Rusty Bootkit - Windows UEFI Bootkit in Rust (Codename: RedLotus)
Introducing a Windows UEFI Bootkit in Rust designed to facilitate the manual mapping of a driver manual mapper before the kernel (ntoskrnl.exe
) is loaded, effectively bypassing Driver Signature Enforcement (DSE)
. This bootkit utilizes a UEFI runtime driver (EFI_RUNTIME_DRIVER
) inspired by the work of umap by @btbd. By employing a straightforward .data
function pointer hook, the driver manual mapper enables the manual mapping of various Windows kernel drivers via a user-mode program. It is important to acknowledge that the communication method involving xKdEnumerateDebuggingDevices
and NtConvertBetweenAuxiliaryCounterAndPerformanceCounter
, originally shared by the legendary @can1357, may be flagged by anti-cheat systems. Hence, it is crucial to emphasize that this project serves as a Proof of Concept (PoC).
It is possible to manually map my Windows kernel rootkit or Windows blue-pill hypervisor with minor modifications.
This project is inspired by the following:
A bootkit can run code before the operating system and potentially inject malicious code into the kernel or load a malicious kernel driver by infecting the boot process and taking over the system's firmware or bootloader, effectively disabling or bypassing security protections. This tool can be used for game hacking and is a side project for those interested in fun, learning, malware research, and spreading security awareness. It also demonstrates that Rust can handle both low-level and high-level tasks. It's important to recognize the potential of Rust and not underestimate its power.
The image below shows how Legacy and UEFI boot works.
Figure 1. Comparison of the Legacy Boot flow (left) and UEFI boot flow (right) on Windows (Vista and newer) systems (Full Credits: WeLiveSecurity)
This diagram illustrates the structure and flow of the redlotus.efi
UEFI bootkit and redlotus.sys
Windows kernel driver manual mapper.
To start using Rust, download the installer, then run the program and follow the onscreen instructions. You may need to install the Visual Studio C++ Build tools when prompted to do so.
rustup toolchain install nightly
rustup default nightly
cargo install cargo-make
Change directory to .\driver\
and build driver
cargo make sign
Change directory to .\bootkit\
and build bootkit
cargo build --target x86_64-unknown-uefi --release
Change directory to .\client\
and build client
cargo build --release
To enable Test Mode
or Test Signing Mode
, open an elevated command prompt and enter the following command:
bcdedit /set testsigning on
The commands below enable debugging for the Windows Boot Manager, the boot loader, and the operating system's kernel. Using this combination allows for debugging at every startup stage. If activated, the target computer will break into the debugger three times: when the Windows Boot Manager loads, when the boot loader loads, and when the operating system starts. Enter the following commands in an elevated command prompt:
bcdedit /bootdebug {bootmgr} on
bcdedit /bootdebug on
bcdedit /debug on
To set up network debugging, open an elevated command prompt and enter the command below. Replace w.x.y.z
with the IP address of the host computer and n
with your chosen port number:
bcdedit /dbgsettings net hostip:w.x.y.z port:n
Open the Windows registry editor by entering the following command in an elevated command prompt:
regedit
For more focused and efficient kernel development troubleshooting, set up filters to selectively display debugging messages by following these steps:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager
Debug Print Filter
.DWORD (32) Value
.DEFAULT
.Value data
to 8
.A UEFI Bootkit works under one or more of the following conditions:
Secure Boot is disabled on the machine, so no vulnerabilities are required to exploit it (supported by this project).
Exploiting a known flaw in the UEFI firmware to disable Secure Boot in the case of an out-of-date firmware version or a product no longer supported, including the Bring Your Own Vulnerable Binary (BYOVB) technique to bring copies of vulnerable binaries to the machines to exploit a vulnerability or vulnerabilities and bypass Secure Boot on up-to-date UEFI systems (1-day/one-day).
Exploiting an unspecified flaw in the UEFI firmware to disable Secure Boot (0-day/zero-day vulnerability).
UEFI Bootkits typically target the Windows Boot Manager (bootmgfw.efi
) found in the EFI partition at \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
(also accessible at C:\Windows\Boot\EFI\bootmgfw.efi
). The infection process involves adding a new section named .efi
to the bootmgfw.efi
and redirecting the executable's entry point to this new section. Here's a step-by-step breakdown:
bootmgfw.efi
(Windows Boot Manager) in the EFI partition at \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
..efi
section to the bootmgfw.efi
..efi
section.bootmgfw.efi
to point to the shellcode in the .efi
section.Note: This method is unsupported.
The following outlines a supported method to execute a UEFI Bootkit using the UEFI Shell. By leveraging either the EDK2 efi shell or the UEFI-Shell, users can set up a USB drive to boot into a UEFI shell environment. From there, the bootkit can be loaded and executed directly. The steps also include specific instructions for users working with VMware Workstation.
Download EDK2 efi shell or UEFI-Shell and follow these steps:
Extract downloaded efi shell and rename file Shell.efi
(should be in folder UefiShell/X64
) to bootx64.efi
Format USB drive to FAT32
Create following folder structure:
USB:.
