NtOpenThreadTokenEx - NtDoc
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#ifndef _NTSEAPI_H
/**
* The NtOpenThreadTokenEx routine opens the access token associated with a thread, and returns a handle that can be used to access that token.
*
* @param ThreadHandle Handle to the thread whose access token is to be opened. The handle must have THREAD_QUERY_INFORMATION access.
* @param DesiredAccess ACCESS_MASK structure specifying the requested types of access to the access token.
* @param OpenAsSelf Boolean value specifying whether the access check is to be made against the security context of the thread calling NtOpenThreadToken or against the security context of the process for the calling thread.
* @param HandleAttributes Attributes for the created handle. Only OBJ_KERNEL_HANDLE is currently supported.
* @param TokenHandle Pointer to a caller-allocated variable that receives a handle to the newly opened access token.
* @return NTSTATUS Successful or errant status.
* @sa https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/ddi/ntifs/nf-ntifs-ntopenthreadtokenex
*/
NTSYSCALLAPI
NTSTATUS
NTAPI
NtOpenThreadTokenEx(
_In_ HANDLE ThreadHandle,
_In_ ACCESS_MASK DesiredAccess,
_In_ BOOLEAN OpenAsSelf,
_In_ ULONG HandleAttributes,
_Out_ PHANDLE TokenHandle
);
View code on GitHub#ifndef _NTZWAPI_H
NTSYSCALLAPI
NTSTATUS
NTAPI
ZwOpenThreadTokenEx(
_In_ HANDLE ThreadHandle,
_In_ ACCESS_MASK DesiredAccess,
_In_ BOOLEAN OpenAsSelf,
_In_ ULONG HandleAttributes,
_Out_ PHANDLE TokenHandle
);
View code on GitHub// ntifs.h
__kernel_entry NTSYSCALLAPI NTSTATUS NtOpenThreadTokenEx(
[in] HANDLE ThreadHandle,
[in] ACCESS_MASK DesiredAccess,
[in] BOOLEAN OpenAsSelf,
[in] ULONG HandleAttributes,
[out] PHANDLE TokenHandle
);
View the official Windows Driver Kit DDI reference// ntifs.h
NTSYSAPI NTSTATUS ZwOpenThreadTokenEx(
[in] HANDLE ThreadHandle,
[in] ACCESS_MASK DesiredAccess,
[in] BOOLEAN OpenAsSelf,
[in] ULONG HandleAttributes,
[out] PHANDLE TokenHandle
);
View the official Windows Driver Kit DDI referenceOpens a handle to an impersonation token of a thread. This function is documented in Windows Driver Kit here and here.
ThreadHandle - a handle to the thread or the NtCurrentThread pseudo-handle. The handle must grant THREAD_QUERY_LIMITED_INFORMATION access.DesiredAccess - the requested access mask.OpenAsSelf - a boolean determining whether the system should perform the access check on the target token using the effective security context of the calling thread (FALSE) or ignore impersonation and use the security context of the calling process (TRUE).HandleAttributes - a set of flags from OBJECT_ATTRIBUTES.TokenHandle - a pointer to a variable that receives a handle to the token.| Access mask | Use |
|---|---|
TOKEN_ASSIGN_PRIMARY |
Allows creating processes with this token and assigning the token as primary via NtSetInformationProcess with ProcessAccessToken. |
TOKEN_DUPLICATE |
Allows duplicating the token via NtDuplicateToken. |
TOKEN_IMPERSONATE |
Allows impersonating the token via NtSetInformationThread with ThreadImpersonationToken. |
TOKEN_QUERY |
Allows querying most information classes via NtQueryInformationToken. |
TOKEN_QUERY_SOURCE |
Allows querying TokenSource via NtQueryInformationToken. |
TOKEN_ADJUST_PRIVILEGES |
Allows adjusting token privileges via NtAdjustPrivilegesToken |
TOKEN_ADJUST_GROUPS |
Allows adjusting token privileges via NtAdjustGroupsToken |
TOKEN_ADJUST_DEFAULT |
Allows setting most information classes via NtSetInformationToken. |
TOKEN_ADJUST_SESSIONID |
Allows setting TokenSessionId via NtSetInformationToken. |
TOKEN_ALL_ACCESS_P |
All of the above except for the TOKEN_ADJUST_SESSIONID right, plus standard rights. |
TOKEN_ALL_ACCESS |
All of the above plus standard rights. |
STATUS_NO_TOKEN - the thread is not impersonating at the moment.STATUS_CANT_OPEN_ANONYMOUS - the caller attempted to open a token that has anonymous level of impersonation.To avoid retaining unused resources, call NtClose to close the returned handle when it is no longer required.
