{"id":22251,"date":"2025-02-26T08:10:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T07:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/?p=22251"},"modified":"2026-02-20T13:40:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T12:40:27","slug":"the-key-to-compromise-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/the-key-to-compromise-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"The Key to COMpromise &#8211; Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"22251\" class=\"elementor elementor-22251\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-6bacf89 elementor-section-full_width elementor-section-content-middle elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"6bacf89\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column 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data-id=\"259657f6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"post-info.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"elementor-inline-items elementor-icon-list-items elementor-post-info\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-59da575 elementor-inline-item\" itemprop=\"about\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-terms\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-post-info__terms-list\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-post-info__terms-list-item\">Red Teaming<\/span>\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1f24629d elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"1f24629d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">The Key to COMpromise &#8211; Part 4<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7d20eda7 elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer\" data-id=\"7d20eda7\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"spacer.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer-inner\"><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-956256c elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"956256c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>February 26, 2025<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-440ecfd6 elementor-hidden-mobile_extra elementor-hidden-mobile\" data-id=\"440ecfd6\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-75705e0d elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer\" data-id=\"75705e0d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"spacer.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer-inner\"><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-2e44deaf elementor-reverse-mobile elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"2e44deaf\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-3e67f992\" data-id=\"3e67f992\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-436ff8db elementor-widget elementor-widget-menu-anchor\" data-id=\"436ff8db\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"menu-anchor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-menu-anchor\" id=\"section1\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1573b487 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"1573b487\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">The Key to COMpromise - Writing to the Registry (again), Part 4<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-51d6b923 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"51d6b923\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2>Introduction<\/h2><p>In this final part of our series on COM hijacking, we will examine a custom-named pipe IPC protocol implemented by Bitdefender Total Security and detail our approach to reverse engineering it. We will explore how we could use COM hijacking and this custom communication to gain <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">SYSTEM<\/span> privileges (CVE-2023-6154). Additionally, we will examine how to mitigate the vulnerabilities discussed throughout this series of blog posts. Lastly, we will demonstrate how COM hijacking can be exploited to perform a Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack on security products.<\/p><h2>COM Hijacking<\/h2><p>Once again, the targeted product accesses the COM interface for the <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">dataexchange.dll<\/span>\u00a0upon launching the front-end UI. We hijacked this COM interface as described in <a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/the-key-to-compromise\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">part one<\/a> of this series. After hijacking the COM Interface, a DLL we provided was loaded into a front-end process, allowing us to communicate with the back-end processes out of the context of a trusted process.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-204974cf elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"204974cf\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/dll_load_Fig1-1.png\" data-elementor-open-lightbox=\"yes\" data-elementor-lightbox-title=\"dll_load_Fig1\" data-e-action-hash=\"#elementor-action%3Aaction%3Dlightbox%26settings%3DeyJpZCI6MjIyNTksInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOlwvXC9jaXJvc2VjLmRlXC93cC1jb250ZW50XC91cGxvYWRzXC8yMDI1XC8wMlwvZGxsX2xvYWRfRmlnMS0xLnBuZyJ9\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"475\" height=\"58\" src=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/dll_load_Fig1-1.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large wp-image-22259\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/dll_load_Fig1-1.png 475w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/dll_load_Fig1-1-300x37.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 475px) 100vw, 475px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"widget-image-caption wp-caption-text\">Figure 1: Our DLL being loaded into the front-end process<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-392a80a4 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"392a80a4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>To exploit this primitive, we needed a deeper understanding of the communication between the front and back end. The next section details our reverse engineering process.<\/p><h2>Reverse engineering the communication<\/h2><p>Similar to other security products we analyzed and exploited, the <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">seccenter.exe<\/span> (front-end process) communicates with a high-privileged back-end process. However, with Bitdefender, high-level interfaces implemented the communication, so we didn&#8217;t have to analyze RPC calls in depth.<\/p><p>During our analysis of the <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">seccenter.exe<\/span>, we quickly identified the loaded DLL <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">safeelevatedrun.dll<\/span>, which contains some plugin-like interfaces written in C++. Three intriguing strings caught our attention:<\/p><ul><li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">CEleveatedOperationsClient<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">CRegistryOperationsClient<\/span><\/li><li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">CFileOperationsClient<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p>The strings seem to reference classes implemented within the <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">safeelevatedrun.dll<\/span>\u00a0and provide the high-level interfaces already mentioned for communication with the back-end service.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-35d836ff\" data-id=\"35d836ff\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6e111e64 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image-box\" data-id=\"6e111e64\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image-box.