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Windows Process Collector Capabilities Analysis

Overview

This document analyzes Task 5.5 to ensure it provides comprehensive Windows-centric capabilities equivalent to the macOS (Task 5.4) and Linux (Task 5.3) implementations, using well-maintained third-party crates and avoiding unsafe code.

Capability Comparison Matrix

FeatureLinux (Task 5.3)macOS (Task 5.4)Windows (Task 5.5)Status
Core Process Enumeration✅ /proc filesystem✅ sysinfo + procfs✅ sysinfo + windows-rs✅ Enhanced
Security Context✅ capabilities, SELinux✅ entitlements, SIP✅ tokens, integrity levels✅ Enhanced
Privilege Management✅ CAP_SYS_PTRACE✅ Security framework✅ SeDebugPrivilege✅ Enhanced
Process Metadata✅ /proc/pid/*✅ libproc + Security✅ Windows API + sysinfo✅ Enhanced
System Information✅ /proc/sys/*✅ mac-sys-info✅ Windows registry + WMI✅ Enhanced
Container Support✅ Docker, LXC✅ Docker Desktop✅ Hyper-V, Server containers✅ Enhanced
Performance Monitoring✅ /proc/stat✅ sysctl✅ Performance counters✅ Enhanced
Third-Party Crates✅ procfs, sysinfo✅ security-framework, core-foundation✅ windows-rs, winsafe✅ Enhanced

Windows-Specific Capabilities

1. Security and Privilege Management

SeDebugPrivilege Detection and Management

  • Capability: Detect and manage SeDebugPrivilege for process access

  • Implementation: windows-rs crate for safe Windows API access

  • Equivalent to: macOS entitlements detection, Linux CAP_SYS_PTRACE

Process Tokens and Security Contexts

  • Capability: Extract process tokens, security contexts, and integrity levels

  • Implementation: windows-rs + winsafe for token manipulation

  • Equivalent to: macOS Security framework entitlements, Linux capabilities

UAC Elevation Status

  • Capability: Detect User Account Control elevation status

  • Implementation: Windows API through windows-rs

  • Equivalent to: macOS privilege escalation detection

2. Process Attributes and Metadata

Protected Processes

  • Capability: Handle Windows protected processes (PPL - Protected Process Light)

  • Implementation: windows-rs for process attribute detection

  • Equivalent to: macOS SIP-protected processes, Linux kernel threads

System Processes

  • Capability: Identify Windows system processes and services

  • Implementation: windows-service crate + process analysis

  • Equivalent to: macOS system daemons, Linux kernel processes

Process Integrity Levels

  • Capability: Extract process integrity levels (System, High, Medium, Low)

  • Implementation: Windows API through windows-rs

  • Equivalent to: macOS sandbox entitlements, Linux namespaces

3. Windows-Specific Features

Windows Services

  • Capability: Detect and monitor Windows services

  • Implementation: windows-service crate

  • Equivalent to: macOS launchd, Linux systemd

Windows Defender Integration

  • Capability: Handle Windows Defender and antivirus restrictions

  • Implementation: Process analysis and registry monitoring

  • Equivalent to: macOS SIP restrictions, Linux security modules

Hyper-V and Container Support

  • Capability: Support for Hyper-V containers and Windows Server containers

  • Implementation: Container detection through Windows API

  • Equivalent to: macOS Docker Desktop, Linux Docker/LXC

4. Performance and Monitoring

Windows Performance Counters

  • Capability: Access Windows performance counters

  • Implementation: Use PDH bindings from the windows or windows-sys crates (Win32::System::Performance) with thin wrappers in our codebase

  • Equivalent to: macOS sysctl, Linux /proc/stat

WMI Integration

  • Capability: Windows Management Instrumentation for system info

  • Implementation: wmi crate for safe WMI access

  • Equivalent to: macOS system information, Linux /proc/sys

Third-Party Crate Strategy

Primary Crates

  1. sysinfo - Cross-platform process enumeration (enhanced)
  2. windows-rs - Safe Windows API access
  3. winsafe - Modern, well-maintained Windows API safety wrappers
  4. winapi-util - Additional Windows API utilities and helpers