Instead of opening the current thread token for query, consider using the NtCurrentThreadToken pseudo-handle on Windows 8 and above.
If you don't want to specify custom handle attributes, you can use NtOpenThreadToken.
To set a thread token, use NtSetInformationThread with ThreadImpersonationToken. See THREADINFOCLASS for more details.
The NtOpenThreadTokenEx routine opens the access token associated with a thread.
ThreadHandle [in]Handle to the thread whose access token is to be opened. The handle must have THREAD_QUERY_INFORMATION access. Use the NtCurrentThread macro to specify the current thread.
DesiredAccess [in]ACCESS_MASK structure specifying the requested types of access to the access token. These requested access types are compared with the token's discretionary access-control list (DACL) to determine which access rights are granted or denied.
OpenAsSelf [in]Boolean value specifying whether the access check is to be made against the security context of the thread calling NtOpenThreadTokenEx or against the security context of the process for the calling thread.
If this parameter is FALSE, the access check is performed using the security context for the calling thread. If the thread is impersonating a client, this security context can be that of a client process. If this parameter is TRUE, the access check is made using the security context of the process for the calling thread.
HandleAttributes [in]Attributes for the created handle. Only OBJ_KERNEL_HANDLE is currently supported. If the caller is not running in the system process context, it must specify OBJ_KERNEL_HANDLE for this parameter.
TokenHandle [out]Pointer to a caller-allocated variable that receives a handle to the newly opened access token.
NtOpenThreadTokenEx returns STATUS_SUCCESS or an appropriate error status. Possible error status codes include the following:
| Return code | Description |
|---|---|
| STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED | |
| ThreadHandle did not have THREAD_QUERY_INFORMATION access. | |
| STATUS_CANT_OPEN_ANONYMOUS | The client requested the SecurityAnonymous impersonation level. However, an anonymous token cannot be opened. For more information, see SECURITY_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL. |
| STATUS_INVALID_HANDLE | ThreadHandle was not a valid handle. |
| STATUS_INVALID_PARAMETER | The specified HandleAttributes did not include OBJ_KERNEL_HANDLE. |
| STATUS_NO_TOKEN | An attempt has been made to open a token associated with a thread that is not currently impersonating a client. |
| STATUS_OBJECT_TYPE_MISMATCH | ThreadHandle was not a thread handle. |
NtOpenThreadTokenEx opens the access token associated with a thread and returns a handle for that token.
The OpenAsSelf parameter allows a server process to open the access token for a client process when the client process has specified the SecurityIdentification impersonation level for the SECURITY_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL enumerated type. Without this parameter, the calling process is not able to open the client's access token using the client's security context because it is impossible to open executive-level objects using the SecurityIdentification impersonation level.
Any handle obtained by calling NtOpenThreadTokenEx must eventually be released by calling NtClose.
Driver routines that run in a process context other than that of the system process must set the OBJ_KERNEL_HANDLE attribute for the HandleAttributes parameter of NtOpenThreadTokenEx. This restricts the use of the handle returned by NtOpenThreadTokenEx to processes running in kernel mode. Otherwise, the handle can be accessed by the process in whose context the driver is running.
