In terms of extracting Windows operating system kernel information, attackers are indeed continuously developing new tools and technologies to bypass existing protection mechanisms. The following is the analysis of the current threat situation and defense recommendations： --- ###**1. New attack tools/technologies** 1. **Hardware exploit** -**Spectre/Meltdown derivative variants**: Using modern CPU speculative execution vulnerabilities to extract kernel memory data through side-channel attacks, part of the memory isolation mechanism may be bypassed. -**DMA attack tool**: Direct Memory Access (DMA) through Thunderbolt/USB and other interfaces, combined with vulnerabilities (such as IOMMU configuration defects) to directly read physical memory. 2. **Kernel exploit** -**0day local authorization vulnerability**: For example, undisclosed vulnerabilities (such as CVE-2023-21674) are used to bypass kernel permission checks, load unsigned drivers, or modify kernel objects. -**BYOVD (comes with fragile driver)**: An attacker takes advantage of vulnerabilities in signed third-party drivers (such as old anti-cheating or hardware drivers) to perform malicious operations with kernel permissions. 3. **User-mode to kernel-mode conversion attack** -**Abuse of legal debugging tools**: such as WinDbg and Sysinternals toolchains (combined with custom plug-ins or parameters) to extract memory information. -Reflection driver loading**: Load legitimate driver modules through reflection in memory to avoid driver signature enforcement (DSE) detection. 4. **Undocumented attack technology** -**Memory-resident malicious code**: Through process injection (such as APC injection) or exploit, run the kernel data extraction code directly in the system process to avoid the file landing being detected. 5. **AI assisted attack tool** -**Automated exploit generation**: The tools under research use machine learning to identify potential vulnerability patterns in kernel code and accelerate attack development. --- ###**2. Means to bypass the protection mechanism** -**Bypass PatchGuard (PG)**: Bypass PG's protection of critical structures through timing attacks or kernel object hooks. -**Disable virtualized security (HVCI)**: Exploit vulnerabilities to turn off virtualized security isolation (such as HyperGuard). -**Signature bypass**: Steal legitimate enterprise certificates to issue malicious drivers, or take advantage of signature policy vulnerabilities (such as expired certificate reuse). -**Detection and avoidance**: Use memory encryption, polymorphic code, or legal process camouflage (such as injecting svchost. exe) Avoid EDR/AV scanning. --- ###**Three, defense recommendations** 1. **Update the system in a timely manner**: Patch known kernel vulnerabilities (such as monthly Windows security updates). 2. **Enable advanced protection**： - Turn on **HVCI** (virtualized security), **KCFG**(kernel control flow protection). -Use **Microsoft Defender Credential Guard** to protect sensitive credentials. 3. **Minimize the attack surface**： -Disable unnecessary hardware interfaces (such as Thunderbolt DMA). -Restrict driver signing policy (only WHQL authentication drivers are allowed). 4. **Monitoring and response**： -Deploy EDR/XDR solutions with kernel behavior monitoring (such as Microsoft Defender for Endpoint). -Audit the use of exception debugging tools or drive loading events. 5. **Supply chain security**: Review the authority of third-party drivers and isolate high-risk services. --- ###**Fourth, summary** Although Microsoft continues to strengthen Windows kernel protection (such as Secure Core and Kernel DMA Protection), attackers still break through the line of defense through exploit, hardware defects, and abuse of the chain of trust. Defense needs to be combined with a Defense-in-Depth strategy to balance vulnerability management, hardware configuration, and active monitoring. The security team should pay close attention to the relevant technologies in the ATT&CK framework (such as T1063 and T1055) and adjust the defense strategy in a timely manner.