Kernel Exploitation

Kernel exploitation represents a critical escalation vector within the Deepening Control phase, specifically as a subtechnique of Exploitation for Privilege Escalation. This method involves targeting vulnerabilities in the operating system kernel—the core component that manages hardware resources and provides essential services to applications. Attackers leverage memory corruption bugs, race conditions, or design flaws in kernel code to execute malicious operations with elevated system privileges. Successfully exploiting kernel vulnerabilities allows threat actors to bypass security boundaries, modify kernel-level security controls, install persistent rootkits, and gain complete control over the compromised system. These attacks are particularly dangerous as they circumvent user-space security mechanisms and provide attackers with the highest possible privilege level, enabling them to reconfigure system security properties, access protected resources, and establish persistence mechanisms that remain hidden from standard detection tools.