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-image-box-wrapper\"><div class=\"elementor-image-box-content\"><div class=\"elementor-image-box-title\">Alain R\u00f6del and Kolja Grassmann<\/div><p class=\"elementor-image-box-description\">Consultants<\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-787524b6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"787524b6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Category<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-aa94ff6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-post-info\" data-id=\"aa94ff6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"post-info.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"elementor-icon-list-items elementor-post-info\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-59da575\" itemprop=\"about\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-terms\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-post-info__terms-list\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-post-info__terms-list-item\">Red Teaming<\/span>\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-24155ba6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"24155ba6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Date<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6a77d1cb elementor-widget elementor-widget-post-info\" data-id=\"6a77d1cb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"post-info.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"elementor-icon-list-items elementor-post-info\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"elementor-icon-list-item elementor-repeater-item-59da575\" itemprop=\"datePublished\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-icon-list-text elementor-post-info__item elementor-post-info__item--type-date\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<time>2025-02-26<\/time>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1d9b612c elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"1d9b612c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Navigation<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-221f98fa elementor-widget elementor-widget-table-of-contents\" data-id=\"221f98fa\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;headings_by_tags&quot;:[&quot;h2&quot;,&quot;h3&quot;,&quot;h4&quot;],&quot;exclude_headings_by_selector&quot;:[],&quot;marker_view&quot;:&quot;bullets&quot;,&quot;icon&quot;:{&quot;value&quot;:&quot;fas fa-chevron-right&quot;,&quot;library&quot;:&quot;fa-solid&quot;},&quot;no_headings_message&quot;:&quot;No headings were found on this page.&quot;,&quot;hierarchical_view&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;,&quot;min_height&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;min_height_tablet_extra&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;min_height_tablet&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;min_height_mobile_extra&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;min_height_mobile&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]}}\" data-widget_type=\"table-of-contents.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"elementor-toc__221f98fa\" class=\"elementor-toc__body\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-toc__spinner-container\">\n\t\t\t\t<i class=\"elementor-toc__spinner eicon-animation-spin eicon-loading\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-128f62a7 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"128f62a7\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-4828f185\" data-id=\"4828f185\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-28905f15 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"28905f15\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/CRegistryOperationsClient_Fig2.png\" data-elementor-open-lightbox=\"yes\" data-elementor-lightbox-title=\"CRegistryOperationsClient_Fig2\" data-e-action-hash=\"#elementor-action%3Aaction%3Dlightbox%26settings%3DeyJpZCI6MjIyNTcsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOlwvXC9jaXJvc2VjLmRlXC93cC1jb250ZW50XC91cGxvYWRzXC8yMDI1XC8wMlwvQ1JlZ2lzdHJ5T3BlcmF0aW9uc0NsaWVudF9GaWcyLnBuZyJ9\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"97\" src=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/CRegistryOperationsClient_Fig2-768x116.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large wp-image-22257\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/CRegistryOperationsClient_Fig2-768x116.png 768w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/CRegistryOperationsClient_Fig2-300x45.png 300w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/CRegistryOperationsClient_Fig2-1024x155.png 1024w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/CRegistryOperationsClient_Fig2.png 1394w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"widget-image-caption wp-caption-text\">Figure 2: Initialization of the CRegistryOperationsClient instance in the safeelevatedrun.dll<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-774e5815 elementor-widget elementor-widget-menu-anchor\" data-id=\"774e5815\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"menu-anchor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-menu-anchor\" id=\"info-event\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d1f26a2 elementor-widget elementor-widget-menu-anchor\" data-id=\"d1f26a2\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"menu-anchor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-menu-anchor\" id=\"section2\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6967bcb elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"6967bcb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">CRegistryOperationsClient<\/span>\u00a0class seemed especially interesting, as its name implies it deals with registry operations, which could be a vector to escalate our privileges. Our suspicions were confirmed when we saw the front-end process, seccenter.exe, using the <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">CSecurityCenterApp::SaveRegValue<\/span> with reference to a <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Registry operations client<\/span> class object. This strongly suggested a connection to the <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">CRegistryOperationsClient<\/span>\u00a0class mentioned above.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1bf26f1d elementor-widget elementor-widget-menu-anchor\" data-id=\"1bf26f1d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"menu-anchor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-menu-anchor\" id=\"section3\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e5d060b elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"e5d060b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/seccenter_operations_client_Fig3.png\" data-elementor-open-lightbox=\"yes\" data-elementor-lightbox-title=\"seccenter_operations_client_Fig3\" data-e-action-hash=\"#elementor-action%3Aaction%3Dlightbox%26settings%3DeyJpZCI6MjIyNjUsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOlwvXC9jaXJvc2VjLmRlXC93cC1jb250ZW50XC91cGxvYWRzXC8yMDI1XC8wMlwvc2VjY2VudGVyX29wZXJhdGlvbnNfY2xpZW50X0ZpZzMucG5nIn0%3D\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"86\" src=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/seccenter_operations_client_Fig3-768x103.