Heavy Wizardry 101: Shellcodes, Backdoors, Droppers, and Worms

Aspiring hackers will learn foundational programming in C and assembly languages from a veteran hacker and develop the skills to create their own hacking tools.

In hacker lore, heavy wizardry means code so close to the metal it feels like magic--crafted by those who truly understand how the machine works. Heavy Wizardry 101 is your apprenticeship in that art.

You'll start with the foundations--computer architecture, memory, and the stack--before progressing to real-world programs: shellcode, backdoors, droppers, and worms (all built and tested in safe, contained environments). Each chapter provides complete, working code for four major architectures: x86_64, ARM, MIPS, and RISC-V, revealing the similarities and differences between them.

You'll learn how to:

• Follow code from human-readable C down to raw assembly and opcodes
• Adapt tools across architectures for maximum portability
• Strip away compiler overhead to write smaller, faster binaries
• Work confidently without relying on fragile, cutting-edge tools that can quickly become obsolete or change with new versions

Whether you're an aspiring hacker, a security researcher, or a systems programmer, this book will give you the knowledge to not just run tools, but create them and understand exactly how and why they work.