Quote:
Originally Posted by Ayumi
The PE file does not describe the entire memory space of an executable. It only contains the data required to execute a program, and the OS keeps the right to add additional regions without the user's awareness.
For example...Things such as the heap, the stack and other internal memory regions required for a process to function and operate are not the responsibility of a PE file (or any executable file for that matter).
A PE doesn't define a heap, it requests a heap to be allocated for it from the OS (AllocateHeap is a Windows API that does that). There's no need to actually eat up space for a heap "placeholder" in the PE file. The same goes for the stack, the PEB, and other memory objects a process has.
Additionally, a user(i.e. programmer) does not usually need to even call AllocateHeap for it's process to have a heap. OSes usually allocate a default heap for the process when loading it (either by the loader itself or by startup code the OS runs before control is given to the PE's Entry Point). Other times the compiler prefixes the code with code that allocates a heap.
So check all those other locations too.
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@Ayumi's answer seems to be from here:
Code:
https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/a/14853
The answer is right but additional point to add:
The sizes are defined explicitly by the PE file. Only the location in memory is up to the OS.