dissecting-boot-and-kernel-rootkits

dissecting-boot-and-kernel-rootkits is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from meltedinhex/analyst-ai-pack. It costs 75 tokens per session (728 once invoked), scanned A, original, Apache-2.0.

A static-analysis guide for examining suspected bootkits and rootkits—malware that tampers with the startup process or operating-system kernel to hide itself. It covers disk boot records, UEFI modules, kernel drivers, and stealth hooks.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to classify a captured boot image, UEFI module, or driver and look for indicators such as boot-record changes, kernel hooks, hidden objects, and driver callbacks. It is intended for inert analysis of acquired samples.
Why use it?
Malware at the boot or kernel level can start before normal security tools and conceal its activity. This guide helps identify how it persists and which low-level components may be involved without running the sample.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Written for no agent in particular: nothing here depends on one.

Good fit Use it to classify a captured boot image, UEFI module, or driver and look for indicators such as boot-record changes, kernel hooks, hidden objects, and driver callbacks. It is intended for inert analysis of acquired samples.

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Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/meltedinhex/analyst-ai-pack/dissecting-boot-and-kernel-rootkits
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add meltedinhex/analyst-ai-pack --skill dissecting-boot-and-kernel-rootkits
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/meltedinhex/analyst-ai-pack

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for dissecting-boot-and-kernel-rootkits

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/meltedinhex/analyst-ai-pack/dissecting-boot-and-kernel-rootkits/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/meltedinhex/analyst-ai-pack/dissecting-boot-and-kernel-rootkits)
Your own site
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Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

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Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/meltedinhex/analyst-ai-pack/dissecting-boot-and-kernel-rootkits"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/meltedinhex/analyst-ai-pack/dissecting-boot-and-kernel-rootkits.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 75 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 728 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00075 $0.00728
Opus 5 $0.00037 $0.00364
Sonnet 5 $0.00015 $0.00146
Haiku 4.5 $0.00007 $0.00073

Measured 9d ago against content hash 30af1d5e61a2, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-09, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

dissecting-boot-and-kernel-rootkits scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 9d ago.

The scan reads SKILL.md. This mod also ships 1 executable file (scripts/analyst.py), listed below but not scanned — reading those needs a real analyzer, not pattern matching.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

skills/dissecting-boot-and-kernel-rootkits/SKILL.md · 89 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 89 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Dissecting Boot and Kernel Rootkits

When to Use

  • You have a sample (MBR/VBR image, UEFI module, or kernel driver) suspected of boot-process or kernel-level tampering and stealth.
  • You need to identify the persistence vector and stealth technique class statically.

Do not use this on production firmware/boot media without acquisition — analyze a captured image. The skill reads bytes statically and executes nothing.

Prerequisites

  • The boot image / UEFI module / driver (read inertly).

Safety & Handling

  • Read bytes statically; never write the sample to boot media or load the driver.

Workflow

Step 1: Classify the artifact

python scripts/analyst.py classify sample.bin

Detects MBR/VBR (boot signature 0x55AA at 0x1FE), UEFI modules (PE with EFI subsystem / PI GUIDs / EFI_ strings), and kernel drivers (PE importing ntoskrnl/hal, .sys indicators).

Step 2: Identify tampering / hooking indicators

Flag disk-write primitives (Int 13h for MBR bootkits), SSDT/IRP hooking and Zw*/Ke* kernel APIs, DKOM strings, and driver-callback registration.

Step 3: Map the persistence vector

Determine whether persistence is via MBR/VBR overwrite, UEFI variable/module, or driver service.

Step 4: Document

Record the artifact type, persistence vector, and stealth technique class, mapping to ATT&CK.

Validation

  • The artifact type is identified by concrete signatures (boot signature, PE subsystem, imports).
  • Tampering/hooking indicators reference real primitives, not generic strings.
  • The persistence vector is stated with its evidence.

Pitfalls

  • A legitimate bootloader/driver resembling a bootkit/rootkit — corroborate with behavior.
  • UEFI modules requiring firmware-volume parsing beyond simple PE checks.
  • Kernel samples needing signed-driver and callback context to confirm stealth.

References

Read the full file on GitHub · 89 lines

Files

What ships with it

3 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 9d ago First seen · 89 lines · 75 tokens per session scan A 30af1d5e61a2

Subscribe to this mod's changes

dissecting-boot-and-kernel-rootkits is a skill published in the GitHub repository meltedinhex/analyst-ai-pack (22 stars, last pushed 2mo ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 75 tokens to every session and 728 once invoked, about $0.0004 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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