Windows x64 activation logic
Static analysis, validation reversal, runtime branch tracing, and minimal binary patch verification.
CompletedExplore projectBreak it down. Prove it. Document it.
A practical research log focused on Windows internals, reverse engineering, controlled vulnerability reproduction, and defensive remediation.
CASE STUDIES
Completed exercises
64-byte boundary vulnerability
Access violation diagnosis, PE/code-cave analysis, binary hotfix, regression testing, and recovered challenge flag.
CompletedExplore projectASSESSMENT ARCHIVE
Additional analysis experience
Six completed third-party interview exercises, including Windows and Linux binaries, legacy ROM analysis, and network-traffic reconstruction. Public summaries omit challenge secrets and identifying company material.
CRACKME WRITE-UPS
Hands-on reverse-engineering challenges
Detailed analysis notes from standalone Windows and Linux CrackMes. These include recovered logic, controlled debugging, and reproducible solutions.
pin.exe — Runtime-Decrypted Password
Located a plaintext comparison boundary in Ghidra, examined x64 argument registers in x64dbg, and verified the accepted password against the original executable.
Read analysisgood-girl — Zero-Sum Lookup Table
Recovered the 4×4 table and argument parsing logic, constructed a zero-sum solution, and automated valid-input discovery in Python.
Read analysisRESEARCH METHOD
How I approach a finding
01
Establish baseline
Identify the binary, verify hashes, and document expected operation.
02
Reproduce
Construct controlled inputs and capture behavior or failure evidence.
03
Analyze
Correlate debugging registers, memory, disassembly, and source-level logic.
04
Remediate & verify
Define a fix, retain originals, test boundaries, and document limitations.
Historical vulnerability reproduction
Preparing an isolated lab exercise using a historical version of 7-Zip affected by CVE-2016-2334. This is research in progress; no finding or reproduction result is claimed.