NtWarden Windows Analysis and Research Toolkit

Skill by ara.so — Daily 2026 Skills collection.

NtWarden is a Windows system inspection tool built on ImGui + DirectX 11. It covers processes, services, network, kernel internals, ETW, registry, object manager, and more — locally or remotely via WinSysServer. A kernel driver (KWinSys) enables deep kernel-mode analysis including SSDT hooks, kernel callbacks, EPT hook detection, and driver integrity checks.

Architecture

Build Requirements

• Visual Studio 2022
• Windows SDK 10.0.26100.0+
• WDK (Windows Driver Kit) — required only for KWinSys kernel driver

Building

# Open solution in Visual Studio 2022
# Select Release | x64
# Build All

# Output lands in:
x64/Release/NtWarden.exe
x64/Release/WinSysServer.exe
x64/Release/KWinSys/KWinSys.sys

Solution structure:

NtWarden.sln
├── NtWarden/          # GUI application
├── WinSys/            # Core static library
├── KWinSys/           # Kernel driver (.sys)
└── WinSysServer/      # Remote TCP server

Running NtWarden

Always run as Administrator for full functionality.

# Run elevated
Start-Process NtWarden.exe -Verb RunAs

User-mode features (processes, services, network, ETW, registry, object manager) work without the driver.

Kernel Driver Setup (KWinSys)

⚠️ Use only in a test VM. Enable test signing before installing.

# Enable test signing (requires reboot)
bcdedit /set testsigning on

# On VMs, may also need:
bcdedit /set nointegritychecks on

# Reboot, then run NtWarden as Administrator.
# Switching to the Kernel Mode tab auto-installs and starts KWinSys.

Manual driver management:

# Install manually
sc create KWinSys type= kernel binPath= "C:\path\to\KWinSys.sys"
sc start KWinSys

# Stop and remove
sc stop KWinSys
sc delete KWinSys

The NtWarden GUI also exposes driver management under the Driver menu.

Remote Inspection (WinSysServer)

Deploy to a target machine (typically a VM) and connect from NtWarden.

Files to copy to target

WinSysServer.exe

x64/Release/WinSysServer.exe

KWinSys.sys

x64/Release/KWinSys/KWinSys.sys

Starting the server (on target, elevated)

# Auto-install driver + start server on default port 50002
WinSysServer.exe --install

# Custom port
WinSysServer.exe --install --port 9000

# If driver already installed manually:
WinSysServer.exe
WinSysServer.exe --port 9000

Connecting from NtWarden (on host)

1. Launch NtWarden
2. Go to Remote menu
3. Enter target IP and port (default:

   50002

   )
4. Click Connect

Protocol notes

• Custom binary protocol over TCP
• 12-byte header:

  MessageType

  ,

  DataSize

  ,

  Status

• No authentication — use only in isolated lab/VM environments
• User-mode data (processes, services, network) works without KWinSys on target
• Kernel tabs require KWinSys loaded on the remote target

WinSys Static Library — Key Usage Patterns

WinSys is the core library consumed by both NtWarden and WinSysServer. Example integration patterns in C++:

Process Enumeration

#include "WinSys/ProcessManager.h"

// Enumerate all processes (user mode)
auto& pm = WinSys::ProcessManager::Get();
pm.Update();  // Refresh snapshot

for (auto& proc : pm.GetProcesses()) {
    printf("PID: %5u  Name: %s\n",
        proc->Id,
        proc->GetImageName().c_str());
}

Service Enumeration

#include "WinSys/ServiceManager.h"

WinSys::ServiceManager svcMgr;
auto services = svcMgr.EnumServices();

for (auto& svc : services) {
    printf("Service: %-40s  State: %u  StartType: %u\n",
        svc.GetName().c_str(),
        svc.Status.dwCurrentState,
        svc.Config.dwStartType);
}

Network Connections

#include "WinSys/NetworkManager.h"

WinSys::NetworkManager netMgr;
auto conns = netMgr.GetTcpConnections();

for (auto& conn : conns) {
    printf("PID: %u  Local: %s:%u  Remote: %s:%u  State: %u\n",
        conn.ProcessId,
        conn.LocalAddress.c_str(), conn.LocalPort,
        conn.RemoteAddress.c_str(), conn.RemotePort,
        conn.State);
}

Communicating with KWinSys Driver (IOCTL)

#include "WinSys/KernelInterface.h"

// Open handle to driver device
WinSys::KernelInterface ki;
if (!ki.Open()) {
    fprintf(stderr, "Failed to open KWinSys device. Is driver loaded?\n");
    return;
}

// Enumerate kernel modules
auto modules = ki.EnumKernelModules();
for (auto& mod : modules) {
    printf("Base: %p  Size: 0x%X  Path: %s\n",
        mod.Base, mod.Size, mod.FullPath.c_str());
}

