Analysis of PCTcore64.sys: vulnerable verdict, risk score 78/100. 4 YARA matches, 8/75 multi-engine detections. SHA256 c76dd87891e3e30d. Kernel imports, IOCTL codes, MITRE ATT&CK, and code-signing details.
DriverShield analyzed the Windows kernel driver PCTcore64.sys and assigned a verdict of Vulnerable with a composite risk score of 78/100, indicating a known or likely vulnerability surface (60-79 band).
| Verdict | Vulnerable (78/100) |
| YARA matches | 4 |
| Multi-engine detections | 8 / 75 |
| File size | 233488 bytes |
| Code-signing signer | VeriSign Time Stamping Services Signer - G2 |
| Analyzed | 2026-09-06 |
| SHA256 | c76dd87891e3e30db2aed057e7b04c19ca264f434c21f68a7a2d9b17a97aff39 |
| SHA1 | d5609dc8c5215ebe197aad74ea1459a38f3612dd |
| MD5 | 60f19af0a9a26851ad9bc2d981afbac6 |
Version resource data embedded in the PCTcore64.sys PE header, as extracted by the analysis engine.
| File description | PC Tools KDS Core Driver |
|---|---|
| Product | Kernel Driver Suite |
| Company | PC Tools |
| Original filename | PCTCore.sys |
| Internal name | PCTCore.sys |
| File version | 2.0.0.37 built by: WinDDK |
| Copyright | Copyright (c) 2010 PC Tools. All rights reserved. |
Each component is scored 0-100 and then weighted into the composite. See the analysis methodology for the exact formula.
| Component | Sub-score |
|---|---|
| Multi-engine consensus | 0 / 100 |
| YARA signature matches | 100 / 100 |
| Dangerous kernel imports | 100 / 100 |
| IOCTL dispatch surface | 100 / 100 |
| Known-vulnerable corpus | 100 / 100 |
| Code-signing state | 80 / 100 |
| Packing and entropy | 0 / 100 |
| Dynamic behaviour | 0 / 100 |
| CVE cross-reference | 0 / 100 |
Kernel-mode APIs resolved from the Import Address Table of PCTcore64.sys, ranked by exploitation relevance.
| API | Risk | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| ZwMapViewOfSection | critical | Highly dangerous - potential for arbitrary code execution, memory corruption, or process termination |
| ZwTerminateProcess | critical | Highly dangerous - potential for arbitrary code execution, memory corruption, or process termination |
| PsLookupProcessByProcessId | high | Potentially dangerous - could be used for privilege escalation or security bypass |
| PsSetCreateProcessNotifyRoutine | high | Potentially dangerous - could be used for privilege escalation or security bypass |
| ZwOpenProcess | high | Potentially dangerous - could be used for privilege escalation or security bypass |
| MmGetSystemRoutineAddress | high | Potentially dangerous - could be used for privilege escalation or security bypass |
| PsSetCreateThreadNotifyRoutine | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| ZwCreateKey | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| CmRegisterCallbackEx | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| ObOpenObjectByPointer | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| ZwSetInformationFile | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| CmRegisterCallback | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| ObReferenceObjectByHandle | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| ZwDeleteKey | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| ZwQuerySystemInformation | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| PsSetLoadImageNotifyRoutine | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| ZwWriteFile | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| ZwSetValueKey | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| KeBugCheckEx | medium | Moderate risk - system modification capability |
| RtlInitUnicodeString | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| ExAllocatePoolWithTag | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| IoBuildDeviceIoControlRequest | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| ProbeForRead | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| KeSetEvent | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| KeInitializeEvent | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| ZwQueryInformationFile | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| ZwClose | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
| KeDelayExecutionThread | low | Standard kernel API - generally benign |
Showing the 28 highest-relevance imports of 39 resolved.
Control codes reachable through the driver dispatch routine. Codes tied to published exploit code are flagged, since they are the primary Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) entry points.
| Code | Severity | Transfer | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0x00221843 | high | METHOD_NEITHER | FILE_DEVICE_UNKNOWN Function #1552 |
| 0x0080858B | high | METHOD_NEITHER | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #354 |
| 0x00808D8B | high | METHOD_NEITHER | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #866 |
| 0x0080850F | high | METHOD_NEITHER | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #323 |
| 0x00808F8B | high | METHOD_NEITHER | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #994 |
| 0x0080840F | high | METHOD_NEITHER | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #259 |
| 0x0022341F | high | METHOD_NEITHER | FILE_DEVICE_UNKNOWN Function #3335 |
| 0x0080928B | high | METHOD_NEITHER | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #1186 |
| 0x0080888B | high | METHOD_NEITHER | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #546 |
| 0x00801043 | high | METHOD_NEITHER | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #1040 |
| 0x0080BAFF | high | METHOD_NEITHER | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #3775 |
| 0x0022BEC3 | high | METHOD_NEITHER | FILE_DEVICE_UNKNOWN Function #4016 |
| 0x002200F0 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_UNKNOWN Function #60 |
| 0x008024BC | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #2351 |
| 0x00802484 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #2337 |
| 0x0080249C | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #2343 |
| 0x0080248C | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #2339 |
| 0x00809B39 | medium | METHOD_IN_DIRECT | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #1742 |
| 0x008024B4 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #2349 |
| 0x0080C481 | medium | METHOD_IN_DIRECT | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #288 |
| 0x00229885 | medium | METHOD_IN_DIRECT | FILE_DEVICE_UNKNOWN Function #1569 |
| 0x00221885 | medium | METHOD_IN_DIRECT | FILE_DEVICE_UNKNOWN Function #1569 |
| 0x008024A4 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_CUSTOM Function #2345 |
| 0x0022BA78 | medium | METHOD_BUFFERED | FILE_DEVICE_UNKNOWN Function #3742 |
Showing 24 of 40 extracted control codes.
