Execute Native Code From .NET

Introduction

If you want to prevent your program from being cracked by hackers, you can use native code. You can cipher/decipher this code, or it may be self-modifying code for more safety. Now, I'll show how you can execute such native code from your C# programs.

Source code

This example retrieves CPU information.

private void button1_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
  // native function's compiled code

  byte[] proc = new byte[] {

               0x55, 0x8B, 0xEC, 0x83, 0xEC, 0x00, 0x53, 0x51, 
               0x52, 0x57, 0x8B, 0x7D, 0x08, 0x33, 0xC0, 0x0F, 
               0xA2, 0x89, 0x07, 0x89, 0x5F, 0x04, 0x89, 0x57, 
               0x08, 0x89, 0x4F, 0x0C, 0xB8, 0x01, 0x00, 0x00, 
               0x00, 0x0F, 0xA2, 0x89, 0x47, 0x10, 0x89, 0x57, 
               0x14, 0xB8, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x80, 0x0F, 0xA2, 
               0x3D, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x80, 0x72, 0x0A, 0xB8, 
               0x01, 0x00, 0x00, 0x80, 0x0F, 0xA2, 0x89, 0x57, 
               0x18, 0x5F, 0x59, 0x5B, 0x5A, 0x8B, 0xE5, 0x5D, 
               0x33, 0xC0, 0xC2, 0x04, 0x00
                                  };
  UInt32 funcAddr = VirtualAlloc(0, (UInt32)proc.Length, 
                    MEM_COMMIT, PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE);
  Marshal.Copy(proc, 0, (IntPtr)(funcAddr), proc.Length);
  IntPtr hThread = IntPtr.Zero;
  UInt32 threadId = 0;
  // prepare data

  PROCESSOR_INFO info = new PROCESSOR_INFO();

  IntPtr pinfo = 
    Marshal.AllocHGlobal(Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(PROCESSOR_INFO)));

  Marshal.StructureToPtr(info, pinfo, false);

  // execute native code

  hThread = CreateThread(0, 0, funcAddr, pinfo, 0, ref threadId);

  WaitForSingleObject(hThread, 0xFFFFFFFF);
  // retrive data

  info = (PROCESSOR_INFO)Marshal.PtrToStructure(pinfo, 
                              typeof(PROCESSOR_INFO));

  Marshal.FreeHGlobal(pinfo);
  CloseHandle(hThread);
  VirtualFree((IntPtr)funcAddr, 0, MEM_RELEASE);
}

private UInt32 MEM_COMMIT = 0x1000;

private UInt32 PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE = 0x40;

private UInt32 MEM_RELEASE = 0x8000;

[DllImport("kernel32")]
private static extern UInt32 VirtualAlloc(UInt32 lpStartAddr, 
     UInt32 size, UInt32 flAllocationType, UInt32 flProtect);

[DllImport("kernel32")]
private static extern bool VirtualFree(IntPtr lpAddress, 
                      UInt32 dwSize, UInt32 dwFreeType);

[DllImport("kernel32")]
private static extern IntPtr CreateThread(

  UInt32 lpThreadAttributes,
  UInt32 dwStackSize,
  UInt32 lpStartAddress,
  IntPtr param,
  UInt32 dwCreationFlags,
  ref UInt32 lpThreadId

  );
[DllImport("kernel32")]
private static extern bool CloseHandle(IntPtr handle);

[DllImport("kernel32")]
private static extern UInt32 WaitForSingleObject(

  IntPtr hHandle,
  UInt32 dwMilliseconds
  );
[DllImport("kernel32")]
private static extern IntPtr GetModuleHandle(

  string moduleName

  );
[DllImport("kernel32")]
private static extern UInt32 GetProcAddress(

  IntPtr hModule,
  string procName

  );
[DllImport("kernel32")]
private static extern UInt32 LoadLibrary(

  string lpFileName

  );
[DllImport("kernel32")]
private static extern UInt32 GetLastError();

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
internal struct PROCESSOR_INFO 
{
  public UInt32 dwMax; 
  public UInt32 id0;
  public UInt32 id1;
  public UInt32 id2;

  public UInt32 dwStandard;
  public UInt32 dwFeature;

  // if AMD
  public UInt32 dwExt;
}