Skip to main content

Towards Automated Malware Behavioral Analysis and Profiling for Digital Forensic Investigation Purposes

  • Conference paper
Digital Forensics and Cyber Crime (ICDF2C 2012)

Abstract

Digital forensic investigators commonly use dynamic malware analysis methods to analyze a suspect executable found during a post-mortem analysis of the victim’s computer. Unfortunately, currently proposed dynamic malware analysis methods and sandbox solutions have a number of limitations that may lead the investigators to ambiguous conclusions. In this research, the limitations of the use of current dynamic malware analysis methods in digital forensic investigations are highlighted. In addition, a method to profile dynamic kernel memory to complement currently proposed dynamic profiling techniques is, then, proposed. The proposed method will allow investigators to automate the identification of malicious kernel objects during a post-mortem analysis of the victim’s acquired memory. The method is implemented in a prototype malware analysis environment to automate the process of profiling malicious kernel objects and assist malware forensic investigation. Finally, a case study is given to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach.

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 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
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. Yin, H., et al.: Panorama: Capturing System-wide Information Flow for Malware Detection and Analysis. In: Proceedings of the 14th ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Yin, H., Liang, Z., Song, D.: HookFinder: Identifying and Understanding Malware Hooking Behaviors. In: Proceedings of Distributed System Security Symposium (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Kolbitsch, C., et al.: Effective and Efficient Malware Detection at the End Host. In: Proceedings of the 18th Conference on USENIX Security Symposium (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Vasudevan, A., Yerraballi, R.: Cobra: Fine-grained Malware Analysis using Stealth Localized-Executions. In: Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Dinaburg, A., et al.: Ether: Malware Analysis Via Hardware Virtualization Extensions. In: Proceedings of the 15th ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Lanzi, A., Sharif, M., Lee, W.: K-Tracer: A System for Extracting Kernel Malware Behavior. In: Proceedings of the 16th Annual Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Bayer, U., et al.: Dynamic Analysis of Malicious Code. Journal in Computer Virology 2(1), 67–77 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Christodorescu, M., Jha, S.: Static Analysis of Executables to Detect Malicious Patterns. In: Proceedings of the 12th USENIX Security Symposium (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Moser, A., Kruegel, C., Kirda, E.: Limits of Static Analysis for Malware Detection. In: Proceedings of Computer Security Applications Conference (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Egele, M., et al.: A Survey on Automated Dynamic Malware Analysis Techniques and Tools. ACM Comput. Surv. 44(2), 1–42 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Farmer, D., Venema, W.: Forensic Discovery. Addison-Wesley (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Nance, K., Bishop, M., Hay, B.: Virtual Machine Introspection: Observation or Interference? In: IEEE Security and Privacy (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Sharif, M., et al.: Impeding Malware Analysis Using Conditional Code Obfuscation. In: Proceedings of the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  14. You, I., Yim, K.: Malware Obfuscation Techniques: A Brief Survey. In: Proceedings of the Int. Conf. on Broadband, Wireless Company (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Balzarotti, D., et al.: Efficient Detection of Split Personalities in Malware. In: Symposium on Network and Distributed System Security (NDSS) (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Moser, A., Kruegel, C., Kirda, E.: Exploring Multiple Execution Paths for Malware Analysis. In: IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Shosha, A.F., James, J.I., Gladyshev, P.: A Novel Methodology for Malware Intrusion Attack Path Reconstruction. In: Gladyshev, P., Rogers, M.K. (eds.) ICDF2C 2011. LNICST, vol. 88, pp. 131–140. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Gladyshev, P., Patel, A.: Finite State Machine Approach to Digital Event Reconstruction. In: Digital Investigation (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Forrest, S., Hofmeyr, S., Somayaji, A.: The Evolution of System-Call Monitoring. In: Proceedings of the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Mutz, D., et al.: Anomalous System Call Detection. ACM Trans. Information System Security (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Riley, R., Jiang, X., Xu, D.: Multi-Aspect Profiling of Kernel Rootkit Behavior. In: Proceedings of the 4th ACM European Conference on Computer Systems (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Rhee, J., Lin, Z., Xu, D.: Characterizing Kernel Malware Behavior With Kernel Data Access Patterns. In: Proceedings of the 6th ACM Symposium on Information, Computer and Communications Security (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Malin, C., Casey, E., Aquilina, J.: Malware Forensics: Investigating and Analyzing Malicious Code. Syngress (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Newsome, J., Song, D.: Dynamic Taint Analysis for Automatic Detection, Analysis, and Signature Generation of Exploits on Commodity Software. In: Proceedings of Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS) (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Schwartz, E., Avgerinos, T., Brumley, D.: All You Ever Wanted to Know About Dynamic Taint Analysis and Forward Symbolic Execution. In: IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (Oakland 2010) (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Volatility.: An Advanced Memory Forensics Framework (2012), https://www.volatilesystems.com/default/volatility

  27. Dolan-Gavitt, B.: The VAD Tree: A Process-Eye View of Physical Memory. In: Digital Investigation (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Schuster, A.: Searching for Processes and Threads in Microsoft Windows Memory Dumps. In: Proceedings of the 6th Annual Digital Forensic Research Workshop (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Marrington, A., et al.: A Model for Computer Profiling. In: The Third International Workshop on Digital Forensics (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Hoglund, G.: Rootkits: Subverting the Windows Kernel. Addison-Wesley (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Wang, Z., et al.: Countering Kernel Rootkits With Lightweight Hook Protection. In: Proceedings of the 16th ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Russinovich, M.: Windows Internals. Microsoft Press (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  33. Dolan-Gavitt, B., et al.: Robust Signatures for Kernel Data Structures. In: Proceedings of the 16th ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  34. Clarke, E., Grumberg, O., Peled, D.: Model Checking. MIT Press (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Bellard, F.: QEMU, A Fast and Portable Dynamic Translator. In: Proceedings of the Annual Conference on USENIX Annual Technical Conference (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  36. Van Baar, R.B., Alink, W., Van Ballegooij, A.R.: Forensic Memory Analysis: Files Mapped in Memory. Digital Investigation (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  37. Binsalleeh, H., et al.: On the Analysis of the Zeus Botnet Crimeware Toolkit. In: Proceedings of the Eighth Annual International Conference on Privacy Security and Trust (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  38. Shosha, F.A., James, J., Chen-Ching, L., Gladyshev, P.: Evasion-Resistant Malware Signature Based on Profiling Kernel Data Structure Objects. In: Proceedings of the 7th Intl. Conference on Risks and Security of Internet Systems (CRiSIS) (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Shosha, A.F., James, J.I., Liu, C.-C., Gladyshev, P.: Towards Automated Forensic Event Reconstruction of Malicious Code (Poster abstract). In: Balzarotti, D., Stolfo, S.J., Cova, M. (eds.) RAID 2012. LNCS, vol. 7462, pp. 388–389. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering

About this paper

Cite this paper

Shosha, A.F., James, J.I., Hannaway, A., Liu, CC., Gladyshev, P. (2013). Towards Automated Malware Behavioral Analysis and Profiling for Digital Forensic Investigation Purposes. In: Rogers, M., Seigfried-Spellar, K.C. (eds) Digital Forensics and Cyber Crime. ICDF2C 2012. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 114. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39891-9_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39891-9_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-39890-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-39891-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics