Browser Extension Hidden Behavior Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods struggle to detect hidden behavior in browser extensions, which can be malicious, as they involve analyzing individual files and may not reveal the full functionality of the extension, especially when code is obfuscated, making it difficult to identify malicious activities.
Innovation Solution
A method is introduced to analyze browser extensions by installing them in a protected environment, simulating user actions, tracking events, and registering changes to detect hidden behavior, which involves forming a protected environment, registering events, and analyzing them for characteristics of hidden behavior, and determining if the behavior is malicious.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If individual file analysis methods are used to detect browser extension behavior, then the analysis process is simpler and faster, but the detection precision and ability to identify hidden behavior is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the analysis of multiple individual extension files into a unified analysis approach. By installing the extension in a protected environment and monitoring it as a whole during simulated user actions, the system captures the integrated behavior of the extension across all its files, enabling detection of hidden behavior that individual file analysis would miss.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a protected environment as an intermediary between the browser extension and the analysis system. This environment acts as a mediator that isolates the extension's behavior while allowing comprehensive monitoring of its activities, enabling precise detection without directly exposing the complex interaction between multiple files and the browser.
2Productivity
If static analysis of extension components is performed, then the analysis speed is faster, but the ability to detect hidden behavior manifested only in certain circumstances is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by installing the extension in a protected environment before conducting the analysis. This setup phase prepares the extension to be executed in a controlled setting where simulated user actions can trigger hidden behavior, ensuring both speed and reliability by pre-configuring the analysis environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from static analysis to dynamic analysis by executing the extension in a protected environment and monitoring its behavior during simulated user actions. This dynamic approach captures hidden behavior that only manifests under specific operational conditions, improving detection reliability while maintaining analysis efficiency through automated execution.
3Measurement precision
If the entire extension code is analyzed to determine full functionality, then the detection accuracy improves, but the analysis time and computational resources increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The extension analyzes itself through automated execution in the protected environment. By allowing the extension to execute its own code during simulated user actions and automatically monitoring its behavior, the system eliminates the need for manual disassembly and complex static analysis, reducing analysis time while maintaining high detection accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical analysis processes (manual code disassembly, static parsing of multiple files) with an automated virtualized execution system. The protected environment automatically executes the extension code and monitors its behavior, substituting time-consuming manual analysis with automated digital monitoring that achieves the same accuracy much faster.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure is directed towards systems and methods for detecting hidden behavior in browser extensions. In one aspect, a method is provided including launching a browser in a protected environment, performing one or more actions in the browser, tracking events occurring during the performing of the one or more actions, identifying extension events from the events that are initiated by a browser extension, analyzing the extension events for indications of change that correspond to behavior not previously declared by the browser extension, and determining that the browser extension is performing hidden behavior when indications of change are found.