Cyber Risks · Unit 42 Palo Alto Networks

Can You Trust Your AutoIT Decompiler?

Summary: Unit 42 researchers found that the Exe2Aut decompiler injects a DLL into the target binary and hooks the bytecode execution function, while MyAut2Exe statically extracts and unpacks the bytecode resource without the embedded interpreter. They built a proof-of-concept AutoIt executable with three bytecodes in the .rsrc section that tricks Exe2Aut via a 70-byte assembly shellcode checking for the injected UPX-packed DLL and tricks MyAut2Exe by placing a decoy script at a lower offset than the real one.

Bottom line: A reverse engineer who trusts a decompiler's output can be handed a decoy script while the real malicious code runs, and the trick works against both common AutoIT decompilers - only dynamic sandbox analysis was unaffected in the researchers' testing.

Read the original at Unit 42 Palo Alto Networks ↗

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Malware
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