🎯 What You'll Learn
- Understand the Windows heap allocator
- Groom the heap into a predictable layout
- Exploit use-after-free conditions
- Reason about modern heap mitigations
Overview
Modern exploitation often lives on the heap. This advanced lab introduces the Windows heap, how allocations are managed, and how grooming and use-after-free conditions are shaped into reliable control of execution.
Core Topics
- Heap internals
- Heap grooming
- Use-after-free
- Mitigations and bypass intuition
Prerequisites
A working KaliRange lab environment and comfort with the Linux command line.
Recommended Workflow
- Spin up the target in your KaliRange lab environment and confirm connectivity.
- Enumerate the target thoroughly before touching any exploit — information first.
- Reproduce each technique by hand so you understand why it works, not just the command.
- Capture evidence (commands, output, screenshots) as you go.
- Write a short note on how a defender would detect or prevent what you just did.
Only ever run these techniques against systems you own or have explicit written permission to test. Practise inside your own KaliRange lab.
Your Goal
Work through every task in your own lab, document your findings as you would on a real engagement, then note the defensive takeaways.
Ready to practise. Work through the steps above at your own pace, then move on to a related lab.