Analysis Packages¶

As explained in Analysis Packages, analysis packages are structured Python classes that describe how Cuckoo’s analyzer component should conduct the analysis procedure for a given file inside the guest environment.

As you already know, you can create your own packages and add them along with the default ones. Designing new packages is very easy and requires just a minimal understanding of programming and of the Python language.

Getting started¶

As an example we’ll take a look at the default package for analyzing generic Windows executables, located at $CWD/analyzer/windows/packages/exe.py (which translates to cuckoo/data/analyzer/windows/packages/exe.py in the Git repository):

from lib.common.abstracts import Package

class Exe(Package):
    """EXE analysis package."""

    def start(self, path):
        args = self.options.get("arguments")
        return self.execute(path, args)

It seems really easy, thanks to all method inherited by Package object. Let’s have a look as some of the main methods an analysis package inherits from Package object:

from lib.api.process import Process
from lib.common.exceptions import CuckooPackageError

class Package(object):
    def start(self):
        raise NotImplementedError

    def check(self):
        return True

    def execute(self, path, args):
        dll = self.options.get("dll")
        free = self.options.get("free")
        suspended = True
        if free:
            suspended = False

        p = Process()
        if not p.execute(path=path, args=args, suspended=suspended):
            raise CuckooPackageError(
                "Unable to execute the initial process, analysis aborted."
            )

        if not free and suspended:
            p.inject(dll)
            p.resume()
            p.close()
            return p.pid

    def finish(self):
        if self.options.get("procmemdump"):
            for pid in self.pids:
                p = Process(pid=pid)
                p.dump_memory()
        return True

Let’s walk through the code:

Line 1: import the Process API class, which is used to create and manipulate Windows processes.
Line 2: import the CuckooPackageError exception, which is used to notify issues with the execution of the package to the analyzer.
Line 4: define the main class, inheriting object.
Line 5: define the start() function, which takes as argument the path to the file to execute. It should be implemented by each analysis package.
Line 8: define the check() function.
Line 13: acquire the free option, which is used to define whether the process should be monitored or not.
Line 18: initialize a Process instance.
Line 19: try to execute the malware, if it fails it aborts the execution and notify the analyzer.
Line 24: check if the process should be monitored.
Line 25: inject the process with our DLL.
Line 26: resume the process from the suspended state.
Line 28: return the PID of the newly created process to the analyzer.
Line 30: define the finish() function.
Line 31: check if the procmemdump option was enabled.
Line 32: loop through the currently monitored processes.
Line 33: open a Process instance.
Line 34: take a dump of the process memory.

`start()`¶

In this function you have to place all the initialization operations you want to run. This may include running the malware process, launching additional applications, taking memory snapshots and more.

`check()`¶

This function is executed by Cuckoo every second while the malware is running. You can use this function to perform any kind of recurrent operation.

For example if in your analysis you are looking for just one specific indicator to be created (e.g., a file) you could place your condition in this function and if it returns False, the analysis will terminate right away.

Think of it as “should the analysis continue or not?”.

For example:

def check(self):
    if os.path.exists("C:\\config.bin"):
        return False
    else:
        return True

This check() function will cause Cuckoo to immediately terminate the analysis whenever C:\\config.bin is created.

`execute()`¶

Wraps the malware execution and deal with DLL injection.

`finish()`¶

This function is simply called by Cuckoo before terminating the analysis and powering off the machine. By default, this function contains an optional feature to dump the process memory of all the monitored processes.

Options¶

Every package have automatically access to a dictionary containing all user-specified options (see Submit an Analysis).

Such options are made available in the attribute self.options. For example let’s assume that the user specified the following string at submission:

foo=1,bar=2

The analysis package selected will have access to these values:

from lib.common.abstracts import Package

class Example(Package):

    def start(self, path):
        foo = self.options["foo"]
        bar = self.options["bar"]

    def check():
        return True

    def finish():
        return True

These options can be used for anything you might need to configure inside your package.

Process API¶

The Process class provides access to different process-related features and functions. You can import it in your analysis packages with:

from lib.api.process import Process

You then initialize an instance with:

p = Process()

In case you want to open an existing process instead of creating a new one, you can specify multiple arguments:

pid: PID of the process you want to operate on.

h_process: handle of a process you want to operate on.

thread_id: thread ID of a process you want to operate on.

h_thread: handle of the thread of a process you want to operate on.

This class implements several methods that you can use in your own scripts.

Methods¶

Process.open()¶

Opens an handle to a running process. Returns True or False in case of success or failure of the operation.

Return type:	boolean

Example Usage:

p = Process(pid=1234)
p.open()
handle = p.h_process

Process.exit_code()¶

Returns the exit code of the opened process. If it wasn’t already done before, exit_code() will perform a call to open() to acquire an handle to the process.

Return type:	ulong

Example Usage:

p = Process(pid=1234)
code = p.exit_code()

Process.is_alive()¶

Calls exit_code() and verify if the returned code is STILL_ACTIVE, meaning that the given process is still running. Returns True or False.

Return type:	boolean

Example Usage:

p = Process(pid=1234)
if p.is_alive():
    print("Still running!")

Process.get_parent_pid()¶

Returns the PID of the parent process of the opened process. If it wasn’t already done before, get_parent_pid() will perform a call to open() to acquire an handle to the process.

Return type:	int

Example Usage:

p = Process(pid=1234)
ppid = p.get_parent_pid()

Process.execute(path[, args=None[, suspended=False]])¶

Executes the file at the specified path. Returns True or False in case of success or failure of the operation.

Parameters:	path (string) – path to the file to execute args (string) – arguments to pass to the process command line suspended (boolean) – enable or disable suspended mode flag at process creation
Return type:	boolean

Example Usage:

p = Process()
p.execute(path="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\calc.exe", args="Something", suspended=True)

Process.resume()¶

Resumes the opened process from a suspended state. Returns True or False in case of success or failure of the operation.

Return type:	boolean

Example Usage:

p = Process()
p.execute(path="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\calc.exe", args="Something", suspended=True)
p.resume()

Process.terminate()¶

Terminates the opened process. Returns True or False in case of success or failure of the operation.

Return type:	boolean

Example Usage:

p = Process(pid=1234)
if p.terminate():
    print("Process terminated!")
else:
    print("Could not terminate the process!")

Process.inject([dll[, apc=False]])¶

Injects our DLL into the opened process. Returns True or False in case of success or failure of the operation.

Parameters:	dll (string) – path to the DLL to inject into the process apc (boolean) – enable to use `QueueUserAPC()` injection instead of `CreateRemoteThread()`, beware that if the process is in suspended mode, Cuckoo will always use `QueueUserAPC()`
Return type:	boolean

Example Usage:

p = Process()
p.execute(path="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\calc.exe", args="Something", suspended=True)
p.inject()
p.resume()

Process.dump_memory()¶

Takes a snapshot of the given process’ memory space. Returns True or False in case of success or failure of the operation.

Return type:	boolean

Example Usage:

p = Process(pid=1234)
p.dump_memory()

Analysis Packages¶

Getting started¶

start()¶

check()¶

execute()¶

finish()¶

Options¶

Process API¶

Methods¶

`start()`¶

`check()`¶

`execute()`¶

`finish()`¶