Everyone has heard of Metasploit, the Open Source exploitation framework, and most have probably come into contact with it on the attacking and/or receiving end. Meterpreter, Metasploit's most frequently used payload for Windows systems, enables a tester who has gained control of one machine to perform further exploitation, pivoting and penetration with relative ease. But how does Meterpreter work? What goes on 'under the hood' when certain commands are executed? How does it avoid touching the disk and survive happily in memory? How does it hide from the operating system, and how could you locate it if it's running? Let's dive into the plumbing that makes Meterpreter tick. I will explain in relative detail its lifecycle, along with some of the ins and outs of topics such as Reflective DLL Injection and Migration. Bring your low-level knowledge and interest in technical details as this talk might not be for the faint of heart!