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Motivation

Thread local storage

Thread safe static variable initialization is often used to implement singleton pattern. (C3 uses it to automate registration of Interfaces).

MWR::C3::InterfaceFactory& MWR::C3::InterfaceFactory::Instance()
{
	static auto instance = InterfaceFactory{};
	return instance;
}

In theory this doesn't seem like it would be using thread local storage, but in practice (for optimization) most compilers will generate code that uses TLS to store a flag once the variable has been initialized, in order to avoid unnecesary locking.

TL;DR: The PE's TLS Directory specifies the data that must be initialized for new threads.

Exceptions

I don't think usage of exceptions in c++ codebase has to be justified.

Microsoft's Structured Exception Handling in depth: http://bytepointer.com/resources/pietrek_crash_course_depths_of_win32_seh.htm

C++ excetions are implemented in terms of SEH.

TL;DR: PE files specifies a table that contains data where to contiunue execution when exception is raised.

Implementation

Our solution is to put a PE loader into donut's PE loader.

Limitations for the new loader:

don't use TLS (inlcudes __declspec(thread), Thread safe statics, std::call_once etc.) -> boils down to checking the CebuLoader's TLS directory size == 0
don't use exceptions -> however CebuLoader.exe's exception directoy size != 0 (Probably beacause of statically linked CRT)
don't rely on self image headers as those will be wiped by donut loader (eg. don't use kernel32!FindResource*, read pImageNtHeaders->OptionalHeader.SizeOfImage)

CebuLoader

CebuLoader is derived from sRDI TLS and EH support is based on Blackbone

TLS:

call private function ntdll!LdrpHandleTlsData

EH:

x64: call ntdll!RtlAddFunctionTable + add VEH that sets c++ exception base address and changes its magic number
x86: call private ntdll!RtlInsertInvertedFunctionTable. There's no need for installig VEH as in Xenos (beceause C3 compiles with /SAFESEH)

Using private functions from ntdll:

find a function pointer with pattern matching + offsets (credit to Blackbone for signatures and offsets)
select a calling convention and function signature at runtime acording to windows version

Embedding target dll in CebuLoader

use Tools/ResourceGenerator
embedded resource has format [16 byte guid][1 byte terminator 0xff][4 byte size][body][4 byte size][ExportName (null terminated)] (the guid if 0xff terminated to avoid finding the guid c-string when searching the module memory)

Limitations:

EH works only if the embedded dll is statically linked with CRT. // TODO check if CebuLoader also has to be linked statically (currently it is)

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