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This page has been machine-translated from the original page.

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All content in this book is based on information from official documentation and other websites, or from publicly available books and similar sources. For that reason, when I refer to technical topics, I cite sources in footnotes whenever possible. In addition, everything written in this book reflects my personal views and does not represent any company or organization I belong to.

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I am publishing the contents of Magical WinDbg 2 - Learn User-Mode & Kernel Debugging Through CTFs -, which I distributed for free at Tech Book Fest 16.

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Table of Contents

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About This Book

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Thank you very much for picking up this book. My name is Kashiwaba (@kash1064).

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My main areas of interest are reverse engineering and digital forensics, and as a hobby I participate in security competitions called Capture The Flag (CTF).

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In this book, I use a CTF Reversing challenge as the theme to introduce Windows user-mode and kernel-mode debugging techniques with WinDbg.

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In a typical Reversing challenge in a CTF, the goal is to analyze a given executable using various tools and techniques and obtain the correct keyword (Flag).

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In a typical Reversing challenge, analysis proceeds roughly through the following steps.

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  1. First, examine the target program at a high level using its file type, metadata, header information, and similar clues. (Surface analysis)
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  2. Next, use a disassembler tool (or decompiler) to reconstruct the target program into assembly code or pseudo-C code and understand its implementation without actually running it. (Static analysis)
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  3. Then, run the program and observe its behavior. You can also use a debugger such as WinDbg or gdb to pause execution and inspect or modify CPU registers and memory in order to understand how the program works. (Dynamic analysis)
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  4. Finally, combine the results from each step to uncover the full picture of the program and identify information that the user would not normally know, such as a password, in order to obtain the correct keyword (Flag).
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This book follows those same steps to analyze the program and obtain the Flag, while introducing Windows user-mode and kernel-mode debugging techniques with WinDbg along the way.

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Like “Magical WinDbg - Enjoying Windows Dump Analysis and Troubleshooting by Feel -” 1, which I distributed at Tech Book Fest 15, this book is not intended to comprehensively cover introductory Windows debugging topics.

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Instead, it is structured as a hands-on guide for enjoying Windows debugging, while also pointing readers to useful sources for foundational topics.

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Why I Wrote This Book

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In this book, I introduce debugger scripts available in the latest WinDbg and methods for analyzing kernel driver modules with a kernel debugger.

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There is currently plenty of information about debugging Windows executables, but I feel that there is still very little information available in Japanese about how to use WinDbg as a debugger or about Windows kernel debugging.

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In particular, the latest installable version of WinDbg provides powerful features such as JavaScript debugger scripts 2, but I feel that knowledge about these relatively new capabilities is still limited.

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Information about Windows kernel debugging is also scarce because the prerequisite knowledge required for analysis is more advanced, and as far as I know there are almost no books written in Japanese on the topic.

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Given that situation, I wrote this book in the hope of increasing the amount of Japanese-language information about WinDbg-based debugging techniques and Windows kernel debugging, even if only a little.

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This book does not comprehensively cover introductory Windows debugging knowledge with WinDbg, but I hope it will help people who are interested in WinDbg and Windows kernel debugging and want to start working with them.

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About the Content of This Book

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As mentioned above, this book uses a CTF Reversing challenge as its theme to introduce Windows user-mode and kernel-mode debugging techniques with WinDbg.

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Windows debugging, especially kernel debugging, requires broad prerequisite knowledge about how Windows OS and programs work.

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However, since there are already several high-quality introductory resources covering those prerequisites, this book does not discuss them in detail.

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Likewise, I do not go into detail about how to operate WinDbg itself, such as its debugger commands, because the built-in help and the official documentation3 already cover those topics well.

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That said, for prerequisite knowledge that is needed for analysis, I introduce reference sources in footnotes whenever possible.

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In short, this book treats prerequisite knowledge and tool operation details as supporting references and focuses as much as possible on Windows debugging itself.

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This book analyzes an executable program and a kernel driver module modeled after a CTF Reversing challenge through the following steps.

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Reference Books for Windows Debugging

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Here I would like to introduce several reference books for readers who are interested in debugging Windows programs, including topics not covered in this book.

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I cannot cover everything, but I hope these references will be helpful for readers who are just getting started with Windows program debugging.

