CTF Malware & Network Analysis

Quick reference for malware analysis CTF challenges. Each technique has a one-liner here; see supporting files for full details with code.

Additional Resources

• scripts-and-obfuscation.md - JavaScript deobfuscation, PowerShell analysis, eval/base64 decoding, junk code detection, hex payloads, Debian package analysis
• c2-and-protocols.md - C2 traffic patterns, custom crypto protocols, RC4 WebSocket, DNS-based C2, network indicators, PCAP analysis, AES-CBC, encryption ID, Telegram bot recovery
• pe-and-dotnet.md - PE analysis (peframe, pe-sieve, pestudio), .NET analysis (dnSpy, AsmResolver), LimeRAT extraction, sandbox evasion, malware config extraction, PyInstaller+PyArmor

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Obfuscated Scripts

• Replace eval/bash with echo to print underlying code; extract base64/hex blobs and analyze with file. See scripts-and-obfuscation.md.

JavaScript & PowerShell Deobfuscation

• JS: Replace eval with console.log, decode unescape(), atob(), String.fromCharCode().
• PowerShell: Decode -enc base64, replace IEX with output. See scripts-and-obfuscation.md.

Junk Code Detection

• NOP sleds, push/pop pairs, dead writes, unconditional jumps to next instruction. Filter to extract real call targets. See scripts-and-obfuscation.md.

PCAP & Network Analysis

tshark -r file.pcap -Y "tcp.stream eq X" -T fields -e tcp.payload

Look for C2 on unusual ports. Extract IPs/domains with strings | grep. See c2-and-protocols.md.

Custom Crypto Protocols

• Stream ciphers share keystream state for both directions; concatenate ALL payloads chronologically.
• ChaCha20 keystream extraction: send nullbytes (0 XOR anything = anything). See c2-and-protocols.md.

C2 Traffic Patterns

• Beaconing, DGA, DNS tunneling, HTTP(S) with custom headers, encoded payloads. See c2-and-protocols.md.

RC4-Encrypted WebSocket C2

• Remap port with tcprewrite, add RSA key for TLS decryption, find RC4 key in binary. See c2-and-protocols.md.

Identifying Encryption Algorithms

• AES: 0x637c777b S-box; ChaCha20: expand 32-byte k; TEA/XTEA: 0x9E3779B9; RC4: sequential S-box init. See c2-and-protocols.md.

AES-CBC in Malware

• Key = MD5/SHA256 of hardcoded string; IV = first 16 bytes of ciphertext. See c2-and-protocols.md.

PE Analysis

peframe malware.exe      # Quick triage
pe-sieve                 # Runtime analysis
pestudio                 # Static analysis (Windows)

See pe-and-dotnet.md.

.NET Malware Analysis

• Use dnSpy/ILSpy for decompilation; AsmResolver for programmatic analysis. LimeRAT C2: AES-256-ECB with MD5-derived key. See pe-and-dotnet.md.

Malware Configuration Extraction

• Check .data section, PE/.NET resources, registry keys, encrypted config files. See pe-and-dotnet.md.

Sandbox Evasion Checks

• VM detection, debugger detection, timing checks, environment checks, analysis tool detection. See pe-and-dotnet.md.

PyInstaller + PyArmor Unpacking

• pyinstxtractor.py to extract, PyArmor-Unpacker for protected code. See pe-and-dotnet.md.

Telegram Bot Evidence Recovery

• Use bot token from malware source to call getUpdates and getFile APIs. See c2-and-protocols.md.

Debian Package Analysis

ar -x package.deb && tar -xf control.tar.xz  # Check postinst scripts

See scripts-and-obfuscation.md.

Network Indicators Quick Reference

strings malware | grep -E '[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}'
tshark -r capture.pcap -Y "dns.qry.name" -T fields -e dns.qry.name | sort -u