windowsdll

Microsoft Known DLL


HKML\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\KnownDLLs

What is the purpose of the KnownDLLs?(To load some Dlls faster?)

If I have a admin's token, I can control the registry values.
Isn't there any security hole?

Why did Microsoft support the feature?


Solution

  • This allows the normal DLL search path to be ignored, and load the specified version.

    Whilst not a security hole per se (as you already need to be have admin rights to change the value), it would be possible to redirect calls to go via a rogue DLL.

    It was a feature added to improve performance, as there is no need to scan several potentially large directories to find the DLL.