Execution Safety Container for Malware Stack Pointer Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Malware analysis tools face challenges in reliably executing and observing malware and exploit code due to unhandled exceptions caused by stack pointer modifications outside the memory address range, which can lead to termination of the malware component and hinder runtime behavior analysis.
Innovation Solution
An execution safety container is created to monitor and adjust the memory address boundaries of the stack pointer, ensuring it remains within the valid range by adjusting the stack base and limit addresses, thereby preventing unhandled exceptions and allowing the malware component to continue executing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If malware components are executed in a sandbox or virtual machine for runtime analysis, then the ability to observe malware behavior is improved, but the execution reliability deteriorates due to unhandled exceptions caused by stack pointer modifications outside memory address range
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an execution safety container as an intermediary layer between the malware component and the sandbox environment. This container includes a stack pointer monitoring module that acts as a mediator to detect and adjust stack pointer addresses, preventing unhandled exceptions while allowing malware execution to continue. The container intercepts and modifies memory address references before they cause termination, thus preserving runtime behavior data.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-configuring the execution safety container with memory address range validation and stack pointer monitoring capabilities before malware execution begins. The container proactively adjusts stack base and limit addresses to ensure stack pointer modifications remain within valid memory ranges, preventing exceptions before they occur rather than reacting after termination.
2Reliability
If stack pointer monitoring and adjustment mechanisms are implemented to prevent unhandled exceptions, then execution reliability is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional monitoring and adjustment components
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple functions into the execution safety container: stack pointer monitoring, memory address validation, exception prevention, and malware execution management are combined in a single integrated component. This consolidation reduces overall system complexity compared to having separate modules for each function, while still providing comprehensive protection against unhandled exceptions.
3Reliability
If the memory address range is expanded to accommodate stack pointer modifications, then execution reliability is improved, but loss of information increases due to potential unauthorized memory access
Solution Approach 1:
The execution safety container applies local quality control by dynamically adjusting memory address permissions and validation rules based on the specific stack pointer modifications detected during malware execution. Rather than uniformly expanding or restricting all memory access, the system applies targeted validation only to the specific memory regions and address ranges relevant to the current execution context, preventing unauthorized access while allowing necessary stack operations.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to executing software within an execution safety container. An example method generally includes detecting that a memory address referenced by a stack pointer has changed from a first memory address to a second memory address. An execution safety container compares the referenced memory address to a memory address range associated with an application, and upon determining that the referenced memory address is not within the memory address range associated with the application, takes one or more actions to avoid occurrences of unhandled exceptions caused by the referenced memory address being outside of a memory address range associated with an application.