Secondary Crates

  1. windows-service - Windows service management
  2. wmi - Windows Management Instrumentation
  3. windows or windows-sys - PDH performance counter bindings (choose one approach)
  4. winreg - Windows registry access

Maintenance Status Notes

  • winsafe: Adopted winsafe v0.0.25 for ergonomic PDH counter helpers, strongly typed handle wrappers, and quicker upstream fixes compared to windows/windows-sys
  • psutil-rs: Removed due to limited maintenance; sysinfo provides equivalent functionality
  • perfmon: Does not provide Windows PDH performance counter support; use PDH bindings via windows or windows-sys crates for performance counters
  • MSRV Compatibility: winsafe v0.0.25 is supported (DaemonEye MSRV is 1.91+); the windows/windows-sys crates support MSRV 1.60 for projects with lower MSRV requirements

Safety Considerations

  • No unsafe code - All crates provide safe abstractions

  • Error handling - Comprehensive error handling for Windows API failures

  • Graceful degradation - Continue with reduced functionality when APIs fail

  • Security boundaries - Respect Windows security model

Implementation Plan

Phase 1: Core Process Collection

  • Implement basic process enumeration using sysinfo

  • Add Windows-specific metadata collection

  • Handle basic privilege requirements

Phase 2: Security Features

  • Implement SeDebugPrivilege detection

  • Add process token analysis

  • Handle protected processes

Phase 3: Advanced Features

  • Add Windows service detection

  • Implement performance counter access

  • Add container support

Phase 4: Integration and Testing

  • Comprehensive Windows-specific tests

  • Performance benchmarking

  • Cross-platform compatibility validation

Testing Strategy

Windows-Specific Tests

  1. Privilege Tests - SeDebugPrivilege detection and management
  2. Protected Process Tests - Handle PPL processes gracefully
  3. Service Tests - Windows service detection and monitoring
  4. Container Tests - Hyper-V and Windows Server containers
  5. Performance Tests - Performance counter access and monitoring

Cross-Platform Validation

  1. Feature Parity - Ensure equivalent capabilities across platforms
  2. Performance Comparison - Benchmark against macOS and Linux implementations
  3. Security Validation - Verify security boundaries are maintained
  4. Error Handling - Test graceful degradation scenarios

Expected Outcomes

Capability Parity

  • Process Enumeration: Equivalent to macOS and Linux implementations

  • Security Analysis: Windows-specific security features

  • Metadata Collection: Comprehensive Windows process attributes

  • Performance Monitoring: Windows performance counters and metrics

Safety and Maintainability

  • No unsafe code - All operations use safe Rust abstractions

  • Well-maintained crates - Dependencies are actively maintained

  • Comprehensive error handling - Graceful handling of Windows API failures

  • Future-proof - Easy to extend with new Windows features

Performance Characteristics

  • Collection Speed: < 5 seconds for 10,000+ processes

  • Memory Usage: < 100MB during collection

  • CPU Overhead: < 5% sustained during monitoring

  • Collection Rate: > 1,000 processes per second

Conclusion

The enhanced Task 5.5 provides comprehensive Windows-centric capabilities that are equivalent to the macOS and Linux implementations while maintaining safety through well-maintained third-party crates. The implementation avoids unsafe code and provides Windows-specific features that enhance the overall DaemonEye platform capabilities.

Key advantages of this approach:

  • Safety: No unsafe code, all operations use safe abstractions

  • Maintainability: Well-maintained third-party crates

  • Completeness: Equivalent capabilities to other platforms

  • Windows-Specific: Leverages Windows-specific features and APIs

  • Future-Proof: Easy to extend with new Windows capabilities