HANDLE hState = NULL; NTSTATUS status = NtOpenWnfState(&hState, 0x2000000, &WNF_NC_NETWORK_CONNECTIVITY);
WNF is an internal, kernel-mode notification system introduced in Windows 8 and heavily utilized in Windows 10 and 11. It allows different components of the OS (drivers, services, user-mode apps) to publish and subscribe to state changes without needing a full RPC or COM infrastructure. ntquerywnfstatedata ntdlldll better
#include <windows.h> #include <stdio.h> #include <winternl.h> typedef NTSTATUS (NTAPI *pNtOpenWnfState)(PHANDLE, ACCESS_MASK, PVOID); typedef NTSTATUS (NTAPI *pNtQueryWnfStateData)(HANDLE, PVOID, ULONG, PVOID, ULONG, PULONG); You might ask: Why not just use the
NTSTATUS NtQueryWnfStateData( HANDLE StateHandle, VOID* UnknownBuffer1, // often a WNF change stamp buffer ULONG UnknownSize, VOID* Buffer, // output data ULONG BufferSize, ULONG* ReturnLength ); Its purpose: retrieve the current data associated with a given WNF state name. You might ask: Why not just use the documented GetSystemMetrics or RegNotifyChangeKeyValue ? for security researchers
However, with great power comes great responsibility. Because this function is undocumented, you must be prepared for maintenance headaches and potential version incompatibilities. Yet, for security researchers, performance tooling developers, and Windows internals enthusiasts, adding NtQueryWnfStateData to your toolkit is undeniably a step toward a understanding of the operating system's inner workings.