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large wp-image-22265\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/seccenter_operations_client_Fig3-768x103.png 768w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/seccenter_operations_client_Fig3-300x40.png 300w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/seccenter_operations_client_Fig3-1024x137.png 1024w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/seccenter_operations_client_Fig3.png 1172w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"widget-image-caption wp-caption-text\">Figure 3: Usage of the registry operations client from the seccenter.exe`<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6e51e5dd elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"6e51e5dd\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>We needed to obtain an instance of this class to interact with <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">CRegistryOperationsClient<\/span> from within the front-end process. The object was dynamically created via a plugin-like system that passed an internal GUID to a dynamic creation method.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-601ad53e elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"601ad53e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/plugin_guid_Fig4.png\" data-elementor-open-lightbox=\"yes\" data-elementor-lightbox-title=\"plugin_guid_Fig4\" data-e-action-hash=\"#elementor-action%3Aaction%3Dlightbox%26settings%3DeyJpZCI6MjIyNjEsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOlwvXC9jaXJvc2VjLmRlXC93cC1jb250ZW50XC91cGxvYWRzXC8yMDI1XC8wMlwvcGx1Z2luX2d1aWRfRmlnNC5wbmcifQ%3D%3D\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"108\" src=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/plugin_guid_Fig4-768x129.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large wp-image-22261\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/plugin_guid_Fig4-768x129.png 768w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/plugin_guid_Fig4-300x50.png 300w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/plugin_guid_Fig4-1024x172.png 1024w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/plugin_guid_Fig4.png 1413w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"widget-image-caption wp-caption-text\">Figure 4: Dynamic plugin instantiation of the CRegistryOperationsClient<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-444bb1b0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"444bb1b0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Eventually, after some additional (and not so interesting) reverse engineering, we created the following flow to create an instance of the <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">CRegistryOperationsClient<\/span>\u00a0class. This class, we hoped, would allow us to interact with the registry. Unrestricted write interaction with the registry would allow us to escalate our privileges.<\/p><ol><li>The <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">seccenter.exe<\/span> (and the internal <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">safeelevatedrun.dll<\/span>) dynamically create the <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">CEleveatedOperationsClient<\/span> and <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">CRegistryOperationsClient<\/span> objects using an internal GUID.<\/li><li>The newly instantiated <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">CRegistryOperationsClient<\/span> object exposed an interface for passing a <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">registry_ops<\/span> structure to the back-end service.<\/li><li>The <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">CSecurityCenterApp::SaveRegValue<\/span>\u00a0provides a high-level interface to perform the low-level RPC calls to the service.<\/li><\/ol><p>Or, more detailed:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5dbb1d1b elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"5dbb1d1b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/seccenter_flow_Fig5.png\" data-elementor-open-lightbox=\"yes\" data-elementor-lightbox-title=\"seccenter_flow_Fig5\" data-e-action-hash=\"#elementor-action%3Aaction%3Dlightbox%26settings%3DeyJpZCI6MjIyNjMsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOlwvXC9jaXJvc2VjLmRlXC93cC1jb250ZW50XC91cGxvYWRzXC8yMDI1XC8wMlwvc2VjY2VudGVyX2Zsb3dfRmlnNS5wbmcifQ%3D%3D\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"317\" src=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/seccenter_flow_Fig5-768x380.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large wp-image-22263\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/seccenter_flow_Fig5-768x380.png 768w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/seccenter_flow_Fig5-300x148.png 300w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/seccenter_flow_Fig5-1024x506.png 1024w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/seccenter_flow_Fig5-1536x759.png 1536w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/seccenter_flow_Fig5.png 1894w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"widget-image-caption wp-caption-text\">Figure 5: Abstract flow of the CRegistryOperationsClient object creation and eventual SaveRegValue call<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4bb533de elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4bb533de\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>For our exploit, we needed to reverse engineer the essential fields of the <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">registry_ops<\/span>\u00a0structure:<\/p><pre><strong>typedef struct<\/strong> {<br \/>DWORD hive;<br \/>DWORD unknown;<br \/>wchar_t key[100];<br \/>wchar_t value[100];<br \/>DWORD regtype;<br \/>wchar_t value2[522];<br \/>DWORD value_len_qq;<br \/>} registry_ops_t;<\/pre><p>One key parameter, <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">DWORD hive<\/span>, specifies the registry hive where the registry key would be written. To target <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE<\/span>, the key&#8217;s value had to be set to <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">0x80000002<\/span>, as documented in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rubydoc.info\/stdlib\/win32\/2.1.6\/Win32\/Registry\/Constants\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">some Windows internals documentation<\/a>.<\/p><p>The final exploit call was constructed using the dynamically created registry client object and the crafted <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">registry_ops<\/span> structure.\u00a0 A simplified implementation of this exploit is provided below:<\/p><pre><strong>typedef<\/strong> DWORD_PTR(WINAPI* SaveRegvalue_Orig_t)(__int64 this_ptr, registry_ops_t* a2);<br \/>\/\/ [...]<br \/><br \/>registry_ops_t ops = { 0 };<br \/>ops.hive = 0x80000002;<br \/>ops.unknown = 0xFFFFFFFF;<br \/><br \/>wcscpy_s(ops.key, 0x64ui64, L\"SYSTEM\\\\CurrentControlSet\\\\Services\\\\NetSetupSvc\");<br \/>wcscpy_s(ops.value, 0x64ui64, L\"ImagePath\");<br \/>wcscpy_s(ops.value2, 0x64ui64, L\"C:\\\\poc\\\\SpawnSystemShell.exe\");<br \/>ops.regtype = REG_SZ;<br \/>ops.value_len_qq = strlen(\"C:\\\\poc\\\\SpawnSystemShell.exe\") * 2 + 1;<br \/><br \/>SaveRegvalue_Orig_t saveRegValue = (SaveRegvalue_Orig_t)((uint64_t)seccenter + 0x10DCF0);<br \/>uint64_t global_reg_handler = (uint64_t)((uint64_t)seccenter + 0x198DC0);<br \/><br \/>saveRegValue(global_reg_handler, &amp;ops);<\/pre><h2>Escalating our privileges<\/h2><p>After understanding the back-end communication, we could write a registry key without restrictions on its path. We aimed to exploit this capability without requiring an admin login or system restart.<\/p><p>We decided to modify the binary path of a service to point to an executable we controlled.\u00a0 Although many services could be used for this purpose, most required a system restart. We ultimately chose <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">NetSetupService<\/span>\u00a0because it was not started by default, ran as SYSTEM, and could be started by a low-privileged user.