Reverse Engineering Tools Research Articles

Anti-debugging scheme for protecting mobile apps on android platform

The Android application package file, APK file, can be easily decompiled using Android reverse engineering tools. Thus, general apps can be easily transformed into malicious application through reverse engineering and analysis. These repacked apps could be uploaded in general android app market called Google Play Store and redistributed. To prevent theses malicious behaviors such as malicious code injection or code falsifications, many techniques and tools were developed. However, these techniques also can be analyzed using debuggers. Also, analyzed apps can be tampered easily. For example, when applying anti-analysis techniques to android apps using Dexprotector which is commercial tool for protecting android app, it can be seen that these techniques can also be analyzed using debugger. In this paper, to protect the android app from the attack using debugger, we propose anti-debugging techniques for native code debugging and managed code debugging of android apps.

Approach for Obtaining Broken Plastic Parts Using Reverse Engineering Tools

Reverse engineering process has been demonstrated to be reliable solution in solving problems regarding missing information and/or details referred to the functional areas of parts. Based on the specific activities of the chain of processes that defines the reverse engineering concept it can be collected essential information in order to reconstitute important zones of broken parts. The present paper describes an approach that was used to recover a plastic gear part. The case study provided a moulded injected plastic part that was broken during the normal function. The entire process supposed scanning the toothed area that remained and rebuild the contour that was used in CAM software as input data and especially the machining strategy used to perform both sides of the part. The machining process was employed on a CNC graving machine tool.

Determining the requirements, section quantity, and dimension of the virtual occlusal record

Statement of problemConventional methods associated with many processes in dentistry are being replaced by methods that use digital technology. One of these processes is the making of occlusal records for the positioning of casts in a virtual articulator. Conventional interocclusal records and the articulator are currently being replaced by the intraoral virtual occlusal record and the virtual articulator. PurposeThe purpose of this study was to determine the requirements, quantity, and dimensions of the virtual occlusal record procedure in order to locate the mandibular cast’s 3-dimensional (3D) spatial position in reference to its corresponding maxillary cast on a virtual articulator. Material and methodsFor the conventional procedure, 6 sets of casts were located in maximal intercuspal position without any interocclusal record. Then, using articulating paper, the occlusal contacts were determined. Afterward, the occlusal relationships and stone cast were digitized with a 3D scanner. To locate the maxillary cast, the occlusal contacts were compared by taking different sections as the virtual occlusal record. Finally, the optimum dimension of the virtual occlusal record was determined. ResultsThis study determines the requirements, quantity, and dimensions of the virtual occlusal record using current reverse engineering tools. The combinations of the sections were first determined as follows: 3 sections (2 lateral and 1 frontal) and 2 lateral sections proved to be the most accurate. Then, the predictive values (PV) for dimension determination for the left-right lateral combination were calculated. ConclusionsThe main conclusion of this study was that the combination of left and right lateral occlusal records was the most convenient. Additionally, the minimum optimum dimension for a virtual occlusal record was 12×15 mm.

To Prevent Reverse-Enginnering Tools by Shuffling the Stack Status with Hook Mechanism

In this paper, we propose an obfuscation method to shuffle the stack status for preventing illegal analysis from crackers. Generally, crackers tries building a call flow graph of a program to clarify its behaviors. The call flow graph represents relations among methods, and helps comprehension of a program. On the other hand, a callee is fixed by a method name and the stack status in object oriented languages. Then, changing a stack status causes changing a callee when the callee is overloaded. Therefore, we focus on a hook mechanism to change a callee at runtime by changing the stack status. The program applied our method makes a fake call flow graph (CFG) from reverse-engineering tools, and the fake CFG leads misunderstanding of the program. We conducted two experiments to evaluate the proposed method. First is to evaluate the tolerance against existing reverse-engineering tools: Soot, Jad, Procyon, and Krakatau. The Procyon only succeeded decompilation, the others crashed. Second is to evaluate understandability of the program obfuscated by our method. Only one subject in the nine subjects answered the correct value. The experiments show the proposed method leads misunderstanding even if the target program is tiny and simple.

Review on Reverse Engineering Techniques of Software Engineering

Reverse Engineering is an approach to extract requirement information application from XML at higher level of abstraction. In the present study XML to UML transformation methods has been explored and discussed along with some other related work in reverse engineering. A brief review of reverse engineering shows that the transformation results of XML to UML are beneficial for developer. However it does not show changes as per the requirements view. Generation of Natural Language specifications from UML class diagrams is also discussed where results were found encouraging and feasible. All related work of reverse engineering of XML and Natural language specification from UML is clear but a lot of work is to be done to solve real world problems satisfactorily. Capability of different reverse engineering tools is also discussed. Automatic code generation using UML to XML schema transformation is reviewed which shows that it can reduce the time and efforts of coding.

