Hardware Breakpoint Instruction Tracing for Malware Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing instruction-level runtime behavioral analysis techniques for detecting malware, such as ROP attacks, incur significant performance overhead due to binary translation and code injection methods, which can introduce complexity and potential security vulnerabilities.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a lightweight runtime binary analysis technique that forms code regions with multiple exit points for behavioral analysis, using hardware breakpoints and instruction tracing to monitor execution without code injection, and leveraging a region cache for optimized security checkpoint placement and reduced overhead.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If binary translation or instrumentation techniques are used for instruction level runtime behavioral analysis, then detection accuracy against evasive malware attacks is improved, but performance overhead increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes the binary translation and code injection components from the monitoring system. Instead of instrumenting the target binary, the system uses hardware breakpoints and instruction tracing to collect execution data, thereby eliminating the performance overhead associated with binary translation while maintaining detection accuracy through hardware-based behavioral analysis
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the software-based binary translation and instrumentation mechanism with a hardware-based monitoring approach using processor breakpoints and instruction tracing facilities. This substitution eliminates the need to modify or translate the target binary, removing the associated performance penalties while preserving the ability to detect malicious execution patterns
2Reliability
If binary translation with code injection is used, then runtime security checks are enabled, but potential attack surfaces are introduced and security isolation is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the code injection component entirely from the system architecture. Instead of injecting monitoring code into the target process, the system uses hardware breakpoints and instruction tracing to collect execution information, thereby eliminating the attack surface associated with code injection while maintaining runtime security check capabilities through hardware-based monitoring
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces hardware breakpoints and instruction tracing facilities as intermediaries between the monitoring system and the target application. This intermediary approach allows the system to observe application execution without modifying the application code or injecting monitoring code, thereby maintaining security isolation and eliminating the attack surface created by code injection
3Ease of operation
If binary translation is used for security monitoring, then instruction level execution monitoring is enabled, but device complexity and implementation complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the complex software-based binary translation system with simpler hardware-based mechanisms (breakpoints and instruction tracing). This substitution eliminates the need for just-in-time compilation, translation cache management, and complex code regeneration logic, thereby reducing implementation complexity while preserving execution monitoring capabilities
Solution Approach 2:
The patent leverages the processor's own hardware facilities (breakpoint units and instruction tracing mechanisms) to perform the monitoring function. By using the processor's built-in capabilities rather than external software translation layers, the system eliminates the complexity of binary translation implementation while maintaining the ability to monitor instruction-level execution
Data Source
AI summary
In one embodiment, an apparatus includes an execution monitor to monitor an application in execution, identify a code region, generate region information for the code region, and analyze the code region to identify potential malicious behavior, and if the potential malicious behavior is identified, to alert a security agent, and otherwise to enable the code region to execute, where the execution monitor is isolated from the application. Other embodiments are described and claimed.