Abusing the COM Registry Structure: CLSID, LocalServer32, & InprocServer32 Logo

Abusing the COM Registry Structure: CLSID, LocalServer32, & InprocServer32

0
Free
10 September 2025
Visit Website

Vendors are notorious for including and/or leaving behind Registry artifacts that could potentially be abused by attackers for lateral movement, evasion, bypass, and persistence. CLSIDs subkeys (LocalServer32 and InprocServer32) can be enumerated to discover abandoned binary references. Interestingly, CLSIDs can be called (‘invoked’) with this command: rundll32.exe -sta {CLSID} Defensive recommendations – clean up artifacts after removal (e.g. unregister), monitor for suspicious events (e.g. rundll32.exe usage), and implement strong Application Whitelisting (AWL) policies/rules. Background Previously, I blogged about a DCOM lateral movement technique that took advantage of a missing file that was referenced in a registry Class Identifier (CLSID) subkey-value on Windows 2008/2012 hosts. After seeing the impact of that technique, the entire notion of COM (Component Object Model) & key-value path hijacking became even more fascinating to me. As such, I decided to revisit CSLIDs, LocalServer32, and InprocServer32 to (hopefully) uncover even more interesting findings. In this post, we will discuss: The purpose of CLSIDs, LocalServer32, and InprocServer32 A slight

FEATURES

SIMILAR TOOLS

Yabin creates Yara signatures from malware to find similar samples.

A tool that extracts and deobfuscates strings from malware binaries using advanced static analysis techniques.

A static analysis tool for PE files that identifies potential malicious indicators through compiler detection, packing analysis, signature matching, and suspicious string identification.

An open source .NET deobfuscator and unpacker that restores packed and obfuscated assemblies by reversing various obfuscation techniques.

A Python script that converts shellcode into a PE32 or PE32+ file.

A collaborative malware analysis framework with various features for automated analysis tasks.

Joe Sandbox Community provides automated cloud-based malware analysis across multiple OS platforms.

A .NET assembly debugger and editor that enables reverse engineering and dynamic analysis of compiled .NET applications without source code access.

A program to manage yara ruleset in a database with support for different databases and configuration options.

PINNED

Proton Pass Logo

Proton Pass is a cross-platform password manager that provides encrypted storage, password generation, and security monitoring features with integrated 2FA and dark web monitoring capabilities.

Data Protection
NordVPN Logo

NordVPN is a commercial VPN service that encrypts internet connections and hides IP addresses through a global network of servers, featuring integrated threat protection and multi-device support.

Network Security
Mandos Logo

Fractional CISO service that helps B2B companies implement security leadership to win enterprise deals, achieve compliance, and develop strategic security programs.

Consulting
Checkmarx SCA Logo

Checkmarx SCA

A software composition analysis tool that identifies vulnerabilities, malicious code, and license risks in open source dependencies throughout the software development lifecycle.

Application Security
Orca Security Logo

Orca Security

A cloud-native application protection platform that provides agentless security monitoring, vulnerability management, and compliance capabilities across multi-cloud environments.

Cloud Security
DryRun Logo

DryRun

A GitHub application that performs automated security code reviews by analyzing contextual security aspects of code changes during pull requests.

Application Security
CybersecTools logoCybersecTools

Explore the largest curated directory of cybersecurity tools and resources to enhance your security practices. Find the right solution for your domain.

Operated by:

Mandos Cyber • KVK: 97994448

Netherlands • contact@mandos.io

VAT: NL005301434B12

Copyright © 2025 - All rights reserved