TL;DR
the first 3 lines set an exception handler (an 'error catcher')
the int3
generates an exception
execution resumes at next
Explanation
this trick is (ab)using Structured Exception Handling, a mechanism to define exception handlers, typically by compilers when try
/catch
blocks are used.
In 32bits versions of Windows, they can be set on the fly, without any pre-requirement (unless the binary is compiled with /SafeSEH).
The first element of the exception handlers' chain is pointed by the first member of the Thread Information Block (TIB), in turn a member of the Thread Environment Block (TEB), which is pointed to by fs:0
(which is also reachable 'directly' - via something like ds:7efdd00
, depending on the OS version etc)
So here is what happens:
the first two push
reserve stack space for the structure _EXCEPTION_REGISTRATION_RECORD
.
- the new top handler
- the previous top handler, which was until now at
fs:[0]
the mov
sets the current stack position as the new structure. When an exception happens, next
will be now the first called handler.
int3
triggers an exception instantaneously (there are many other kinds of exception triggers).
as an exception is triggered, Windows dispatches the exception to the first handler, and the next one if it's not handled, until one of them has handled it.

Following execution
This is done here under OllyDbg 1.10. YMMV.
As we want to go through exceptions ourselves, we have to ask OllyDbg not to handle them:
go to debugging options: Alt-O, tab Exceptions
unselect INT3 breaks
And when an exception is triggered, we have to enforce that execution is done via exceptions (see below).
Here are 3 methods of increasing level to follow the exception handling execution safely:
step by step: set a breakpoint manually
As the handler has just been set on the stack, you can manually set a breakpoint then run.
select the new handler address on the stack

Right-click or F10
in the dump window, open the menu (same shortcut)
- select
BreakPoint
, then Hardware, on execution
Execute: menu Debug/Run
/ shortcut F9 / command-line g
Exceptions will be triggered
Execute with exception handling: shortcut Shift-F9 / command-line ge
.
shortcut: execute until exception handler via command-line
as the address is on the stack, the easiest way is to type via the command line ge [esp+4]
, which means, Go with Exceptions
, until the 2nd address on the stack is encountered. Thus, no need to set and unset a breakpoint.
- in the case of a more complex example, where the address might not be obvious on the stack anymore, then the absolute formula would be
ge ds:[fs:[0]+4]
, which just gets the actual address from the TIB.
keeping full control: break on KiUserExceptionDispatcher
KiUserExceptionDispatcher
is the Windows API handling all user-mode exceptions. Setting a breakpoint there guarantees that you keep full control - but then, you're in the middle of a Windows API ;)
In this case, you can ask OllyDbg to skip exceptions, as you will still break execution manually in any cases. You might also want to combine that with a script.
Of course, some advanced code might check that you set a breakpoint on it before triggering an exception.