows utility. MSBuild.exe (Microsoft Build Engine) is a software build platform used by Visual Studio. It handles XML formatted project files that define requirements for loading and building various platforms and configurations.

Adversaries can abuse MSBuild to proxy execution of malicious code. The inline task capability of …

NOP Sled Anti-Disassembly

In computer security, a NOP slide is a sequence of NOP (no-operation) instructions that is inserted at the beginning of a code section. When a program branches to the start of this code section, it will "slide" through the NOP instructions until it reaches the desired, final destination. This technique is commonly used in software exploits to direct program execution …

Process Reimaging Process Manipulating

Process Reimaging is a technique used to evade detection by endpoint security solutions. It is a variation of the Process Hollowing or Process Doppelganging techniques, which are used to execute arbitrary code in the context of another process.

The Windows operating system has inconsistencies in how it determines the locations of process image FILE_OBJECTs, which can impact the ability …

ConsoleWindowClass Process Manipulating

One method that has been used to achieve process injection is by manipulating the User Data of a window object.

The User Data of a window is a small amount of memory that is usually used to store a pointer to a class object. This memory can be set using the SetWindowLongPtr API and the GWLP_USERDATA parameter. In the …

Treepoline Process Manipulating

Tree-view controls are a type of user interface element that is used to display hierarchical data in a graphical user interface (GUI). They are commonly used in Windows applications and allow users to navigate and explore complex data structures.

To display its content, a tree-view control must sort the items it shows. The sorting routine for a tree-view control …

Breaking BaDDEr Process Manipulating

Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) is a protocol that allows applications to share data with each other. The Dynamic Data Exchange Management Library (DDEML) is a set of functions that facilitate data sharing using the DDE protocol. DDE and DDEML are commonly used in Microsoft Office to enable data to be shared between applications. In October 2017, a vulnerability was discovered …

Shellcode Injection via CreateThreadpoolWait Process Manipulating

Shellcode injection is a technique used by malware to execute arbitrary code within the context of a targeted process. One method of achieving this is through the use of the CreateThreadpoolWait function, which is a part of the Windows thread pool API.

In the context of shellcode injection, CreateThreadpoolWait is used to create a wait object that is associated …

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