<\/p><p>We created a COM DLL that used the above-mentioned functionality to instruct the back end to change this service&#8217;s <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">ImagePath<\/span> to a controlled path. Once the modification was made, we could start the service, which then executed our binary as <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">SYSTEM<\/span>. Our binary then spawned a <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">cmd.exe<\/span> process with <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">SYSTEM<\/span>\u00a0privileges on our desktop.<\/p><p>Put together, our exploit worked as follows:<\/p><ol><li>We hijacked the COM interface for <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">dataexchange.dll<\/span>.<\/li><li>We started the front-end UI to trigger the COM interface and load our DLL into the front end.<\/li><li>Our DLL would communicate with the back end and instruct the back end to write to the registry.<\/li><li>The back-end would change the <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">ImagePath<\/span> for the <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">NetSetupService<\/span> service.<\/li><li>We place our executable under the new <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">ImagePath<\/span> and start the service.<\/li><li>Our executable is started as <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">SYSTEM<\/span> and spawns a <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">cmd.exe<\/span> process running as <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">SYSTEM<\/span>\u00a0on our desktop.<\/li><\/ol><h2>Preventing COM hijacking vulnerabilities<\/h2><p>To mitigate COM hijacking as an attack vector for privilege escalation, vendors should refrain from giving special privileges to applications running in low-privileged user contexts. Microsoft does not enforce a security boundary between processes running in the same user context, so the vendor is likely to always play catch-up to new techniques being used to inject into other processes. Products requiring administrator privileges for all critical actions, such as setting exclusions, were found to be more resistant to similar exploits.<\/p><p>Vendors may allow users to trigger certain actions without admin privileges for usability. However, they should implement measures to prevent code injection into these processes. The most effective way to do this would be to make the front-end process a Protected Process Light (PPL). Unfortunately, Microsoft does not support PPL for processes providing a UI, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/windows\/win32\/services\/protecting-anti-malware-services-#introduction\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Microsoft&#8217;s documentation<\/a>.<\/p><p>Therefore, if special permissions are given to the front-end process, the vendor must try to prevent code injection into this process. Most vendors currently do this by using a filter driver. Another measure is hooking the functions involved in DLL loading to enforce signature verification and an allow list. If implemented correctly, this would help against COM hijacking, as described in our posts. However, these methods require ongoing updates to counter new injection techniques that might allow an attacker to execute code in the trusted front-end process.<\/p><h2>Denial of Service via COM Hijacking<\/h2><p>During this research, we stumbled upon another interesting question:<br \/>We can inject a DLL into a front-end process of an Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) via COM. Could we do the same for the back end and, thus, potentially create a Denial of Service (DoS) attack against security solutions?<\/p><p>We often struggle with permanently deactivating the security solution in place on a system so that it does not interfere with our tooling.<\/p><p><strong>Note<\/strong>: You do not want to do this on production systems. However, we often use dedicated systems set up just for a project and get wiped afterwards. Deactivating security solutions on specific systems in penetration testing scenarios can be justified, as it increases the efficiency of the pentesters&#8217; work and allows testing of blue team responses.<\/p><p>COM hijacking enabled us to inject a DLL into a central back-end process of the security solution. The most direct approach was to terminate the process upon DLL load, effectively disabling the security software. A more advanced method could involve suspending specific process functions to make the solution appear functional while neutralizing its effectiveness.<\/p><p>So, do the back-end processes even use COM? Some of our targeted products did. We found two EDR products whose back-end processes utilized COM interfaces, which we were able to hijack. For our proof of concept, we terminated the process every time our DLL was loaded by one of the security vendors&#8217; processes. This effectively disabled the security solution and allowed us to execute tools like <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">mimikatz<\/span>\u00a0without interference.<\/p><p>As this requires <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">SYSTEM<\/span>\u00a0privileges and is only a DoS issue rather than a privilege escalation issue, both vendors we reported this to declined to issue a fix. Thus, this might remain a viable technique for the next time you want to get rid of an EDR and do not need to be too stealthy.<\/p><h2>Conclusion<\/h2><p>In this final part of the series, we detailed the reverse engineering of a custom IPC protocol and demonstrated how we combined it with COM hijacking to gain <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">SYSTEM<\/span> privileges. We also explored mitigation techniques to prevent similar vulnerabilities and discussed how COM hijacking can facilitate DoS attacks against security products.<\/p><p>This concludes our series of blog posts on COM hijacking. We hope that you enjoyed reading it and gained some insights from it.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-6c756fa2\" data-id=\"6c756fa2\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-1a93b39e elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"1a93b39e\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-4328ef0e\" data-id=\"4328ef0e\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-33718a8b elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"33718a8b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Further blog articles<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-5029037e\" data-id=\"5029037e\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-4362912c elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"4362912c\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-3216ed58\" data-id=\"3216ed58\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-65328ff4 elementor-grid-3 elementor-grid-tablet-2 elementor-grid-mobile-1 elementor-posts--thumbnail-top elementor-card-shadow-yes elementor-posts__hover-gradient load-more-align-center elementor-widget elementor-widget-posts\" data-id=\"65328ff4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;pagination_type&quot;:&quot;load_more_on_click&quot;,&quot;cards_columns&quot;:&quot;3&quot;,&quot;cards_columns_tablet&quot;:&quot;2&quot;,&quot;cards_columns_mobile&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;cards_row_gap&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:35,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;cards_row_gap_tablet_extra&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;cards_row_gap_tablet&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;cards_row_gap_mobile_extra&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;cards_row_gap_mobile&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;load_more_spinner&quot;:{&quot;value&quot;:&quot;fas fa-spinner&quot;,&quot;library&quot;:&quot;fa-solid&quot;}}\" data-widget_type=\"posts.cards\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-posts-container elementor-posts elementor-posts--skin-cards elementor-grid\" role=\"list\">\n\t\t\t\t<article class=\"elementor-post elementor-grid-item post-24504 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-command-and-control tag-command-control tag-compromise tag-redteaming\" role=\"listitem\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__card\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail__link\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/beacon-object-files-for-mythic-part-3\/\" tabindex=\"-1\" ><div class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shubham-dhage-qn6LgQnxXAI-unsplash-300x169.