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Corelan® Heap Exploitation Masterclass (Advanced)

Instructed by Peter Van Eeckhoutte

The Corelan “HEAP” exploit development MASTERCLASS is a fast-paced, mind-bending, hands-on course where you will learn advanced heap manipulation and exploit development techniques from an experienced exploit developer. During this 4 or 5-day class (sometimes just 3 “long” days at a conference), students will get the opportunity to learn how to write heap exploits for the Windows platform, using Windows 7, Windows 10 and Windows 11 as the example platform, but mostly focusing on learning & applying generic techniques that can be applied to other operating systems and heap implementations. We will discuss differences between Windows 7 and Windows 10/Windows 11 and explore previously undocumented techniques to achieve important exploitation primitives in Windows 10 & Windows 11.  The trainer will share his “notes from the field” and various tips & tricks to become more effective at writing exploits.

Classes are limited. Get registered!

This is most certainly not an entry level course. In fact, this is a one of the finest and most advanced courses you will find on heap exploit development for Windows, and probably the only one that dives deep into the Windows heap manager on Windows 7 and Windows 10/11 and demystifies how the heap really works. This hardcore, practical, hands-on course will provide students with solid understanding of Windows heap exploitation. We make sure the course material is kept updated with current evolutions, includes previously undocumented tricks and techniques, and details about research we performed ourselves, so you can apply the research techniques on other applications and operating system versions. Combined with the way the course is built up, this will turn this class into a truly unique learning experience. During all of our courses, we don’t just focus on techniques and mechanics, we don’t focus on just using one vulnerability, but we mainly want to make sure you understand why a given technique is used, why something works and why something doesn’t work. In the advanced course, we provide you with generic insights on how to do your own research related with heap exploitation in general (not just Windows 7 or Windows 10 / 11), fully preparing you for the future. This class covers techniques that work on both 32bit and 64bit applications.

The current edition of the course is based on Windows 11/10 and Windows 7 (As the Windows 10/11 Heap Manager contains additional mitigations, we use Windows 7 first to teach the basics, and then use Windows 11/10 later on). Furthermore, this course contains an intro to x64 exploitation (stack & heap), providing you with the required fundamentals to get started with x64 exploitation yourself.

Learn the following key skills:

ASLR & DEP REFRESHER
  • Bypassing ASLR
  • Bypassing DEP
WinDBG / WinDBGX (WinDBG Preview Edition)
  • WinDBG classic and WinDBGX (WinDBG Preview Edition) fundamentals
  • Symbols
  • Breakpoints, logging breakpoints
  • Using WinDBG(X) to explore Windows Heap datastructures in Windows 7, Windows 10 and Windows 11
Windows Heap Management
  • Terminology & building blocks
  • Windows 7 Heap, Windows 10 (and Windows 11) Heap (“NT” and “Segment” heap)
  • Front-End-Allocator and Back-End-Allocator
  • Differences between Windows 7 & Windows 10 / Windows 11
  • Heap manipulation primitives and exploitation primitives
  • Advanced BEA feng shui
  • Learn how to do your own heap related research, what to look for
Heap Spraying
  • Basic mechanisms
  • Data & object spraying
  • Precise heap spraying
Heap Exploitation
  • Use-After-Free
  • Linear & non-linear overflows / controlled write
  • Double Free
  • Type confusion
  • Use of uninitialized memory
  • Crash analysis & classification
  • Memory leaks / Information Disclosure
  • Heap Manipulations and heap primitives
  • How to avoid heap sprays
Intro to x64 heap exploitation
  • x64 processes, memory map, registers
  • Functions & calling conventions
  • Structured Exception Handling
  • ASLR
  • Stack Buffer Overflows
  • Heap exploitation primitives on x64
What’s next
  • Overview of memory protection evolutions

During the course, students will get the opportunity to work on real vulnerabilities in real applications, use a wide range of heap exploitation techniques and most importantly learn how to do your own research to find exploitation primitives in complex applications and new versions of Windows. We’re also going to study how AI may (or may not) be helpful during various stages of research and heap related exploit development. Warning – The course has a steep learning curve and will require full attention and focus.

What do you get after taking this class?

