Skip to main content

Efficient and Automatic Instrumentation for Packed Binaries

  • Conference paper
Advances in Information Security and Assurance (ISA 2009)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNSC,volume 5576))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Many modern software security techniques require transformation of executable binaries to add security features. Such transformation heavily depends on the correct and effecient disassembly. However, an increasing number of application binaries are packed before being distributed in the commercial world. Packed binaries are a special type of self-modifying code, which existing binary disassembly tools do not support very well, especially when automatic instrumentation is needed. This paper describes the design, implementation and evaluation of an efficient and automatic binary instrumentation tool for packed Win32/X86 binaries called Uncover. Uncover features two novel techniques: statically distinct packed binaries by entropy computation to minimize run-time disassembly overhead, and accurate tracking of binary unpacking process during runtime. These two techniques make it possible to disassemble Win32/X86 packed binaries as if they were never packed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. IDAPro. IDA Pro Disassembler, http://www.datarescue.com/

  2. OllyDbg. Oleh Yuschuk, http://www.ollydbg.de/

  3. Peid, J., Qwerton, S., Xineohp, P., http://peid.has.it/

  4. Lyda, R., Hamrock, J.: Using Entropy Analysis to Find Encrypted and Packed Malware. IEEE Security and Privacy 5(2), 40–45 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. UPX. The ultimate packer for executables, http://upx.sourceforge.net/

  6. ASPack. The advanced Win32 executable file compressor, http://www.aspack.com/

  7. PECompact. PE packer, http://www.bitsum.com/pec2.asp

  8. Bala, V., Duesterwald, E., Banerjia, S.: Dynamo: a transparent dynamic optimization system. ACM SIGPLAN Notices 35(5), 1–12 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Dyninst. An application program interface (api) for runtime code generation, http://www.dyninst.org/

  10. Luk, C.-K., Cohn, R., Muth, R., Patil, H., Klauser, A., Lowney, G., Wallace, S., Reddi, V.J., Hazelwood, K.: Pin: building customized program analysis tools with dynamic instrumentation. In: PLDI 2005: Proceedings of the 2005 ACM SIGPLAN conference on Programming language design and implementation, pp. 190–200. ACM Press, New York (2005)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  11. Sridhar, S., Shapiro, J.S., Bungale, P.P.: HDTrans: A Low-Overhead Dynamic Translator. In: Proc 2005 Workshop on Binary Instrumentation and Applications (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Bellard, F.: QEMU, a Fast and Portable Dynamic Translator. In: Proc of USENIX 2005 Annual Technical Conference, FREENIX Track, pp. 41–46 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Martignoni, L., Christodorescu, M., Jha, S.: OmniUnpack: Fast, Generic, and Safe Unpacking of Malware. In: Proc. of 23 Annual Technical Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC 2007), pp. 431–441 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Nanda, S., Li, W., Lam, L.-C., Chiueh, T.: Bird: Binary interpretation using runtime disassembly. In: Conference of Code Generation and Optimization 2006, pp. 358–370 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Wu, Y., Chiueh, Tc., Zhao, C. (2009). Efficient and Automatic Instrumentation for Packed Binaries. In: Park, J.H., Chen, HH., Atiquzzaman, M., Lee, C., Kim, Th., Yeo, SS. (eds) Advances in Information Security and Assurance. ISA 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5576. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02617-1_32

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02617-1_32

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-02616-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-02617-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics