AVPASS: Leaking and Bypassing Antivirus Detection Model Automatically

Abstract

AVPASS is a tool for leaking the detection model of Android antivirus (AV) programs, and bypassing the AV detection by using the leaked information coupled with APK perturbation techniques. AVPASS is able to infer not only the detection features, but also hierarchy of detection rule chains. With help from the leaked model and the built-in APK perturbation functions, AVPASS is able to disguise any android malware as a benign application. Furthermore, using our novel additive mode, AVPASS supports safe querying and guarantees that one can test if the application will be detected by the AV without sending the whole or core parts of application. As a result, AVPASS leaked significant detection features of commercial AVs and achieved almost zero detection from VirusTotal when tested with more than 5,000 malware.

In this talk, we present the entire pipeline of the APK perturbation process, leaking model process, and auto-bypassing process. In addition, we show findings about commercial AVs, including their detection features and hierarchy, and inform the attendees about the potential weaknesses of modern AVs.

AVPASS will be demonstrated, showing that it modifies real world malware precisely, and allows them to bypass all AVs following the leaked model. AVPASS will be released with every tool that we have built, including the original source code and the related test data, to enable researchers to replicate the research on their own.

Publication
Black Hat USA Briefings (Black Hat USA)