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-image-18536\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shubham-dhage-qn6LgQnxXAI-unsplash-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shubham-dhage-qn6LgQnxXAI-unsplash-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shubham-dhage-qn6LgQnxXAI-unsplash-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shubham-dhage-qn6LgQnxXAI-unsplash-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shubham-dhage-qn6LgQnxXAI-unsplash-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/div><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__badge\">Command-and-Control<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-post__title\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/beacon-object-files-for-mythic-part-3\/\" >\n\t\t\t\tBeacon Object Files for Mythic &#8211; Part 3\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__excerpt\">\n\t\t\t<p>December 4, 2025 &#8211; This is the third post in a series of blog posts on how we implemented support for Beacon Object Files (BOFs) into our own command and control (C2) beacon using the Mythic framework. In this final post, we will provide insights into the development of our BOF loader as implemented in our Mythic beacon. We will demonstrate how we used the experimental Mythic Forge to circumvent the dependency on Aggressor Script \u2013 a challenge that other C2 frameworks were unable to resolve this easily.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nAuthor: Leon Schmidt<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/beacon-object-files-for-mythic-part-3\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Beacon Object Files for Mythic &#8211; Part 3\" tabindex=\"-1\" >\n\t\t\tMehr Infos \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<article class=\"elementor-post elementor-grid-item post-24479 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-command-and-control tag-command-control tag-compromise tag-redteaming\" role=\"listitem\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__card\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail__link\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/beacon-object-files-for-mythic-part-2\/\" tabindex=\"-1\" ><div class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shubham-dhage-v0VjjYYFjOg-unsplash-300x169.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-image-18538\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shubham-dhage-v0VjjYYFjOg-unsplash-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shubham-dhage-v0VjjYYFjOg-unsplash-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shubham-dhage-v0VjjYYFjOg-unsplash-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shubham-dhage-v0VjjYYFjOg-unsplash-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/shubham-dhage-v0VjjYYFjOg-unsplash-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/div><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__badge\">Command-and-Control<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-post__title\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/beacon-object-files-for-mythic-part-2\/\" >\n\t\t\t\tBeacon Object Files for Mythic &#8211; Part 2\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__excerpt\">\n\t\t\t<p>November 27, 2025 &#8211; This is the second post in a series of blog posts on how we implemented support for Beacon Object Files (BOFs) into our own command and control (C2) beacon using the Mythic framework. In this second post, we will present some concrete BOF implementations to show how they are used in the wild and how powerful they can be.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nAuthor: Leon Schmidt<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/beacon-object-files-for-mythic-part-2\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Beacon Object Files for Mythic &#8211; Part 2\" tabindex=\"-1\" >\n\t\t\tMehr Infos \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<article class=\"elementor-post elementor-grid-item post-24367 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-command-and-control tag-command-control tag-compromise tag-redteaming\" role=\"listitem\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__card\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail__link\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/beacon-object-files-for-mythic-part-1\/\" tabindex=\"-1\" ><div class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/olli-kilpi-_m9ubHS7PVU-unsplash-300x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-image-18569\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/olli-kilpi-_m9ubHS7PVU-unsplash-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/olli-kilpi-_m9ubHS7PVU-unsplash-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/olli-kilpi-_m9ubHS7PVU-unsplash-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/olli-kilpi-_m9ubHS7PVU-unsplash-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/olli-kilpi-_m9ubHS7PVU-unsplash-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/olli-kilpi-_m9ubHS7PVU-unsplash-2048x2048.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/div><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__badge\">Command-and-Control<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-post__title\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/beacon-object-files-for-mythic-part-1\/\" >\n\t\t\t\tBeacon Object Files for Mythic &#8211; Part 1\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__excerpt\">\n\t\t\t<p>November 19, 2025 &#8211; This is the first post in a series of blog posts on how we implemented support for Beacon Object Files into our own command and control (C2) beacon using the Mythic framework. In this first post, we will take a look at what Beacon Object Files are, how they work and why they are valuable to us.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nAuthor: Leon Schmidt<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/beacon-object-files-for-mythic-part-1\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Beacon Object Files for Mythic &#8211; Part 1\" tabindex=\"-1\" >\n\t\t\tMehr Infos \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<article class=\"elementor-post elementor-grid-item post-22035 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-red-teaming-en tag-compromise\" role=\"listitem\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__card\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail__link\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/the-key-to-compromise-part-3\/\" tabindex=\"-1\" ><div class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Presse_2-300x169.