Process Stalker Tool Release2005-07-06

I released Process Stalker publicly today, open source and available for download from http://labs.idefense.com. Process Stalking is a term coined to describe the combined process of run-time profiling, state mapping and tracing. Consisting of a series of tools and scripts the goal of a successful stalk is to provide the reverse engineer with an intuitive visual interface to filtered, meaningful, run-time block-level trace data.

A step-by-step example walkthrough of Process Stalker vs the Microsoft MS05-030 security bulletin is available at http://www.openrce.org. Binaries, source code and in-depth documentation are available in the bundled archive. Relevant slideshows from Process Stalker presentations are available on the past speaking engagements page.

The IDA Function Analyzer component was used and extended in the development of Process Stalker. The biggest change is the addition of the gml_export() routine for generating GML graphs.

MS05-025 PNG Image Rendering Vulnerability2005-06-21

Spent some time with spoonm over the weekend at RECON tinkering with the MS05-025 PNG vulnerability. Using my own not-as-cool-as-halvar's bindiff tool I came across the following significant change:

ms05025_diff.gif


The left column is pre-patch and the right column is post-patch. Further tracing reveals the actual vulnerable loop that leads to heap corruption, a jump table for which case 0x9 is required to reach the vulnerable function and some other interesting tidbits. All in all the vulnerability wasn't difficult to pin point, the biggest hurdle is overcoming the lazyness required to generate a valid PNG image as the CRC checks are done prior to reaching the vulnerable code.

OpenRCE Site Launch2005-06-20

Just got back from RECON in Montreal. The trip back was miserable (4 flights spanning over 12 hours due to cancellations etc.) but the con was great. Lots of great speakers including Nicolas Brulez, Andrew Griffiths and spoonm. My talk was well received, RECON was definetely the perfect venue for Process Stalker.

On another note. I finally unveiled my latest pet project, the Open Reverse Code Engineering community site, OpenRCE.org. The site is very usable but has many features still under development. Please share any comments, suggestions, bug reports and especially content with one of the site admins.