Execute .exe file embedded in Python script

by

All of the mechanisms Python has for executing a child process require a filename.

And so does the underlying CreateProcess function in the Win32 API, so there’s not even an easy way around it by dropping down to that level.

There is a way to do this by dropping down to ZwCreateProcess/NtCreateProcess. If you know how to use the low-level NT API, this post should be all you need to understand it. If you don’t… it’s way too much to explain in an SO answer.

Alternatively, of course, you can create or use a RAM drive, or even simulate a virtual filesystem, but that’s getting a little silly as an attempt to avoid creating a file.

So, the right answer is to write the exe to a file, then execute it. For example, something like this:

fd, path = tempfile.mkstemp(suffix='.exe')
code = base64.b64decode(encoded_code)
os.write(fd, code)
os.fchmod(fd, 0o711)
os.close(fd)
try:
    result = subprocess.call(path)
finally:
    os.remove(path)

This should work on both Windows and *nix, but it’s completely untested, and will probably have bugs on at least one platform.

Obviously, if you want to execute it multiple times, don’t remove it until you’re done with it. Or just use some appropriate persistent directory, and write it only if it’s missing or out of date.

More Related Contents:

  1. How can I convert a .py to .exe for Python?
  2. Bitwise operation and usage
  3. Create a single executable from a Python project
  4. Reading binary file and looping over each byte
  5. Make sure only a single instance of a program is running
  6. Converting integer to binary in python
  7. How can I make an EXE file from a Python program? [duplicate]
  8. Check to see if python script is running
  9. Fast way of counting non-zero bits in positive integer
  10. Flask to return image stored in database
  11. Binary representation of float in Python (bits not hex)
  12. How to terminate process from Python using pid?
  13. Intercepting stdout of a subprocess while it is running
  14. Kill process by name?
  15. Is there a way to change effective process name in Python?
  16. How can I detect if a file is binary (non-text) in Python?
  17. How to add a timeout to a function in Python
  18. How do you express binary literals in Python?
  19. Determining running programs in Python
  20. Terminate a python script from another python script
  21. Imported module not found in PyInstaller
  22. How to get the return value of a function passed to multiprocessing.Process?
  23. Binary numpy array to list of integers?
  24. Reading integers from binary file in Python
  25. Binary buffer in Python
  26. Two’s Complement Binary in Python?
  27. Pausing a process?
  28. Bundling Data files with PyInstaller 2.1 and MEIPASS error –onefile
  29. Convert int to binary string in Python
  30. How to detect if a process is running using Python on Win and MAC

Leave a Comment