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-image-18546\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Presse_2-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Presse_2-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Presse_2-768x432.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Presse_2-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Presse_2-2048x1152.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/div><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__badge\">Red Teaming<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-post__title\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/the-key-to-compromise-part-3\/\" >\n\t\t\t\tThe Key to COMpromise &#8211; Part 3\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__excerpt\">\n\t\t\t<p>February 12, 2025 &#8211; In this third part of our blog post series, we will cover the details of two additional vulnerabilities we found based on COM hijacking. The first vulnerability impacted Webroot Endpoint Protect (CVE-2023-7241), allowing us to leverage an arbitrary file deletion to gain SYSTEM privileges. In the second case, we targeted Checkpoint Harmony (CVE-2024-24912) and used a file download primitive to gain SYSTEM privileges.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nAuthor: Alain R\u00f6del and Kolja Grassmann<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/the-key-to-compromise-part-3\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about The Key to COMpromise &#8211; Part 3\" tabindex=\"-1\" >\n\t\t\tMehr Infos \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<article class=\"elementor-post elementor-grid-item post-21505 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-red-teaming-en tag-compromise\" role=\"listitem\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__card\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail__link\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/the-key-to-compromise-part-2\/\" tabindex=\"-1\" ><div class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/anonym_cirosec_Mitarbeiter-300x300.png\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-image-21417\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/anonym_cirosec_Mitarbeiter-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/anonym_cirosec_Mitarbeiter-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/anonym_cirosec_Mitarbeiter-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/anonym_cirosec_Mitarbeiter-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/anonym_cirosec_Mitarbeiter.png 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/div><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__badge\">Red Teaming<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-post__title\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/the-key-to-compromise-part-2\/\" >\n\t\t\t\tThe Key to COMpromise &#8211; Part 2\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__excerpt\">\n\t\t\t<p>January 29, 2025 &#8211; In this post, we will delve into how we exploited trust in AVG Internet Security (CVE-2024-6510) to gain elevated privileges.<br \/>\nBut before that, the next section will detail how we overcame an allow-listing mechanism that initially disrupted our COM hijacking attempts.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nAuthor: Alain R\u00f6del and Kolja Grassmann<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/the-key-to-compromise-part-2\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about The Key to COMpromise &#8211; Part 2\" tabindex=\"-1\" >\n\t\t\tMehr Infos \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<article class=\"elementor-post elementor-grid-item post-21239 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-red-teaming-en category-red-teaming tag-compromise\" role=\"listitem\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__card\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail__link\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/the-key-to-compromise\/\" tabindex=\"-1\" ><div class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/towfiqu-barbhuiya-em5w9_xj3uU-unsplash-300x200.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-image-18542\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/towfiqu-barbhuiya-em5w9_xj3uU-unsplash-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/towfiqu-barbhuiya-em5w9_xj3uU-unsplash-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/towfiqu-barbhuiya-em5w9_xj3uU-unsplash-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/towfiqu-barbhuiya-em5w9_xj3uU-unsplash-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/towfiqu-barbhuiya-em5w9_xj3uU-unsplash-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/div><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__badge\">Red Teaming<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-post__title\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/the-key-to-compromise\/\" >\n\t\t\t\tThe Key to COMpromise &#8211; Part 1\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__excerpt\">\n\t\t\t<p>January 15, 2025 &#8211; In this series of blog posts, we cover how we could exploit five reputable security products to gain SYSTEM privileges with COM hijacking. If you&#8217;ve never heard of this, no worries. We introduce all relevant background information, describe our approach to reverse engineering the products&#8217; internals, and explain how we finally exploited the vulnerabilities. We hope to shed some light on this undervalued attack surface.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nAuthor: Alain R\u00f6del and Kolja Grassmann<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/the-key-to-compromise\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about The Key to COMpromise &#8211; Part 1\" tabindex=\"-1\" >\n\t\t\tMehr Infos \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<article class=\"elementor-post elementor-grid-item post-9031 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-blog category-red-teaming category-red-teaming-en tag-loader-dev\" role=\"listitem\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__card\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail__link\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/loader-dev-4-amsi-and-etw\/\" tabindex=\"-1\" ><div class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"203\" src=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/web-applikationen-portale-services-300x203.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-image-12061\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/web-applikationen-portale-services-300x203.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/web-applikationen-portale-services-1024x692.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/web-applikationen-portale-services-768x519.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/web-applikationen-portale-services.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/div><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__badge\">Blog<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-post__title\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/loader-dev-4-amsi-and-etw\/\" >\n\t\t\t\tLoader Dev. 4 &#8211; AMSI and ETW\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__excerpt\">\n\t\t\t<p>April 30, 2024 &#8211; In the last post, we discussed how we can get rid of any hooks placed into our process by an EDR solution. However, there are also other mechanisms provided by Windows, which could help to detect our payload. Two of these are ETW and AMSI.