Safety researchers have just lately unveiled strategic insights into countering .NET malware via the revolutionary use of the Concord library.
The analysis, printed earlier immediately, explores the importance of code manipulation in malware evaluation, emphasizing its pivotal position for researchers, analysts and reverse engineers.
Historically, code performance is altered via debugging, Dynamic Binary Instrumentation (DBI) or hooking frameworks. Whereas these strategies have confirmed efficient for non-managed, native code, the panorama adjustments when coping with functions operating on the .NET platform.
Within the .NET area, the flexibility to instrument code on the managed layer has been restricted, posing challenges for researchers. Nonetheless, Examine Level Analysis (CPR) is now highlighting the Concord library as a standout resolution.
An open-source library, Concord focuses on patching, changing and adorning .NET strategies in real-time, overcoming the constraints related to altering managed code.
Learn extra on .NET malware: MalVirt Loaders Exploit .NET Virtualization to Ship Malvertising Assaults
The CPR analysis piece launched the idea of .NET managed hooking utilizing the Concord library, delving into its internals and offering sensible implementation examples, showcasing various kinds of Concord patches.
Considerably, the Concord library operates solely on in-memory code, making certain that modifications don’t affect information on disk. This function proves invaluable, particularly when coping with .NET malware protected by obfuscators. For context, disk-based deobfuscation dangers altering the unique construction and inflicting performance loss.
The CPR analysis additionally emphasised the flexibility of Concord hooking, permitting researchers to switch the performance of all referenced assemblies, notably these integral to the .NET Runtime. Additional, it touched upon the bootstrapping and injection course of, outlining how Concord could be injected into .NET processes, both via loaders or injectors.
Moreover, the analysis categorized numerous kinds of Concord patches, equivalent to Prefix, Postfix, Transpiler, Finalizer and Reverse Patch, every serving a particular function in modifying the habits of .NET strategies.
“These examples reveal how highly effective .NET hooking could be and, extra importantly, how straightforward and easy it’s to implement .NET instrumentation as soon as we use the Concord library,” reads the technical write-up.