  • Verbose courseware & bonus content
  • Real skills
  • Your own personal LAB. No costs, no subscription need.
  • Tens of additional challenges and exercises
  • FREE lifetime access to post-training support, allowing you to continue your learning journey at your own pace. No yelling, no deadlines
physical
  • LEVEL

Advanced

  • FORMAT

In-person

  • DATE & LOCATION

August 25-28, 2025 (In-person, Columbia, MD)
November 17-20, 2025 (In-person, Columbia, MD)

  • DURATION

4 days, 40 hours

  • TARGET AUDIENCE

Pentesters, auditors, network/system administrators, reverse engineers, malware analysts, developers, members of a security department, security enthusiasts, or anyone that has a solid and practical basic knowledge of exploit development for Windows already.

  • Standard Rate

Requirements

  • A laptop (no netbook) with vmware workstation/virtualbox and enough processing power and RAM (we recommend 4Gb of RAM) to run up to 2 virtual machines at the same time. The use of a 64bit processor and a 64bit operating system on the laptop will make the exercises more realistic.
  • 3 Virtual machines (Windows 10 (no patches), Windows 7 SP1 (no patches), Kali Linux (fully up-to-date))
Note : you will receive the exact installation instructions after registration, so don’t start installling the VMs yet.

All required tools and applications will be provided during the training or will be downloaded from the internet during the training.

You must have full administrator access to all machines. You must be able to install and remove software, and you must be able to disable and/or remove firewall/antivirus/… when necessary.

Prerequisites

Students must:

  • be able to read and write simple C/C++ code and simple scripts (python, javascript)
  • truly master all basic concepts of exploit development, as listed in our Expert-Level “STACK” course. If you have taken the Stack course and done a lot of practice on ROP after taking the class, then you’re very likely ready for this class.
  • be familiar with ROP (i.e. understand how it works on Windows, know how to build a ROP chain, know how to use mona.py to generate a chain and how to fix the chain if it doesn’t work)
  • be familiar with using debuggers (we’ll use WinDBG for most part of the course, but we’ll spend some time explaining the basics of using WinDBG. It is assumed that you have practical experience with Immunity Debugger and mona.py)
  • be ready to dive into a debugger and read asm for hours and hours and hours
  • be ready to think out of the box and have a strong desire to learn
  • be fluent with managing Windows / Linux operating system and with using virtualization software such as vmware workstation/fusion or virtualbox
  • be familiar with using Metasploit to generate shellcode (msfvenom, msfconsole) and managing meterpreter sessions
  • have basic practical knowledge of x86 assembly

Why choose the Center for Cyber Security Training

Interactive, classroom-based learning

Subject matter experts

Trusted by US government agencies

peter-van
Peter Van Eeckhoutte
Peter Van Eeckhoutte is the founder of Corelan Team and the author of the well-known tutorials on Win32 Exploit Development Training. The team gathers a group of IT Security enthusiasts and researchers from around the world, who all share common interests : doing research, gather & share knowledge, and perform responsible/coordination disclosure. Above all, the team is well known for their ethics and their dedication to helping other people in the community. Together with the team, he has developed and published numerous tools that will assist pentesters and exploit developers, and published whitepapers/video’s on a wide range of IT Security related topics (pentesting tools, (malware) reverse engineering, etc). You can find some of the tools on the Corelan github page. Peter has been an active member of the IT Security community since 2000 and has been working on exploit development since 2006. He presented at various international security conferences (Athcon, Hack In Paris, DerbyCon, ISSA Belgium) and taught various Win32 Exploit Development courses at numerous places around the globe. He trained security enthusiasts & professionals from private companies, government agencies and military organizations.
Probably the best exploit training on the planet. Why? The best teacher! He walks his talk and knows the topic like the back of his hands (or perchance, his tattooed arms). I encourage anyone who is passionate about exploit development to take this course. You will not regret it! A knowledgeable teacher/mentor/coach makes a BIG difference in tackling a difficult topic.

- Jolly, Canada

Want more information?

Download the Exploit Development: Advanced course outline now.

Upcoming Training Sessions

August 25-28, 2025 (In-person, Columbia, MD) November 17-20, 2025 (In-person, Columbia, MD)

Classes are limited.

Enroll Now.

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