Man At The End: Attack and Defence

“Man-at-the-End” (MATE) attacks, a term coined by academics, describe a specific scenario where an attacker gains physical access to a device and can tamper with its hardware or software. Unlike Man-in-the-Middle attacks that target network communications, MATE attacks focus on a physical compromise of the device itself. This type of attack can be very dangerous because it bypasses many traditional security measures, potentially leading to data theft, malware installation, or compromised security controls.

How can we attack software?

Attacks related to MATE include the following:

• Reverse Engineering: the process of understanding the design and inner workings of a software program by analyzing statically its code. Reverse engineering can be used for legitimate purposes like security analysis, vulnerability research, or improving compatibility between different software programs.

• Debuggers: Debuggers are software tools that allow developers to step through a program’s execution line by line. Usually used to identify and fix bugs (errors) in the code, debuggers can also be used for reverse engineering by allowing analysts to examine the program’s state as it runs.

• Emulators: Emulators are software programs that can mimic the behavior of another computer system. This allows you to run programs designed for a different platform (e.g., running a Windows program on a Mac). Emulators can be useful for reverse engineering because they allow you to run the program in a controlled environment where you can monitor its behavior.

• Decompilers: Decompilers are tools that attempt to translate machine code (the low-level language computers understand) back into a higher-level programming language (like C++, or plain C) that humans can understand more easily. This can be helpful for reverse engineering because it can make the code easier to analyze. However, decompiled code is often not perfect and can be difficult to read.

• Symbolic Analysis: Symbolic analysis is a technique used to analyze software by treating variables and data as symbols instead of concrete values. This allows analysts to reason about the program’s behavior in general terms, rather than just for specific inputs. Symbolic analysis can be used to identify potential vulnerabilities in software.

• Program Slicing: Program slicing is a technique for extracting a subset of a program that is relevant to a particular variable or statement. This can be helpful for reverse engineering because it can help analysts focus on the parts of the code that are most important to them.

• Similarity Comparing: Similarity comparing involves comparing a program to a database of known malware or vulnerable code. This can be helpful for identifying potential security risks in software. However, it’s important to note that similarity comparing is not foolproof, and new vulnerabilities can emerge that are not yet known.

• Process Snooping: Process snooping is a technique for monitoring the activities of a running program. This can involve tracking the program’s memory usage, network activity, and system calls (requests made to the operating system). Process snooping can be useful for reverse engineering because it can provide insights into how the program is actually behaving.

How can we protect against it?

Defence related to MATE include the following:

• Obfuscation: Obfuscation is a technique used to deliberately obscure the code of a software program. This makes it more difficult for someone to understand how the program works, which can make it harder to reverse engineer, crack, or modify the software. There are many different obfuscation techniques, such as renaming variables and functions, using complex control flow structures, and encrypting parts of the code.

• Anti-Tampering: Anti-tampering refers to methods used to prevent unauthorized modification of software. This can involve detecting attempts to tamper with the code, data, or configuration of the software, and then taking some action, such as shutting down the program, logging the event, or alerting the user. Anti-tampering techniques can help to protect software from piracy, malware injection, and other forms of tampering.

• Anti-Emulation: Emulation is a technique where a program is run on a simulated computer system. Anti-emulation techniques are designed to detect when a program is being run in an emulator and prevent it from working properly. This can be useful for protecting software that relies on specific hardware features or that needs to interact with a real operating system.

• Anti-Debugging: Debugging is the process of identifying and fixing bugs (errors) in software. Debuggers are tools that allow developers to step through a program line by line and examine its state. Anti-debugging techniques are designed to detect when a program is being debugged and prevent it from working properly. This can be useful for protecting software from reverse engineering or from being analyzed by malware researchers.

While our core focus lies in software analysis, we partner with industry leaders like Irdeto to deliver comprehensive protection solutions for our clients. This collaboration ensures you receive the most effective analysis alongside robust anti-tamper and anti-debugging safeguards.