On the detection of custom memory allocators in C binaries

Many reverse engineering techniques for data structures rely on the knowledge of memory allocation routines. Typically, they interpose on the system's malloc and free functions, and track each chunk of memory thus allocated as a data structure. However, many performance-critical applications implement their own custom memory allocators. Examples include webservers, database management systems, and compilers like gcc and clang. As a result, current binary analysis techniques for tracking data structures fail on such binaries. We present MemBrush, a new tool to detect memory allocation and deallocation functions in stripped binaries with high accuracy. We evaluated the technique on a large number of real world applications that use custom memory allocators. We demonstrate that MemBrush can detect allocators/deallocators with a high accuracy which is 52 out of 59 for allocators, and 29 out of 31 for deallocators in SPECINT 2006. As we show, we can furnish existing reverse engineering tools with detailed information about the memory management API, and as a result perform an analysis of the actual application specific data structures designed by the programmer. Our system uses dynamic analysis and detects memory allocation and deallocation routines by searching for functions that comply with a set of generic characteristics of allocators and deallocators.

Pattern detection for conceptual schema recovery in data-intensive systems

In this paper, an approach for information systems reverse engineering is proposed and applied. The aim is to support a unified perspective to the reverse engineering process of both data and software. At the state of the art, indeed, many methods, techniques, and tools for software reverse engineering have been proposed to support program comprehension, software maintenance, and software evolution. Other approaches and tools have been proposed for data reverse engineering, with the aim, for example, to provide complete and up-to-date documentation of legacy databases. However, the two engineering communities often worked independently, and very few approaches addressed the reverse engineering of both data and software as information system's constituencies. Hence, a higher integration is needed to support a better co-evolution of databases and programs, in an environment often characterized by high availability of data and volatility of information flows. Accordingly, the approach we propose leverages the detection of object-relational mapping design patterns to build a conceptual schema of the software under analysis. Then, the conceptual schema is mapped to the domain model of the system, to support the design of the evolution of the information system itself. The approach is evaluated on two large-scale open-source enterprise applications. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A language-independent approach to the extraction of dependencies between source code entities

ContextSoftware networks are directed graphs of static dependencies between source code entities (functions, classes, modules, etc.). These structures can be used to investigate the complexity and evolution of large-scale software systems and to compute metrics associated with software design. The extraction of software networks is also the first step in reverse engineering activities. ObjectiveThe aim of this paper is to present SNEIPL, a novel approach to the extraction of software networks that is based on a language-independent, enriched concrete syntax tree representation of the source code. MethodThe applicability of the approach is demonstrated by the extraction of software networks representing real-world, medium to large software systems written in different languages which belong to different programming paradigms. To investigate the completeness and correctness of the approach, class collaboration networks (CCNs) extracted from real-world Java software systems are compared to CCNs obtained by other tools. Namely, we used Dependency Finder which extracts entity-level dependencies from Java bytecode, and Doxygen which realizes language-independent fuzzy parsing approach to dependency extraction. We also compared SNEIPL to fact extractors present in language-independent reverse engineering tools. ResultsOur approach to dependency extraction is validated on six real-world medium to large-scale software systems written in Java, Modula-2, and Delphi. The results of the comparative analysis involving ten Java software systems show that the networks formed by SNEIPL are highly similar to those formed by Dependency Finder and more precise than the comparable networks formed with the help of Doxygen. Regarding the comparison with language-independent reverse engineering tools, SNEIPL provides both language-independent extraction and representation of fact bases. ConclusionSNEIPL is a language-independent extractor of software networks and consequently enables language-independent network-based analysis of software systems, computation of design software metrics, and extraction of fact bases for reverse engineering activities.