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“Analysis Magical Girl Misaki-chan: Magical Open!” 4 and “An Introduction to x86 Program Analysis with a Debugger: x64-Compatible Edition” 5 do not use WinDbg, but I recommend them because they clearly explain introductory topics in Windows user-mode debugging.

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In addition, “Inside Windows Debugging” 8 and “Advanced Windows Debugging” 9 are both English-language books, but they are among the few books that explain debugging techniques using WinDbg in detail, including kernel debugging.

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“Advanced Windows Debugging” is somewhat old, but it supports parts of Windows Vista, and much of its information can still be used as-is on modern operating systems.

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In addition, “インサイド Windows 第 7 版 上・下” 10 11 is also one of the most useful books for examining the details of Windows components.

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Furthermore, “Practical Malware Analysis” 12 and “The Art of Memory Forensics” 13 also cover kernel debugging with WinDbg and undocumented Windows internals in detail, making them extremely valuable references.

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About the Author

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I am Kashiwaba (@kash1064).

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I love security, and I am particularly interested in reverse engineering and digital forensics.

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My main certifications are CISSP and OSCP.

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As a hobby, I participate in security competitions called Capture The Flag (CTF) on a team called 0nePadding.

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I spend my time learning about binary analysis, log analysis, and troubleshooting techniques, and among those I especially enjoy analyzing Windows programs and system dump files.

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I also introduced Windows dump analysis techniques in “Magical WinDbg -雰囲気で楽しむ Windows ダンプ解析とトラブルシューティング-” 1, which I distributed at Tech Book Fest 15.

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I also introduced Windows dump analysis techniques in “Magical WinDbg - Enjoying Windows Dump Analysis and Troubleshooting by Feel -” 1, which I distributed at Tech Book Fest 15.

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Although I belong to Microsoft Japan, everything written in this book reflects my personal views and does not represent the views of the company or organization I belong to, nor is it stealth marketing for any particular product or service.

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All content in this book is based on information from official documentation and other websites, or from publicly available books and similar sources.

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Whenever I refer to technical topics in this book, I cite sources in footnotes whenever possible.

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Acknowledgements

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I received tremendous support from the members of the CTF team 0nePadding while writing this book.

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I would like to express my sincere gratitude to @r1k0t3k1 and @salty_byte, both members of 0nePadding, for helping with proofreading.

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  1. \n

    Magical WinDbg - Enjoying Windows Dump Analysis and Troubleshooting by Feel - https://techbookfest.org/product/bnaHM8sVz6AfEiF8jgpELj

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    JavaScript Debugger Scripting https://learn.microsoft.com/ja-jp/windows-hardware/drivers/debugger/javascript-debugger-scripting

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    Microsoft Learn https://learn.microsoft.com/ja-jp/windows-hardware/drivers/debugger/

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    Analysis Magical Girl Misaki-chan: Magical Open! (Yaneura Analysis Team / Shuwa System / 2004)

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    An Introduction to x86 Program Analysis with a Debugger: x64-Compatible Edition (Digital Travesia administrator Usapyon / Shuwa System / 2018)

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    Detailed Security Contest: Learning Vulnerability Exploitation Techniques through CTFs (Tsubasa Umenai, Yutaro Shimizu, Yudai Fujiwara, Yuto Maeda, Takashi Yoneuchi, Yu Watanabe / Mynavi Publishing / 2021)

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    Inside Windows Debugging (Tarik Soulami 著 / Microsoft Press / 2012 年)

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    Advanced Windows Debugging (Daniel Hewardt, Mario Pravat 著 / 2007 年)

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    インサイド Windows 第 7 版 上 (Pavel Yosifovich, Alex Ionescu, Mark E. Russinovich, David A. Solomon 著 / 山内 和朗 訳 / 日系 BP 社 / 2018 年)

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    10. \n
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    インサイド Windows 第 7 版 下 (Andrea Allievi, Alex Ionescu 著 / 山内 和朗 訳 / 日系 BP 社 / 2022 年)

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    11. \n
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    Practical Malware Analysis: The Hands-On Guide to Dissecting Malicious Software (Michael Sikorski, Andrew Honig 著 / No Starch Press / 2012 年)

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    The Art of Memory Forensics: Detecting Malware and Threats in Windows, Linux, and MAC Memory (Michael Hale Ligh, Andrew Case, Jamie Levy, Aaron Walters 著 / John Wiley & Sons Inc / 2014 年)

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    13. \n
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