Summary
In this chapter, we became familiar with various types of vulnerabilities, the exploits that target them, and different techniques that aim to battle them. Then, we learned about shellcode, how it is different for different platforms, and how it can be analyzed.
Finally, we covered other common types of exploits that are used nowadays in the wild – that is, malicious PDF and Microsoft Office documents – and explained how to examine them. With this knowledge, you can gauge the attacker’s mindset and understand the logic behind various techniques that can be used to compromise the target system.
In Chapter 9, Reversing Bytecode Languages – .NET, Java, and More, we will learn how to handle malware that’s been written using bytecode languages, what challenges the engineer may face during the analysis, and how to deal with them.