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nAuthor: Kolja Grassmann<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/loader-dev-4-amsi-and-etw\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Loader Dev. 4 &#8211; AMSI and ETW\" tabindex=\"-1\" >\n\t\t\tMehr Infos \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<article class=\"elementor-post elementor-grid-item post-9032 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-blog-en category-blog category-red-teaming category-red-teaming-en tag-loader-dev\" role=\"listitem\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__card\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail__link\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/loader-dev-3-evading-userspace-hooks\/\" tabindex=\"-1\" ><div class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/beratung-konzepte-reviews-und-analysen-300x200.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-image-12075\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/beratung-konzepte-reviews-und-analysen-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/beratung-konzepte-reviews-und-analysen-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/beratung-konzepte-reviews-und-analysen-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/beratung-konzepte-reviews-und-analysen.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/div><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__badge\">Blog<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-post__title\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/loader-dev-3-evading-userspace-hooks\/\" >\n\t\t\t\tLoader Dev. 3 &#8211; Evading userspace hooks\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__excerpt\">\n\t\t\t<p>April 10, 2024 &#8211; In this post, we will go over techniques to avoid hooks placed into memory by an EDR.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nAuthor: Kolja Grassmann<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/loader-dev-3-evading-userspace-hooks\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Loader Dev. 3 &#8211; Evading userspace hooks\" tabindex=\"-1\" >\n\t\t\tMehr Infos \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<article class=\"elementor-post elementor-grid-item post-9035 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-blog category-red-teaming-en category-red-teaming tag-loader-dev\" role=\"listitem\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__card\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail__link\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/loader-dev-2-dynamically-resolving-functions\/\" tabindex=\"-1\" ><div class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/aktive-directory-sicherheit-300x200.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-image-12083\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/aktive-directory-sicherheit-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/aktive-directory-sicherheit-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/aktive-directory-sicherheit-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/aktive-directory-sicherheit.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/div><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__badge\">Blog<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-post__title\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/loader-dev-2-dynamically-resolving-functions\/\" >\n\t\t\t\tLoader Dev. 2 &#8211; Dynamically resolving functions\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__excerpt\">\n\t\t\t<p>March 10, 2024 &#8211; In this post, we discuss dynamically resolving functions, which help to avoid static detections based on the functions imported by our executable.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nAuthor: Kolja Grassmann<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/loader-dev-2-dynamically-resolving-functions\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Loader Dev. 2 &#8211; Dynamically resolving functions\" tabindex=\"-1\" >\n\t\t\tMehr Infos \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<article class=\"elementor-post elementor-grid-item post-9036 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-blog category-red-teaming category-red-teaming-en tag-loader-dev\" role=\"listitem\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__card\">\n\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail__link\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/loader-dev-1-basics\/\" tabindex=\"-1\" ><div class=\"elementor-post__thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/adi-goldstein-EUsVwEOsblE-unsplash-300x200.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-image-18516\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/adi-goldstein-EUsVwEOsblE-unsplash-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/adi-goldstein-EUsVwEOsblE-unsplash-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/adi-goldstein-EUsVwEOsblE-unsplash-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/adi-goldstein-EUsVwEOsblE-unsplash-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/adi-goldstein-EUsVwEOsblE-unsplash-2048x1367.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/div><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__badge\">Blog<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-post__title\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/loader-dev-1-basics\/\" >\n\t\t\t\tLoader Dev. 1 &#8211; Basics\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-post__excerpt\">\n\t\t\t<p>February 10, 2024 &#8211; This is the first post in a series of posts that will cover the development of a loader for evading AV and EDR solutions.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nAuthor: Kolja Grassmann<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t<a class=\"elementor-post__read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/loader-dev-1-basics\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Loader Dev. 1 &#8211; Basics\" tabindex=\"-1\" >\n\t\t\tMehr Infos \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"e-load-more-spinner\">\n\t\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"fas fa-spinner\"><\/i>\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8bdc99c e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"8bdc99c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-181373dd elementor-widget elementor-widget-template\" data-id=\"181373dd\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"template.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-template\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"section\" data-elementor-id=\"6023\" class=\"elementor elementor-6023 elementor-2968 elementor-2968\" data-elementor-post-type=\"elementor_library\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-3920b242 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"3920b242\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-background-overlay\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-61cde52c\" data-id=\"61cde52c\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7eba007 elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer\" data-id=\"7eba007\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"spacer.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer-inner\"><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7346d88 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"7346d88\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Do you want to protect your systems? Feel free to get in touch with us.<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1b0432b elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer\" data-id=\"1b0432b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"spacer.