For more information about security and access control, see Windows security model for driver developers and the documentation on these topics in the Windows SDK.
For calls from kernel-mode drivers, the Nt*Xxx* and Zw*Xxx* versions of a Windows Native System Services routine can behave differently in the way that they handle and interpret input parameters. For more information about the relationship between the Nt*Xxx* and Zw*Xxx* versions of a routine, see Using Nt and Zw Versions of the Native System Services Routines.
The ZwOpenThreadTokenEx routine opens the access token associated with a thread.
ThreadHandle [in]Handle to the thread whose access token is to be opened. The handle must have THREAD_QUERY_INFORMATION access. Use the NtCurrentThread macro to specify the current thread.
DesiredAccess [in]ACCESS_MASK structure specifying the requested types of access to the access token. These requested access types are compared with the token's discretionary access-control list (DACL) to determine which access rights are granted or denied.
OpenAsSelf [in]Boolean value specifying whether the access check is to be made against the security context of the thread calling ZwOpenThreadTokenEx or against the security context of the process for the calling thread.
If this parameter is FALSE, the access check is performed using the security context for the calling thread. If the thread is impersonating a client, this security context can be that of a client process. If this parameter is TRUE, the access check is made using the security context of the process for the calling thread.
HandleAttributes [in]Attributes for the created handle. Only OBJ_KERNEL_HANDLE is currently supported. If the caller is not running in the system process context, it must specify OBJ_KERNEL_HANDLE for this parameter.
TokenHandle [out]Pointer to a caller-allocated variable that receives a handle to the newly opened access token.
ZwOpenThreadTokenEx returns STATUS_SUCCESS or an appropriate error status. Possible error status codes include the following:
| Return code | Description |
|---|---|
| STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED | ThreadHandle did not have THREAD_QUERY_INFORMATION access. |
| STATUS_CANT_OPEN_ANONYMOUS | The client requested the SecurityAnonymous impersonation level. However, an anonymous token cannot be opened. For more information, see SECURITY_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL. |
| STATUS_INVALID_HANDLE | ThreadHandle was not a valid handle. |
| STATUS_INVALID_PARAMETER | The specified HandleAttributes did not include OBJ_KERNEL_HANDLE. |
| STATUS_NO_TOKEN | An attempt has been made to open a token associated with a thread that is not currently impersonating a client. |
| STATUS_OBJECT_TYPE_MISMATCH | ThreadHandle was not a thread handle. |
ZwOpenThreadTokenEx opens the access token associated with a thread and returns a handle for that token.
The OpenAsSelf parameter allows a server process to open the access token for a client process when the client process has specified the SecurityIdentification impersonation level for the SECURITY_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL enumerated type. Without this parameter, the calling process is not be able to open the client's access token using the client's security context because it is impossible to open executive-level objects using the SecurityIdentification impersonation level.
Any handle obtained by calling ZwOpenThreadTokenEx must eventually be released by calling ZwClose.
Driver routines that run in a process context other than that of the system process must set the OBJ_KERNEL_HANDLE attribute for the HandleAttributes parameter of ZwOpenThreadTokenEx. This restricts the use of the handle returned by ZwOpenThreadTokenEx to processes running in kernel mode. Otherwise, the handle can be accessed by the process in whose context the driver is running.
For more information about security and access control, see Windows security model for driver developers and the documentation on these topics in the Windows SDK.
[!NOTE] If the call to the ZwOpenThreadTokenEx function occurs in user mode, you should use the name "NtOpenThreadTokenEx" instead of "ZwOpenThreadTokenEx".
For calls from kernel-mode drivers, the Nt*Xxx* and Zw*Xxx* versions of a Windows Native System Services routine can behave differently in the way that they handle and interpret input parameters. For more information about the relationship between the Nt*Xxx* and Zw*Xxx* versions of a routine, see Using Nt and Zw Versions of the Native System Services Routines.
Using Nt and Zw Versions of the Native System Services Routines