MITRE ATT&CK Technique
Description
Adversaries may inject malicious code into suspended and hollowed processes in order to evade process-based defenses. Process hollowing is a method of executing arbitrary code in the address space of a separate live process. Process hollowing is commonly performed by creating a process in a suspended state then unmapping/hollowing its memory, which can then be replaced with malicious code. A victim process can be created with native Windows API calls such as <code>CreateProcess</code>, which includes a flag to suspend the processes primary thread. At this point the process can be unmapped using APIs calls such as <code>ZwUnmapViewOfSection</code> or <code>NtUnmapViewOfSection</code> before being written to, realigned to the injected code, and resumed via <code>VirtualAllocEx</code>, <code>WriteProcessMemory</code>, <code>SetThreadContext</code>, then <code>ResumeThread</code> respectively.(Citation: Leitch Hollowing)(Citation: Elastic Process Injection July 2017) This is very similar to [Thread Local Storage](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1055/005) but creates a new process rather than targeting an existing process. This behavior will likely not result in elevated privileges since the injected process was spawned from (and thus inherits the security context) of the injecting process. However, execution via process hollowing may also evade detection from security products since the execution is masked under a legitimate process.
Supported Platforms
Created
April 29, 2026
Last Updated
April 29, 2026
STIX Data
{'created': '2020-01-14T17:21:54.470Z',
'created_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
'description': 'Adversaries may inject malicious code into suspended and '
'hollowed processes in order to evade process-based defenses. '
'Process hollowing is a method of executing arbitrary code in '
'the address space of a separate live process. \n'
'\n'
'Process hollowing is commonly performed by creating a process '
'in a suspended state then unmapping/hollowing its memory, '
'which can then be replaced with malicious code. A victim '
'process can be created with native Windows API calls such as '
'<code>CreateProcess</code>, which includes a flag to suspend '
'the processes primary thread. At this point the process can '
'be unmapped using APIs calls such as '
'<code>ZwUnmapViewOfSection</code> or '
'<code>NtUnmapViewOfSection</code> before being written to, '
'realigned to the injected code, and resumed via '
'<code>VirtualAllocEx</code>, <code>WriteProcessMemory</code>, '
'<code>SetThreadContext</code>, then <code>ResumeThread</code> '
'respectively.(Citation: Leitch Hollowing)(Citation: Elastic '
'Process Injection July 2017)\n'
'\n'
'This is very similar to [Thread Local '
'Storage](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1055/005) but '
'creates a new process rather than targeting an existing '
'process. This behavior will likely not result in elevated '
'privileges since the injected process was spawned from (and '
'thus inherits the security context) of the injecting process. '
'However, execution via process hollowing may also evade '
'detection from security products since the execution is '
'masked under a legitimate process. ',
'external_references': [{'external_id': 'T1055.012',
'source_name': 'mitre-attack',
'url': 'https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1055/012'},
{'description': 'Daman, R. (2020, February 4). The '
'return of the spoof part 2: Command '
'line spoofing. Retrieved November '
'19, 2021.',
'source_name': 'Nviso Spoof Command Line 2020',
'url': 'https://blog.nviso.eu/2020/02/04/the-return-of-the-spoof-part-2-command-line-spoofing/'},
{'description': 'Hosseini, A. (2017, July 18). Ten '
'Process Injection Techniques: A '
'Technical Survey Of Common And '
'Trending Process Injection '
'Techniques. Retrieved December 7, '
'2017.',
'source_name': 'Elastic Process Injection July 2017',
'url': 'https://www.endgame.com/blog/technical-blog/ten-process-injection-techniques-technical-survey-common-and-trending-process'},
{'description': 'Leitch, J. (n.d.). Process '
'Hollowing. Retrieved September 12, '
'2024.',
'source_name': 'Leitch Hollowing',
'url': 'https://new.dc414.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Process-Hollowing.pdf'},
{'description': 'Pena, E., Erikson, C. (2019, October '
'10). Staying Hidden on the Endpoint: '
'Evading Detection with Shellcode. '
'Retrieved November 29, 2021.',
'source_name': 'Mandiant Endpoint Evading 2019',
'url': 'https://www.mandiant.com/resources/staying-hidden-on-the-endpoint-evading-detection-with-shellcode'}],
'id': 'attack-pattern--b200542e-e877-4395-875b-cf1a44537ca4',
'kill_chain_phases': [{'kill_chain_name': 'mitre-attack',
'phase_name': 'defense-evasion'},
{'kill_chain_name': 'mitre-attack',
'phase_name': 'privilege-escalation'}],
'modified': '2025-10-24T17:49:14.559Z',
'name': 'Process Hollowing',
'object_marking_refs': ['marking-definition--fa42a846-8d90-4e51-bc29-71d5b4802168'],
'revoked': False,
'spec_version': '2.1',
'type': 'attack-pattern',
'x_mitre_attack_spec_version': '3.2.0',
'x_mitre_deprecated': False,
'x_mitre_detection': '',
'x_mitre_domains': ['enterprise-attack'],
'x_mitre_is_subtechnique': True,
'x_mitre_modified_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
'x_mitre_platforms': ['Windows'],
'x_mitre_version': '1.4'}