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer-inner\"><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-inner-section elementor-element elementor-element-5cdf3c58 elementor-section-content-middle elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"5cdf3c58\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-inner-column elementor-element elementor-element-40c99187\" data-id=\"40c99187\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4a1d7b6a elementor-align-right elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"4a1d7b6a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/inquiry\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">Send Enquiry<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-inner-column elementor-element elementor-element-3b9d9ea6\" data-id=\"3b9d9ea6\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7e7c4d9b elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"7e7c4d9b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/contact-us\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">Contact Details<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-19fed784 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"19fed784\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-d3ed95c\" data-id=\"d3ed95c\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div 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data-id=\"e9b41ce\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-inner-section elementor-element elementor-element-51c0c74 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"51c0c74\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-25 elementor-inner-column elementor-element elementor-element-8ac5cc6\" data-id=\"8ac5cc6\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-af371ae elementor-widget elementor-widget-theme-site-logo elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"af371ae\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"theme-site-logo.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/\">\n\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"626\" height=\"188\" src=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Logo_Cirosec_rgb_53x16mm-transparent.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-image-5868\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Logo_Cirosec_rgb_53x16mm-transparent.png 626w, https:\/\/cirosec.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Logo_Cirosec_rgb_53x16mm-transparent-300x90.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 626px) 100vw, 626px\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-85f2a11 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"85f2a11\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Competent IT security consulting, pentests, incident response and training<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5731ee0 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5731ee0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>cirosec GmbH<br \/>Ferdinand-Braun-Stra\u00dfe 4<br \/>74074 Heilbronn, Germany<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-25 elementor-inner-column elementor-element elementor-element-c7c447f\" data-id=\"c7c447f\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4826023 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"4826023\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Quicklinks<\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f26d479 elementor-nav-menu__align-start elementor-nav-menu--dropdown-none elementor-widget elementor-widget-nav-menu\" data-id=\"f26d479\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;layout&quot;:&quot;vertical&quot;,&quot;submenu_icon&quot;:{&quot;value&quot;:&quot;&lt;i class=\\&quot;fas fa-caret-down\\&quot; aria-hidden=\\&quot;true\\&quot;&gt;&lt;\\\/i&gt;&quot;,&quot;library&quot;:&quot;fa-solid&quot;}}\" data-widget_type=\"nav-menu.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div 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class=\"elementor-item\">Privacy Policy<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-9148\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/cirosec-responsible-disclosure-policy\/\" class=\"elementor-item\">cirosec Responsible Disclosure Policy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\t\t\t<\/nav>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<nav class=\"elementor-nav-menu--dropdown elementor-nav-menu__container\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t\t<ul id=\"menu-2-50e6031\" class=\"elementor-nav-menu sm-vertical\"><li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-9146\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/imprint\/\" class=\"elementor-item\" tabindex=\"-1\">Imprint<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-9147\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/privacy-policy\/\" class=\"elementor-item\" tabindex=\"-1\">Privacy Policy<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-9148\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/cirosec-responsible-disclosure-policy\/\" class=\"elementor-item\" tabindex=\"-1\">cirosec Responsible Disclosure Policy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\t\t\t<\/nav>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/footer>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>February 26, 2025 &#8211; In this final part of our series on COM hijacking, we will examine a custom-named pipe IPC protocol implemented by Bitdefender Total Security and detail our approach to reverse engineering it. We will explore how we could use COM hijacking and this custom communication to gain SYSTEM privileges (CVE-2023-6154). Additionally, we will examine how to mitigate the vulnerabilities discussed throughout this series of blog posts. Lastly, we will demonstrate how COM hijacking can be exploited to perform a Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack on security products.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nAuthor: Alain R\u00f6del and Kolja Grassmann<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":18538,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_canvas","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[61],"class_list":["post-22251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-red-teaming","tag-compromise"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Key to COMpromise - Part 4 - cirosec<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cirosec.de\/en\/news\/the-key-to-compromise-part-4\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Key to COMpromise - Part 4 - cirosec\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"February 26, 2025 - In this final part of our series on COM hijacking, we will examine a custom-named pipe IPC protocol implemented by Bitdefender Total Security and detail our approach to reverse engineering it. We will explore how we could use COM hijacking and this custom communication to gain SYSTEM privileges (CVE-2023-6154). Additionally, we will examine how to mitigate the vulnerabilities discussed throughout this series of blog posts. Lastly, we will demonstrate how COM hijacking can be exploited to perform a Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack on security products. 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We will explore how we could use COM hijacking and this custom communication to gain SYSTEM privileges (CVE-2023-6154). Additionally, we will examine how to mitigate the vulnerabilities discussed throughout this series of blog posts. Lastly, we will demonstrate how COM hijacking can be exploited to perform a Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack on security products. 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