Code morphing is an approach used in

obfuscating software In software development, obfuscation is the act of creating source code, source or machine code that is difficult for humans or computers to understand. Like obfuscation in natural language, it may use needlessly roundabout expressions to comp ...

to protect

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...

applications from

reverse engineering Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...

analysis Analysis ( : analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (3 ...

, modifications, and cracking. This technology protects intermediate level code such as compiled from Java and .NET languages ( Oxygene, C#,

Visual Basic Visual Basic is a name for a family of programming languages from Microsoft. It may refer to: * Visual Basic .NET (now simply referred to as "Visual Basic"), the current version of Visual Basic launched in 2002 which runs on .NET * Visual Basic ( ...

, etc.) rather than binary

object code In computing, object code or object module is the product of a compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ...

. Code morphing breaks up the protected code into several processor commands or small command snippets and replaces them by others, while maintaining the same end result. Thus the protector obfuscates the code at the intermediate level. Code morphing is a multilevel technology containing hundreds of unique code transformation patterns. In addition this technology transforms some intermediate layer commands into

virtual machine In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization/ emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve specialized h ...

commands (like p-code). Code morphing does not protect against runtime tracing, which can reveal the execution logic of any protected code. Unlike other code protectors, there is no concept of code

decryption In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can deci ...

with this method. Protected code blocks are always in the executable state, and they are executed (interpreted) as transformed code. The original intermediate code is absent to a certain degree, but deobfuscation can still give a clear view of the original code flow. Code morphing is also used to refer to the

just-in-time compilation In computing, just-in-time (JIT) compilation (also dynamic translation or run-time compilations) is a way of executing computer code that involves compilation during execution of a program (at run time) rather than before execution. This may co ...

technology used in

Transmeta Transmeta Corporation was an American fabless semiconductor company based in Santa Clara, California. It developed low power x86 compatible microprocessors based on a VLIW core and a software layer called Code Morphing Software. Code Morphing S ...

processors such as the

Crusoe Crusoe may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Crusoe'' (film), a 1989 film by Caleb Deschanel based on the novel ''Robinson Crusoe'' * ''Crusoe'' (TV series), a 2008 television series based on the novel ''Robinson Crusoe'' * Crusoe the ...

and

Efficeon The Efficeon processor is Transmeta's second-generation 256-bit VLIW design released in 2004 which employs a software engine Code Morphing Software (CMS) to convert code written for x86 processors to the native instruction set of the chip. Like i ...

to implement the

x86 x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel based on the Intel 8086 microprocessor and its 8088 variant. The 8086 was intr ...

instruction set architecture. Code morphing is often used in obfuscating the

copy protection Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy prevention and copy restriction, describes measures to enforce copyright by preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media. Copy protection is most commonly found o ...

or other checks that a program makes to determine whether it is a valid, authentic installation, or an unauthorized copy, in order to make the removal of the copy-protection code more difficult than would otherwise be the case.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Code Morphing Obfuscation Source code Warez

See also

References