Dll Injecting - Writing native code inside another process

Question

Ok so I have a question about step 3 of C++ Dll Injection, that is:

Use CreateRemoteThread(). You can point it at LoadLibrary() as the entry point and the file path from steps 1 and 2 as the argument. That's a bit hacky, to be honest, but if you are injecting a DLL you're already being quite hacky. Another technique would be to use steps 1 & 2 to load some machine code into the remote proceess and point it at that.

So my question is: After I allocated memory using VirtualAllocEx, and writing the code with WriteProcessMemory, how do I make the call to CreateRemoteThread — and by that I mean what are the fourth and fifth parameters?

My code:

AllocatedMem = VirtualAllocEx(Proc, IntPtr.Zero, code.Length,
    AllocationType.Reserve | AllocationType.Commit, MemoryProtection.ReadWrite);

WriteProcessMemory(Proc, AllocatedMem, code, code.Length, IntPtr.Zero);

CreateRemoteThread(Proc, IntPtr.Zero, 0, AllocatedMem,
    IntPtr.Zero, 0, IntPtr.Zero);

Martin · Answer 1 · 2012-08-16T18:39:13.717

From the MSDN Documentation:

HANDLE WINAPI CreateRemoteThread(
 _In_   HANDLE hProcess,
 _In_   LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES lpThreadAttributes,
 _In_   SIZE_T dwStackSize,
 _In_   LPTHREAD_START_ROUTINE lpStartAddress,
 _In_   LPVOID lpParameter,
 _In_   DWORD dwCreationFlags,
 _Out_  LPDWORD lpThreadId
);

So your 4th parameter should be a pointer to LoadLibrary, and the 5th your code to run.

Update

Example:

LoadLibAddy = GetProcAddress(GetModuleHandle("kernel32.dll"), "LoadLibraryA"); 

CreateRemoteThread(
  Proc, 
  IntPtr.Zero, 
  0,
  LoadLibAddy,
  AllocatedMem, 
  0, 
  IntPtr.Zero
);

Note: You'll need to pinvoke the additional functions, and your 'code' should be the path to your native DLL.

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 16 '12 at 18:25

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms682437(v=vs.85).aspx

HANDLE WINAPI CreateRemoteThread(
  _In_   HANDLE hProcess,
  _In_   LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES lpThreadAttributes,
  _In_   SIZE_T dwStackSize,
  _In_   LPTHREAD_START_ROUTINE lpStartAddress,
  _In_   LPVOID lpParameter,
  _In_   DWORD dwCreationFlags,
  _Out_  LPDWORD lpThreadId
);

hProcess ia handle to the process in which the thread should be created.

lpThreadAttributes can be NULL to specify "use default"

dwStackSize can be zero to specify "use default"

lpStartAddress is the address IN THE FOREIGN PROCESS where the thread will begin executing

lpParameter is the argument passed to the ThreadMain in the foreign process (i.e. in the foreign process, lpStartAddress is assumed called using WINAPI calling convention with lpParameter as the only parameter).

dwCreationFlags can be zero.

lpThreadId should be a pointer to a DWORD that receives the thread id if successful.

If you set lpStartAddress to the address of LoadLibraryW and set lpParameter to a pointer IN THE FOREIGN PROCESS to L"foo.dll", then when the thread starts in the foreign process it will immediately call LoadLibraryW(L"foo.dll") in the foreign process, allowing you to run code from inside your DllMain.

Ok but i was asking how should I call CreateRemoteThread so that it will run some native code, not a DLL — Thanatos, Aug 16 '12 at 18:29
If the native code you want to run is in the foreign process, you can just use the function pointer (in the foreign process) as the lpStartAddress. — SecurityMatt, Aug 20 '12 at 14:58
Alternatively, you can copy some native code in from your local process to the foreign process via VirtualAllocEx/WriteProcessMemory. You will then be able to use the native code you just injected as the lpStartAddress argument. — SecurityMatt, Aug 20 '12 at 14:59

Dll Injecting - Writing native code inside another process

2 Answers2