The Current State of Exploit Development, Part 1

The blog highlights the evolution of exploit development and vulnerability research, focusing on how various security mitigations have changed the landscape of cybersecurity over time. Initially, memory corruption exploits were a significant threat, but the introduction of operating system mitigations like Data Execution Prevention (DEP) and Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) began to make such exploits more challenging. The blog details how these legacy mitigations, along with contemporary ones like Control Flow Guard (CFG) and Supervisor Mode Execution Prevention (SMEP), raise the bar for adversaries. It also discusses how modern exploitation requires more sophisticated strategies, often involving multiple vulnerabilities, to bypass these defenses. The post serves as a primer on the complexities of current exploit development, setting the stage for further discussion on modern mitigations and their impact on security research.