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I'm trying to find a list of Win32 API functions that require the process that uses them to have heightened administrative privileges in order to use them. Does anyone know where I could find a list of these functions? Thanks!

Jeremy
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    Many functions *may* require different privileges depending on what you're trying to do with them. For example, the success of `CreateFile` obviously depends on which file you're trying to access. – Greg Hewgill Jun 27 '11 at 21:44
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    Is there a way to parse through a project and identify which functions are causing the program to require elevated privileges?...Other than carefully analyzing each function call. – Jeremy Jun 27 '11 at 22:03
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    One trick I used to use back in the Windows NT days was to enable security auditing for your process and anything it might access, run it, and check the security event log for details. I'm not sure about the details of doing that on modern versions of Windows, though. – Greg Hewgill Jun 27 '11 at 23:09

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Such a list simply does not and can not exist. Because an API alone does not determine what privileges are required (it can, but in most cases it doesn't).

For example take one of the oldest and most used APIs there is: CreateFile.

  • Reading a file in the windows directory is allowed for normal users, writing/creating one however isn't.
  • Using the API to create a local pipe is allowed for normal users, creating a global pipe or networked pipe usually isn't (depends on further security settings/group policies).

And many more examples.

Stefan
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