// Read kernel callbacks
auto callbacks = ki.EnumProcessCallbacks();
for (auto& cb : callbacks) {
    printf("Callback: %p  Module: %s  Suspicious: %d\n",
        cb.Address,
        cb.OwnerModule.c_str(),
        cb.IsSuspicious ? 1 : 0);
}

Per-Process Security Analysis (Analyze Process)

Accessible via right-click > Analyze Process in the GUI, or programmatically:

#include "WinSys/ProcessAnalyzer.h"

DWORD targetPid = 1234;
WinSys::ProcessAnalyzer analyzer(targetPid);

auto result = analyzer.Analyze();

// Unbacked executable memory (shellcode indicator)
for (auto& region : result.UnbackedRegions) {
    printf("Unbacked RX region: base=%p size=0x%zX\n",
        region.Base, region.Size);
}

// Hollowing detection
if (result.HollowingDetected) {
    printf("Hollowing: PEB ImageBase=%p vs PE Header ImageBase=%p\n",
        result.PebImageBase, result.PeHeaderImageBase);
}

// Direct syscalls outside ntdll
for (auto& sc : result.DirectSyscalls) {
    printf("Direct syscall at: %p in module: %s\n",
        sc.Address, sc.ModuleName.c_str());
}

// Inline user hooks
for (auto& hook : result.UserHooks) {
    printf("Hook in %s!%s at %p -> %p\n",
        hook.Module.c_str(),
        hook.Function.c_str(),
        hook.Address,
        hook.Target);
}

// Token info
printf("Elevated: %d  IntegrityLevel: %u\n",
    result.Token.IsElevated,
    result.Token.IntegrityLevel);

Key Features by Tab

User Mode (no driver)

Kernel Mode (requires KWinSys)

Common Patterns

Check if driver is loaded before using kernel features

#include "WinSys/KernelInterface.h"

WinSys::KernelInterface ki;
bool driverAvailable = ki.Open();

if (driverAvailable) {
    // Use kernel-mode features
    auto ssdt = ki.GetSSDTEntries();
} else {
    // Fall back to user-mode only
    fprintf(stderr, "KWinSys not loaded — kernel features unavailable.\n");
}

Detect hidden processes (cross-reference EPROCESS list vs user-mode list)

WinSys::KernelInterface ki;
ki.Open();

auto kernelProcs = ki.EnumProcessObjects();  // Via EPROCESS walk
auto& pm = WinSys::ProcessManager::Get();
pm.Update();
auto userProcs = pm.GetProcesses();

// Build set of user-visible PIDs
std::unordered_set<DWORD> visiblePids;
for (auto& p : userProcs) visiblePids.insert(p->Id);

// Find PIDs in kernel list but not user list
for (auto& kp : kernelProcs) {
    if (visiblePids.find(kp.ProcessId) == visiblePids.end()) {
        printf("HIDDEN PROCESS: PID=%u Name=%s\n",
            kp.ProcessId, kp.ImageName.c_str());
    }
}

Troubleshooting

NtWarden won't show kernel tabs

• Ensure KWinSys.sys is in the same directory as NtWarden.exe (or

  x64/Release/KWinSys/

  )
• Run NtWarden as Administrator
• Confirm test signing is enabled:

  bcdedit /enum | findstr testsigning

• Check Logger tab for driver load errors

Driver fails to install

# Verify test signing is on
bcdedit /enum | Select-String "testsigning"

# Check for existing broken service entry
sc query KWinSys
sc delete KWinSys  # if stuck, delete and retry

# Some VMs also need:
bcdedit /set nointegritychecks on
# Then reboot

WinSysServer connection refused

# Verify server is running on target
netstat -ano | findstr 50002

# Check Windows Firewall on target
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="WinSysServer" `
  dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=50002

Capstone not found (user hooks tab shows no data)

• User hook detection with disassembly requires Capstone
• Build WinSys with Capstone linked, or the hook scanner will report bytes without disassembly

Performance overlay not visible

• Launch NtWarden, go to Performance tab
• Enable overlay mode — it renders over other windows using DirectX 11 transparency

Build errors — missing WDK

• KWinSys requires the Windows Driver Kit
• If you only need user-mode features, exclude KWinSys project from build in Visual Studio (right-click project > Unload Project)

Tested Windows Versions

• Windows 11 23H2 (Build 22631.6199)
• Windows 10 22H2 (Build 19045.2006)
• Windows 10 1703 (Build 15063.13)

References

• zodiacon — Primary inspiration
• WinArk — Kernel-mode feature reference
• LolDrivers — Vulnerable driver database used in Modules tab