Program turns anti-analysis tools against the malware

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   May 14, 2013

Users cautioned to be wary of a false sense of security.

Could you defeat VM-aware malware by making your system aware of VM-aware malware?

Tricks to frustrate researchers and make automatic analysis more difficult are a common feature of today's malware. One such trick is to make the malware 'VM-aware': it won't run if it detects that it is being executed in a virtual environment.

Two researchers at Rapid7, the company behind the Metasploit tool, have attempted to turn this trick on its head and use it against the malware. They have written a small proof-of-concept program that creates a number of registry keys, files and directories and starts some processes - all of which make it look as if the machine on which the program is running is, in fact, a virtual environment and that a popular debugger is being used.

While, as the researchers readily admit, this is by no means a new idea, it is a nice one and could work against many of the larger malware outbreaks. It is part of the general idea of 'security through obscurity', which also includes running services on non-standard ports, or using non-default directory names for web tools like WordPress. If the obscurity is performed well enough, it could work against many automated threats.

But one should be wary of a false sense of security: malware would work just as well without the anti-analysis functionality. Malware authors may also start to include checks for tools like the one created by the researchers.

Cryptography experts commonly refer to Kerckhoff's principle: the idea that a cryptographic system should be secure, even if everything about it (except for the key) is known to the attacker. This applies here as well: the tools could prevent some malware from infecting your machine, and that would of course be a good thing, but you should still act as if you are just as vulnerable.

Posted on 14 May 2013 by Martijn Grooten

twitter.png
fb.png
linkedin.png
hackernews.png
reddit.png

 

Latest posts:

VBSpam tests to be executed under the AMTSO framework

VB is excited to announce that, starting from the Q3 test, all VBSpam tests of email security products will be executed under the AMTSO framework.

In memoriam: Prof. Ross Anderson

We were very sorry to learn of the passing of Professor Ross Anderson a few days ago.

In memoriam: Dr Alan Solomon

We were very sorry to learn of the passing of industry pioneer Dr Alan Solomon earlier this week.

New paper: Nexus Android banking botnet – compromising C&C panels and dissecting mobile AppInjects

In a new paper, researchers Aditya K Sood and Rohit Bansal provide details of a security vulnerability in the Nexus Android botnet C&C panel that was exploited in order to gather threat intelligence, and present a model of mobile AppInjects.

New paper: Collector-stealer: a Russian origin credential and information extractor

In a new paper, F5 researchers Aditya K Sood and Rohit Chaturvedi present a 360 analysis of Collector-stealer, a Russian-origin credential and information extractor.

We have placed cookies on your device in order to improve the functionality of this site, as outlined in our cookies policy. However, you may delete and block all cookies from this site and your use of the site will be unaffected. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to Virus Bulletin's use of data as outlined in our privacy policy.