mandiant / mandiant/capa

dynamic analysis via TTD traces

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dynamic enhancement
Dominant language
Python
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

we can process WinDbg Time Travel Debugging (TTD) traces and extract API calls, string/data references, and other features and analyze them in a dynamic context, like @yelhamer has done with the CAPE sandbox. in a sense, we'd be using TTD as a sandbox.

there would be a good amount of code needed to recognize the interesting cursor locations to pause at (API calls) and the techniques to extract arguments, data references, etc.

we should attempt this after the initial CAPE backend has landed so that capa has all the necessary machinery for dynamic analysis.

i think once this is implemented, we'd be able to do some really cool things around TTD trace visualization, like "here's an interesting point in the program execution, do you want to jump to it in IDA or Binary Ninja?".

this issue differs from #1649 in that this issue is about dynamic analysis of TTD traces, while the other issue is about static analysis of specific snapshots within a TTD trace.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reviewing the initial CAPE backend, which this work is explicitly waiting for, and compare its dynamic-analysis machinery with the distinction from issue #1649. Define how TTD traces should be processed, including API-call cursor locations and extraction of arguments and data references. Done means dynamic TTD analysis works and supports the proposed trace-visualization workflow.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
reverse-engineering, security
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
20/100

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