Course 25 - API Python Hacking | Episode 4: Structures, Process Spawning, and Undocumented Calls

In this lesson, you’ll learn about:

• Defining Windows Internal Structures in Python
  • Representing structures like PROCESS_INFORMATION and STARTUPINFO using ctypes.Structure
  • Mapping Windows data types (HANDLE, DWORD, LPWSTR) with the _fields_ attribute
  • Instantiating structures for API calls to configure or retrieve process information
• Spawning System Processes
  • Using CreateProcessW from kernel32.dll
  • Setting application paths (e.g., cmd.exe) and command-line arguments
  • Managing creation flags like CREATE_NEW_CONSOLE (0x10)
  • Passing structures by reference with ctypes.byref to receive process and thread IDs
• Accessing Undocumented APIs and Memory Casting
  • Leveraging DnsGetCacheDataTable from dnsapi.dll for reconnaissance
  • Navigating linked lists via pNext pointers in structures like DNS_CACHE_ENTRY
  • Using ctypes.cast to transform raw memory addresses into Python-readable structures
  • Extracting DNS cache information, such as record names and types, through loops and error handling
• Key Outcome
  • Ability to build custom security tools that interact directly with Windows internals
  • Mastery of low-level API calls, memory traversal, and structure manipulation for forensic or security applications