Semantics-Aware Malware Detection

A malware detector is a system that attempts to determine whether a program has malicious intent. In order to evade detection, malware writers (hackers) frequently use obfuscation to morph malware. Malware detectors that use a pattern-matching approach (such as commercial virus scanners) are susceptible to obfuscations used by hackers. The fundamental deficiency in the pattern-matching approach to malware detection is that it is purely syntactic and ignores the semantics of instructions. In this paper, we present a malwaredetection algorithm that addresses this deficiency by incorporating instruction semantics to detect malicious program traits. Experimental evaluation demonstrates that our malware-detection algorithm can detect variants of malware with a relatively low run-time overhead. Moreover, our semantics-aware malware detection algorithm is resilient to common obfuscations used by hackers.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: SP
• Authors: Mihai Christodorescu, Somesh Jha, Sanjit A. Seshia, Dawn Xiaodong Song, Randal E. Bryant
• Keywords: Malware, Malware Detection, Malware Detectors, Security Privacy, SP 2005