Section layout and Shannon entropy. High entropy in a code section is a packing or encryption indicator.
| Section | Virtual size | Raw size | Entropy | Flags |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .text | 0x181BD | 0x18200 | 6.52 | CODE, EXEC, READ |
| .rdata | 0x3EE4 | 0x4000 | 7 | IDATA, READ |
| .data | 0x0AFC | 0x0400 | 1.27 | IDATA, READ, WRITE |
| .pdata | 0x0E28 | 0x1000 | 4.97 | IDATA, READ |
| PAGE | 0x144A1 | 0x14600 | 6.36 | CODE, EXEC, READ |
| INIT | 0x3D40 | 0x3E00 | 6.1 | CODE, EXEC, READ, WRITE, DISCARD |
| .rsrc | 0x0D58 | 0x0E00 | 3.33 | IDATA, READ, DISCARD |
| .reloc | 0x021C | 0x0400 | 0.81 | IDATA, READ, DISCARD |
| Control Flow Guard | Not enabled |
|---|---|
| ASLR | Not enabled |
| DEP | Not enabled |
| Integrity check | Not enforced |
| Mitigation score | 5 / 100 |
| Rule | Severity | Detects |
|---|---|---|
| PUA_VULN_Driver_Pctools_Pctcoresys_Kerneldriversuite_C76D | medium | Detects vulnerable driver mentioned in known-vulnerable driver corpus project using VersionInfo values from the PE header - PCTcore64.sys, PCTCore64.sys. Investigate matches in context: expected filen... |
| BYOVD_ProcKill | critical | Process termination EDR killer |
| SUSP_Callbacks | medium | Kernel callback registration |
| MAL_EDRKiller | critical | Generic EDR killer pattern |
Techniques this driver could enable if loaded by an adversary.
| ID | Technique | Tactic |
|---|---|---|
| T1003.001 | OS Credential Dumping: LSASS Memory | Credential Access |
| T1014 | Rootkit | Defense Evasion |
| T1055.001 | Process Injection: DLL Injection | Defense Evasion |
| T1055.012 | Process Hollowing | Defense Evasion |
| T1068 | Exploitation for Privilege Escalation | Privilege Escalation |
| T1071 | Application Layer Protocol | Command and Control |
| T1112 | Modify Registry | Defense Evasion |
| T1211 | Exploitation for Defense Evasion | Defense Evasion |
| T1489 | Service Stop | Impact |
| T1543.003 | Windows Service | Persistence |
| T1547.001 | Registry Run Keys | Persistence |
| T1553.002 | Subvert Trust Controls: Code Signing | Defense Evasion |
| T1562.001 | Disable/Modify Tools | Defense Evasion |
| T1562.006 | Indicator Blocking | Defense Evasion |
| T1564.001 | Hidden Files and Directories | Defense Evasion |
| T1569.002 | Service Execution | Execution |
| T1652 | Device Driver Discovery | Discovery |
| Signer | VeriSign Time Stamping Services Signer - G2 |
|---|---|
| Signer organisation | VeriSign, Inc. |
| Issuer | VeriSign Time Stamping Services CA |
| Serial | 3825D7FAF861AF9EF490E726B5D65AD5 |
| Valid from | 2007-06-15 00:00 UTC |
| Valid until | 2012-06-14 23:59 UTC (expired) |
| Signature validity | Not verified |
Engine angr, status completed, 100 paths explored at a maximum depth of 100. Vulnerability classes reached: 0. Exploitable paths: 3.
Corpus match: this hash is present in the known-vulnerable driver corpus DriverShield cross-references during analysis, which is why the score carries a full weighting on that component.
Based on DriverShield static and dynamic analysis, PCTcore64.sys is flagged as vulnerable and is a potential Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) risk. Its composite risk score is 78/100 (verdict: vulnerable). Always validate findings independently before acting.
PCTcore64.sys has a DriverShield composite risk score of 78/100, placing it in the vulnerable verdict band. SHA256: c76dd87891e3e30db2aed057e7b04c19ca264f434c21f68a7a2d9b17a97aff39.
PCTcore64.sys is a Windows kernel-mode driver (.sys) analyzed by DriverShield for vulnerabilities, BYOVD abuse potential, and malware indicators. It is code-signed by VeriSign Time Stamping Services Signer - G2.
Related: Other drivers signed by VeriSign Time Stamping Services Signer - G2 · What an IOCTL dispatch code is · How YARA matching feeds the score · BYOVD research index · full driver database · CVE library · code signing atlas