NDLI: Stealth breakpoints

Content Provider	IEEE Xplore Digital Library
Author	Vasudevan, A. Yerraballi, R.
Copyright Year	2005
Description	Author affiliation: Dept. of Comput. Sci. & Eng., Texas Univ., Arlington, TX (Vasudevan, A.; Yerraballi, R.)
Abstract	Microscopic analysis of malicious code (malware) requires the aid of a variety of powerful tools. Chief among them is a debugger that enables runtime binary analysis at an instruction level. One of the important services provided by a debugger is the ability to stop execution of code at an arbitrary point during runtime, using breakpoints. Software breakpoints support an unlimited number of breakpoint locations by changing the code being debugged so that it can be interrupted during runtime. Most, if not all, malware are very sensitive to code modification with self-modifying and/or self-checking (SM-SC) capabilities, rendering the use of software breakpoints limited in their scope. Hardware breakpoints supported by the underlying processor, on the other hand, use a subset of the processor register set and exception mechanisms to provide breakpoints that do not entail code modification. This makes hardware breakpoints the most powerful breakpoint mechanism for malware analysis. However, current processors provide a very limited number of hardware breakpoints (typically 2-4 locations). Thus, a serious restriction is imposed on the debugger to set a desired number of breakpoints without resorting to the limited alternative of software breakpoints. Also, with the ever evolving nature of malware, there are techniques being employed that prevent the use of hardware breakpoints. This calls for a new breakpoint mechanism that retains the features of hardware breakpoints while providing an unlimited number of breakpoints, which cannot be detected or countered. In this paper, we present the concept of stealth breakpoints and discuss the design and implementation of VAMPiRE, a realization of this concept. VAMPiRE cannot be detected or countered and provides unlimited number of breakpoints to be set on code, data, and I/O with the same precision as that of hardware breakpoints. It does so by employing a subtle combination of simple stealth techniques using virtual memory and hardware single-stepping mechanisms that are available on all processors, old and new. This technique makes VAMPiRE portable to any architecture, providing powerful breakpoint ability similar to hardware breakpoints for microscopic malware analysis
Starting Page	10
Ending Page	392
File Size	584489
Page Count	383
File Format	PDF
ISBN	0769524613
ISSN	10639527
DOI	10.1109/CSAC.2005.52
Language	English
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Publisher Date	2005-12-05
Publisher Place	USA
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Rights Holder	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subject Keyword	Software debugging Data flow analysis
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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