Heavy Wizardry 101

Name: Heavy Wizardry 101
Price: 130 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9781718504424

Shellcodes, Backdoors, Droppers and Worms

David Martinez Oliveira

$130

Hardback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

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English

No Starch Press,US
09 June 2026

Computer programming & software development; Network security

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.

Your spellbook for code close to the metal.

In hacker circles, heavy wizardry means code that trades on intimate knowledge of a system-the kind that speaks its private dialects and bends its rules. Heavy Wizardry 101 teaches you to write it. You'll build shellcode, backdoors, droppers, and worms from scratch, working at the instruction level where magic happens.

Every project is implemented for four architectures- x86_64, ARM, MIPS, and RISC-V. You'll write the same program four times, seeing exactly what stays constant and what changes. Each chapter starts with architecture fundamentals, such as memory layout, calling conventions, and stack mechanics, then walks through complete working implementations on Linux in safe, contained environments.

Learn to-

Write position-independent shellcode and programs that execute in constrained memory spaces Implement TCP reverse shells that bypass basic network restrictions Build executable droppers that embed and deploy payloads without detection Create self-replicating worms that propagate across networked systems Write basic port scanners to discover services in a network Port low-level code between architectures by understanding instruction-level differences

Whether you're a penetration tester who wants to stop depending on Metasploit, a security researcher analyzing malware, or a systems programmer who needs to understand how computers work, this book gives you the skills to build and reason about code at the lowest level.

By: David Martinez Oliveira
Imprint: No Starch Press,US
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 241mm, Width: 185mm,
Weight: 369g
ISBN: 9781718504424
ISBN 10: 171850442X
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 09 June 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

David Martinez Oliveira, aka Pico, has been writing code close to the metal since the 1990s, building software for computer vision, communications systems, laboratory equipment, and AR/VR/MR applications. A longtime GNU/Linux user, he explores security and low-level system internals both professionally and for fun.

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

""Heavy Wizardry 101 is a well-organized and accessible introduction to low-level programming in assembly for Linux, crafting multi-stage shellcode loaders, network and binary tools, and ELF binaries using only standard, open-source GNU command-line tools."" —Sergi Àlvarez i Capilla (aka pancake), Author of radare2