│ redlotus.efi
│
└───EFI
└───Boot
bootx64.efi
Boot from the USB drive
4.1. The following is required for VMware Workstation:
VMware Workstation: VM -> Settings -> Hardware -> Add -> Hard Disk -> Next -> SCSI or NVMe (Recommended) -> Next -> Use a physical disk (for advanced users) -> Next -> Device: PhysicalDrive1 and Usage: Use entire disk -> Next -> Finish.
Start VM by clicking Power On to Firmware
Select Internal Shell (Unsupported option) or EFI Vmware Virtual SCSI Hard Drive (1.0)
A UEFI shell should start, change directory to the same location as the Windows Boot Manager (e.g. FS0
). Note that the file system could be different for your machine
FS0:
FS0
).cp fs2:redlotus.efi fs0:
load redlotus.efi
Windows should boot automatically.
Manually map your Windows kernel driver using the user-mode application (client.exe
) even with Driver Signature Enforcement (DSE)
enabled.
PS C:\Users\developer\Desktop> .\client.exe -h
Manually Map Windows Kernel Driver
Usage: client.exe --path <PATH>
Options:
-p, --path <PATH> The Windows kernel driver path to be manually mapped
-h, --help Print help
-V, --version Print version
Tested on:
Microsoft Windows 10 Home 10.0.19045 N/A Build 19045
Microsoft Windows 11 Home 10.0.22621 N/A Build 22621
This image demonstrates the loading of the bootkit (redlotus.efi
) from a UEFI Shell.
This image depicts the successful manual mapping of the driver manual mapper (redlotus.sys
).
This image showcases the successful manual mapping of a Windows kernel driver (testing123.sys
), which could be written in any language such as C or Rust. It demonstrates the utilization of the user-mode application (client.exe
) to communicate with the driver manual mapper (redlotus.sys
).
Please note that depending on your Windows build and version, you may need to adjust the signatures of the hooked bootmgfw.efi
and winload.efi
functions, as well as the .data
function pointer signature in ntoskrnl.exe
. These changes are necessary to ensure compatibility and proper functioning with your specific Windows build and version.
Austin Hudson: https://github.com/realoriginal/bootlicker
Thanks for all the help: inlineHookz (smoke/snow/never_unsealed): https://twitter.com/never_unsealed
Rust Community Discord: https://discord.com/invite/rust-lang (#windows-dev channel PeterRabbit, MaulingMonkey etc..)
Aidan Khoury: https://github.com/ajkhoury/UEFI-Bootkit/
Matthijs Lavrijsen: https://github.com/Mattiwatti/EfiGuard
Welivesecurity: https://www.welivesecurity.com/2021/10/05/uefi-threats-moving-esp-introducing-especter-bootkit/
Welivesecurity: https://www.welivesecurity.com/2023/03/01/blacklotus-uefi-bootkit-myth-confirmed/
MrExodia: https://secret.club/2022/08/29/bootkitting-windows-sandbox.html
Samuel Tulach: https://github.com/SamuelTulach/rainbow
UnknownCheats: https://www.unknowncheats.me/forum/anti-cheat-bypass/452202-rainbow-efi-bootkit-hwid-spoofer-smbios-disk-nic.html
ekknod: https://github.com/ekknod/sumap/
Cr4sh: https://github.com/Cr4sh/s6_pcie_microblaze/tree/master/python/payloads/DmaBackdoorBoot
Alex Matrosov: Rootkits and Bootkits: https://nostarch.com/rootkits by Alex Matrosov
Binarly: https://www.binarly.io/posts/The_Untold_Story_of_the_BlackLotus_UEFI_Bootkit/index.html
rust-osdev: https://github.com/rust-osdev/uefi-rs
rust-osdev: https://github.com/rust-osdev/bootloader
rust-osdev: https://crates.io/crates/uefi
rust-osdev: https://docs.rs/uefi/latest/
rust-osdev: https://rust-osdev.github.io/uefi-rs/HEAD/
https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/virtual-machines/
https://securelist.com/cosmicstrand-uefi-firmware-rootkit/106973/
https://guidedhacking.com/threads/external-internal-pattern-scanning-guide.14112/
https://guidedhacking.com/resources/guided-hacking-x64-cheat-engine-sigmaker-plugin-ce-7-2.319/
https://github.com/tandasat/MiniVisorPkg/blob/master/Docs/Building_and_Debugging.md
https://github.com/tandasat/MiniVisorPkg/blob/master/Docs/Testing_UEFI_on_Hyper-V.md
thanks jonaslyk for providing the correct function signature for BlImgAllocateImageBuffer
:)
idontcode aka @_xeroxz: https://blog.back.engineering/08/06/2020/
can1357: https://www.unknowncheats.me/forum/2614582-post12.html
https://www.unknowncheats.me/forum/anti-cheat-bypass/503521-data-ptr.html
https://www.unknowncheats.me/forum/programming-for-beginners/193545-trying-sig-offset-ida.html
Thanks not_matthias, draven/rmccrystal, @jessiep_ :)
Thanks Idov31 for this link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/devtest/bcdedit--bootdebug