Advanced Malware Development & EDR Evasion_

Overview

Red teamers and penetration testers develop tooling in C and use frameworks that are increasingly well-signatured. This program goes lower.

Students implement malware, shellcode, and injection techniques directly in x64 assembly, learning to control every byte of what they ship. The program starts at the machine code level and builds all the way up to a full operator toolchain: from Windows internals and PE literacy, through x64 assembly and C++ malware development, to shellcode, reflective DLL loaders from scratch against the PE32+ specification, advanced injection techniques for EDR and memory scanner evasion, BYOVD kernel-level attacks, and a complete Cobalt Strike-like beacon with real C2 check-in and operator commands.

Throughout the training, students encounter EDR and AV evasion at the signature level, behavioral level, ETW tracing, API hooking level, and kernel level, understanding common detection techniques and how to bypass them as each topic is covered.

What makes this program different

This is the only training that covers low-level x64 assembly-based malware development at this depth in one continuous program. Working in x64 assembly unlocks a category of techniques that C++ and .NET tooling alone cannot produce: reflective DLL injection shellcode, obfuscators, code generators, and EDR evasion techniques with direct syscalls, API patching, and instruction-level control that this program covers with working implementations, not just theory.

The program also covers writing your own x64 code generator and obfuscator to evade signature-based detection, applicable to any x64 payload or implant. Students test their own generated output against static detection before the program ends.

From machine code to a working beacon

The six modules build on each other. You start with Windows internals, understanding what the loader and EDR see, then write your first malware entirely in x64 assembly. From there, the same tradecraft moves into C++ for maintainability, before you develop shellcode and implement reflective DLL injection from the PE32+ specification. The EDR evasion module covers everything from userland hook bypasses and syscalls through ETW patching to full BYOVD kernel exploitation: terminating EDR processes, disabling Driver Signature Enforcement, stripping PPL, and loading unsigned kernel-mode code. The final module brings it all together into a Cobalt Strike-like beacon built from scratch on Havoc C2, with Cobalt Strike BOF compatibility, inline-execute, Havoc hardening for network-level evasion, and a code generation capstone that produces byte-distinct output on every build.

BYOVD kernel attacks

Module 5 includes a dedicated section on BYOVD (Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver) exploitation. Students build a kernel read/write tool that walks EPROCESS structures to manipulate any process on the system: terminating EDR processes from kernel space, stripping Protected Process Light (PPL), elevating tokens to SYSTEM, disabling Code Integrity (DSE) to load unsigned drivers, and silencing EDR telemetry at the kernel level. This tool is built both as a standalone CLI and as a Cobalt Strike BOF for inline-execute through the beacon, and tested against a real EDR in the lab.

Build your own beacon

Module 6 is about building a real implant, not running someone else's. Students build a complete C++ beacon from scratch on top of Havoc C2: from basic check-in and malleable C2 profiles through unmanaged PowerShell with ETW/AMSI bypass, to a full Cobalt Strike BOF loader that can run any COFF object file inline. The module covers Havoc hardening to bypass network-level detections, integrates the BYOVD kernel attacks as agent commands, and closes with a code generation capstone where students combine their loader, injection technique, evasion layers, and generator, then test the result against real-world enterprise EDR detections.

Who should take this program

Red team operators and penetration testers looking to develop and customize their own offensive tooling. Malware analysts who want to go beyond reversing and start implementing. Developers moving into offensive security who want to understand how modern implants work at the lowest level.

Not a good fit for anyone expecting a course on C2 frameworks only, initial access tradecraft, or post-exploitation without coding. This program is about what happens at the binary level, and how that binary becomes a maintained, hardened beacon.