: Windows Exploit Protection Modules (EPMs)
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Windows Exploit Protection Modules (EPMs)

Table of Contents

Windows Exploit Protection Modules (EPMs)

To combat attackers from leveraging software vulnerabilities on Windows endpoints, Traps employs the following exploit protection modules (EPMs):
Name
Type
Description
Brute Force Protection
Application Protection
Prevents attackers from hijacking the process control flow by monitoring memory layout enumeration attempts.
CPL Protection
Application Protection
Protects against vulnerabilities related to the display routine for Windows Control Panel shortcut images, which can be used as a malware infection vector.
DEP
Application Protection
Data execution prevention (DEP). Prevents areas of memory designated as containing data from running as executable code.
DLL Security
Application Protection
Prevents access to crucial DLL metadata from untrusted code locations.
DLL-Hijacking Protection
Application Protection
Prevents DLL-hijacking attacks where the attacker attempts to load DLLs from unsecured locations to gain control of a process.
Exception Heap Spray Check
Application Protection
Detects instances of heap sprays upon occurrence of suspicious process crashes (indicative of exploitation attempts).
Exploit Kit Fingerprinting Protection
Application Protection
Protects against the fingerprinting technique used by browser exploit kits to identify information—such as the OS or applications which run on an endpoint—which attackers can use to leverage an attack or evade protection capabilities.
Font Protection
Application Protection
Prevents improper font handling, a common target of exploits.
Hot Patch Protection
Application Protection
Prevents the use of system functions to bypass DEP and address space layout randomization (ASLR).
JIT Mitigation
Application Protection
Prevents an attacker from bypassing the operating system's memory mitigations using just-in-time (JIT) compilation engines. In ninja-mode, you can also configure advanced hooks and whitelists for this module.
Kernel APC Protection
Kernel Protection
Prevents attacks which change the execution order of a process by redirecting an asynchronous procedure call (APC) to point to the attacker’s malicious shellcode.
Kernel Privilege Escalation Protection
Kernel Protection
Prevents an attacker from using the privilege information of another process with greater privileges to run a process with system permissions.
Library Preallocation
Application Protection
Enforces relocation of specific modules that exploitation attempts commonly utilize.
Memory Limit Heap Spray Check
Application Protection
Detects instances of heap sprays using the Palo Alto Networks proprietary algorithm, which is triggered by a sudden increase in memory consumption (indicative of ongoing exploitation).
Null Dereference Protection
Application Protection
Prevents malicious code from mapping to address zero in the memory space, making null dereference vulnerabilities unexploitable.
ROP Mitigation
Application Protection
Protects against the use of return oriented programming (ROP) by protecting APIs used in ROP chains.
SEH Protection
Application Protection
Prevents hijacking of the Structured Exception Handler (SEH), a commonly exploited control structure called Linked List, which contains a sequence of function records.
Shellcode Preallocation
Application Protection
Reserves and protects certain areas of memory commonly used to house payloads using heap spray techniques.
Shellcode Protection
Application Protection
Reserves and protects certain areas of memory commonly used to house payloads using heap spray techniques.
ShellLink Protection
Application Protection
Prevents shell-link logical vulnerabilities.
SysExit
Application Protection
Protects against the use of return oriented programming (ROP) by protecting APIs used in ROP chains.
UASLR
Application Protection
Improves or altogether implements ASLR (module location randomization) with greater entropy, robustness, and strict enforcement.