Contents
Can an EXE file contain something malicious?
These file extensions are potentially dangerous because they can contain code or execute arbitrary commands. An .exe file is potentially dangerous because it’s a program that can do anything (within the limits of Windows’ User Account Control feature).
What happens when you open an EXE file?
To work on an existing document, you can take a shortcut and open the associated EXE program file indirectly. Windows checks the document’s file suffix and automatically opens the program to which it belongs.
Is an EXE file high risk?
Executable files commonly have an EXE file extension, but there are hundreds of other executable file formats. Such files, which are considered to pose a high security risk, include EXE, BAT, COM, CMD, INF, IPA, OSX, PIF, RUN and WSH.
How to inject malicious code into a process?
QueueUserAPC is a function for requesting the execution of procedures asynchronously. Attackers can use QueueUserAPC to inject arbitrary code cross-process by provisioning malicious code in the target process and pointing QueueUserAPC to execute this code.
Why is cross process injection so stealthy?
Cross-process injection is inherently stealthy because it conceals malicious code inside benign processes. Even when a process has been injected with malicious code, its loaded images (the executable and library files associated with the process) continue to point to legitimate files on disk as shown in Figure 2.
How does cross process injection work in Windows Defender?
To execute the malicious code, it first obtains a list of existing threads from the target process using CreateToolhelp32Snapshot API. It then modifies the control registers of a thread to point to the memory address of the injected malicious code using the SetThreadContext API.
Why does commodity malware use cross process injection?
Commodity malware uses cross-process injection techniques for the same reason attackers use them in targeted attacks— they want to remain hidden long enough to accomplish their objectives. In this article, we dissect the CoinMiner malware, which steals computing resources to mine cryptographic currencies such as Bitcoins.