Windows Kernel Exploitation Foundation

Ashfaq Ansari

Ashfaq Ansari a.k.a "HackSysTeam", is a vulnerability researcher and specializes in software exploitation. He has authored "HackSys Extreme Vulnerable Driver (HEVD)" which has helped many folks to get started with Windows kernel exploitation. He holds numerous CVEs under his belt and is the instructor of "Windows Kernel Exploitation" course. His core interest lies in low-level software exploitation both in user and kernel mode, vulnerability research, reverse engineering, hybrid fuzzing, and program analysis.

Course Schedule

The next scheduling of this dojo has yet to be decided.

Course Abstract

In this course, we will use Windows 10 RS6 x64 for all the labs and has a CTF that runs throughout the training. This course starts with the basics of Windows & driver internals, different memory corruption classes, and fuzzing of kernel mode drivers.

Upon completion of this training, participants will be able to learn:

• Basics of Windows and driver internals

• Different memory corruption classes

• Fuzz kernel mode drivers to find vulnerabilities

• Exploit development process in kernel mode

• Kernel debugging

What to Expect?

• Hands-on

• WinDbg-Fu

•  Fast & quick overview of Windows internals 

• Techniques to exploit Windows kernel/driver vulnerabilities

Course Pre-requisites

• Basic operating system concepts

• Familiarity with vulnerability classes

• Basics of x86/x64 assembly and C/python

• Basics of ROP

• Patience

Course Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this training, participants will be able to:

• Understand how kernel and kernel mode driver works

• Understand exploitation techniques in kernel mode

• Learn to write exploits for the found vulnerabilities in the kernel or kernel mode components

Who Should Attend

• Information security professional

• Bug hunters & Red teamers

• User-mode exploit developers

• Windows driver developers & testers

• Anyone with interest in understanding Windows Kernel exploitation

• Ethical hackers and penetration testers looking to upgrade their skill-set to the kernel level

Course Agenda

Day 1 (4 hours)

• Windows Internals

  • Architecture

  • Executive & Kernel

  • Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL)

  • Privilege Rings

• Memory Management

  • Virtual Address Space

  • Memory Pool

• Driver Internals

  • I/O Request Packet (IRP)

  • I/O Control Code (IOCTL)

  • Data Buffering

Day 2 (4 hours)

• Fuzzing Windows Drivers (multiple drivers)

  • Locating IOCTLs in Windows drivers

  • Memory Sanitizers

    • Special Pool

  • Fuzzing the discovered IOCTLs

  • Analyze the crashes

Day 3 (4 hours)

• Revision - day 1

• Fuzzing Windows Drivers (continued)

• Exploitation

  • Stack Buffer Overflow (SMEP & KPTI disabled)

    • Understand the vulnerability

    • Achieving code execution

Day 4 (4 hours)

• Escalation of Privilege Payload

• Kernel State Recovery

• Miscellaneous

  • Q/A and feedback

Day 5

• Clear doubts or take off depending on if students need a break

Hardware Requirements

• A laptop capable of running two virtual machines simultaneously (8 GB+ of RAM)

• 40 GB free hard drive space

Software Requirements

• VMware Workstation/Player installed

• Everyone should have Administrator privilege on their laptop

Included Course Materials

• Training slides

• Scripts and code samples