Assembly for Hackers: An Overview of Key Techniques and Tools

4 February 2025 3 minutes Author: Cyber Witcher

How Assembly works in cybersecurity? Learn about Assembly syntax, system calls, memory management, code injection, mirrored code loading, access token manipulation, and other techniques used in the hacking world. An overview of the basic concepts and tools for analyzing low-level programming and attacks.

Assembly for hackers

Syntax

Assembly syntax defines how instructions are written to operate the processor. Two main notations are used: AT&T and Intel.

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System calls

System calls are a mechanism for interacting with the OS, allowing a program to access the file system, network, and other resources.

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Processor registers

Registers are special memory cells in the processor used to store intermediate data and control the program.

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Sections

Code in Assembly is divided into different sections, for example: .text (instructions), .data (variables), and .bss (null variables).

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Strings

Processing text strings in Assembly is done using special instructions such as movsb, stosb, lodsb.

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Numbers

Assembly supports both integer and floating point operations, using different types of registers.

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Conditions

Logical operations and conditional jumps (cmp, jz, jnz) allow you to implement branching in code.

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Addressing modes

Memory access methods, including direct, indirect, indexed, and relative addressing.

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File Handling

In Assembly, you can open, read, and write files via system calls (open, read, write).

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Stack and memory

The stack stores data and manages function calls, while memory is managed by push, pop, and mov instructions.

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Code injection attack

A method of injecting malicious code into other people’s processes to gain control over them.

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Run through Rundll32

Technique for launching malicious code using the standard Windows file Rundll32.

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APC Injection

Using asynchronous procedure calls to execute malicious code.

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Valid accounts

Obtaining or using existing accounts in the system to access resources.

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DLL Injection

Loading libraries into another program’s process to execute its own code.

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Mark-Of-The-Web

Technique for bypassing Windows security mechanisms that protect against the execution of suspicious files.

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Modify Registry

Editing the Windows registry to change system settings or ensure the concealment of malicious code.

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Process injection

Injecting code into other processes for its hidden execution.

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Reflective code loading

A method of dynamically loading malicious code without writing to disk.

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Access token manipulation

A method of obtaining elevated privileges in the system.

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Hijack Execution Flow

Changing the execution address of a program to redirect its logic.

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