Introduction
Welcome. Our journey through the world of kernel exploitation starts here. In this part of the book, we will cover what the kernel is, why the security community has been paying so much attention to it, and what kernel-level bugs look like and how to successfully exploit them. Instead of jumping straight to specific operating system details and exploits, however, we will first help you to build a solid understanding of underlying kernel concepts and a methodology for exploiting kernel vulnerabilities. Not only will this make it easier to dive into the gory details of the various operating systems that we'll cover in the book (especially in Part II), but it should also simplify the extremely complex task of staying up-to-date with the kernel as it evolves.