# Learning Goals: Understanding the Structure and Mechanics of Kernel-Level Memory Pools

Kernel memory pool operations often surface in crash analysis, making them important concept to understand for debugging.

- Familiarize with common used memory manipulation functions like **`ExAllocatePool2`**, **`ExFreePoolWithTag`**, **`RtlCopyMemory`**, **`RtilFillMemory`**, **`MmAllocateContiguousMemory`**, etc.
- Explore the components of memory pools like pool headers and pool tags.
- Practical lab data with different crashdumps. All these crash dumps are coming from a lab machine, and doesn't contain personal information.

**READ ME:** It's recommended to examine each crash dump analysis, given that different commands and techniques are being used. When you compile and load these drivers, they may trigger a system bugcheck, but keep in mind that the bugcheck codes may vary. With that in mind, it's best to perform all these activities in a lab environment.

# What are the common examples of Memory Corruptions?

Memory corruption can lead to a variety of issues, including crashes. Here are some common examples:

- **Buffer Overflow**: Writing more data to a buffer than it can hold.
- **Use After Free:** Accessing memory after it has been deallocated.
- **Double Free:** Freeing the same memory block twice.
- **Null Pointer Dereference:** Accessing or modifying memory via a null pointer.
- **Stack Corruption:** Overwriting important stack information like return addresses.
- **Uninitialized Memory:** Using memory before it has been initialized.
- **Writing to Read-Only Sections:** Modifying read-only or protected system memory areas.
