Robber is open source tool for finding executables prone to DLL hijacking

Robber is a free open source tool developed using Delphi XE2 without any 3rd party dependencies.

In Version 1.7 Robber doesn't require administrator rights by default because of new write permission check feature, so if you want to scan somewhere like 'ProgramFiles' you need to run Robber with admin rights.

What is DLL hijacking?

Windows has a search path for DLLs in its underlying architecture. If you can figure out what DLLs an executable requests without an absolute path (triggering this search process), you can then place your hostile DLL somewhere higher up the search path so it'll be found before the real version is, and Windows will happilly feed your attack code to the application.

So, let's pretend Windows's DLL search path looks something like this:

A) . <-- current working directory of the executable, highest priority, first check

B) \Windows

C) \Windows\system32

D) \Windows\syswow64 <-- lowest priority, last check

and some executable "Foo.exe" requests "bar.dll", which happens to live in the syswow64 (D) subdir. This gives you the opportunity to place your malicious version in A), B) or C) and it will be loaded into executable.

As stated before, even an absolute full path can't protect against this, if you can replace the DLL....

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Hakin9 TEAM: Hakin9 is a monthly magazine dedicated to hacking and cybersecurity. In every edition, we try to focus on different approaches to show various techniques - defensive and offensive. This knowledge will help you understand how most popular attacks are performed and how to protect your data from them. Our tutorials, case studies and online courses will prepare you for the upcoming, potential threats in the cyber security world. We collaborate with many individuals and universities and public institutions, but also with companies such as Xento Systems, CATO Networks, EY, CIPHER Intelligence LAB, redBorder, TSG, and others.