English

English

Efficient synthesis of feature models

ContextVariability modeling, and in particular feature modeling, is a central element of model-driven software product line architectures. Such architectures often emerge from legacy code, but, creating feature models from large, legacy systems is a long and arduous task. We describe three synthesis scenarios that can benefit from the algorithms in this paper. ObjectiveThis paper addresses the problem of automatic synthesis of feature models from propositional constraints. We show that the decision version of the problem is NP-hard. We designed two efficient algorithms for synthesis of feature models from CNF and DNF formulas respectively. MethodWe performed an experimental evaluation of the algorithms against a binary decision diagram (BDD)-based approach and a formal concept analysis (FCA)-based approach using models derived from realistic models. ResultsOur evaluation shows a 10 to 1,000-fold performance improvement for our algorithms over the BDD-based approach. The performance of the DNF-based algorithm was similar to the FCA-based approach, with advantages for both techniques. We identified input properties that affect the runtimes of the CNF- and DNF-based algorithms. ConclusionsOur algorithms are the first known techniques that are efficient enough to be used on dependencies extracted from real systems, opening new possibilities of creating reverse engineering and model management tools for variability models.

Virtual prouction of dental prostheses using a dental virtual articulator

Dental virtual articulators constitute a great improvement in the design of dental prostheses. The use of computer aided design (CAD) systems and Reverse engineering tools permits the introduction of kinematic analysis in virtual design processes. This paper presents a research project aiming at designing a dental virtual articulator in order to simulate and analyse the mandibular movements. After a virtual construction of the articulator, plaster models of the jaw must be scanned. Apart from this, by means of a face bow, the relative location of the occlusal surface referred to the intercondilar axis must be registered. Afterwards, with the help of the CAD system, the dental prosthesis is finally developed as mandibular movements are simulated. The main value of this paper is its contribution to the methodology for the implementation of virtual design in the production of dental prostheses.

Reverse Engineering Tool Based on Unified Mapping Method (RETUM): Class Diagram Visualizations

In this research paper, we evaluate an assortment of tools and intend to investigate multifarious characteristic of Imagix-4D Reverse Engineering Tool and on the basis of investigation find out inadequacy of Imagix-4D Reverse Engineering Tool (illustrate only abstract Class Diagram, and it has no support to illustrate ER-Diagram and Sequence Diagram) and propose a Reverse Engineering Tool based on Unified Mapping Method (RETUM) for prominence of Class Diagram Visualizations which surmount the limitation (class diagram which is intricate in visualization) of Imagix-4D Reverse Engineering Tool.

Cascade: a R package to study, predict and simulate the diffusion of a signal through a temporal gene network

Temporal gene interactions, in response to environmental stress, form a complex system that can be efficiently described using gene regulatory networks. They allow highlighting the more influential genes and spotting some targets for biological intervention experiments. Despite that many reverse engineering tools have been designed, the Cascade package is an integrated solution adding several new and original key features such as the ability to predict changes in gene expressions after a biological perturbation in the network and graphical outputs that allow monitoring the spread of a signal through the network. The R package Cascade is available online at http://www-math.u-strasbg.fr/genpred/spip.php?rubrique4.

New Reverse Engineering Tool to Transform Oracle10g Code to Entity Relationship Model

Reverse engineering is one of the important operations performed on programming codes to get their design presented graphically. Reverse engineering is performed on various types of databases to get their particular designs represented by different models of relationships. In this paper, we found that a tool for performing reverse engineering on Oracle10g database located inside Oracle10g server , It has been designed in order to get its entity relationship model. Oracle10g data dictionary has been considered in performing reverse engineering. This dictionary includes all information that describes databases which is utilized for getting the important information relevant to the tables. It was necessary for presenting the entity relationship model. XML tags have been used in presenting the information of the data dictionary. These tags were utilized in creating the graphical entity relationship model.

Exciting Prospects for Precise Engineering of Caenorhabditis elegans Genomes with CRISPR/Cas9

With remarkable speed, the CRISPR-Cas9 nuclease has become the genome-editing tool of choice for essentially all genetically tractable organisms. Targeting specific DNA sequences is conceptually simple because the Cas9 nuclease can be guided by a single, short RNA (sgRNA) to introduce double-strand DNA breaks (DSBs) at precise locations. Here I contrast and highlight protocols recently developed by eight different research groups, six of which are published in GENETICS, to modify the Caenorhabditis elegans genome using CRISPR/Cas9. This reverse engineering tool levels the playing field for experimental geneticists.

Assessment of laser-based reverse engineering systems for tangible cultural heritage conservation

The process of acquiring the geometry and shape of a part and reconstructing its digital model is known as reverse engineering (RE). This approach is usefully employed in fields as diverse as product design, design modification, geometrical inspection, worn or damaged parts repair or remanufacturing, when physical object drawings, documentation or computer models are not available. The recent scientific and technical developments of RE methods and tools have broadened the possibilities of applications in the field of cultural heritage conservation ranging from reproduction (e.g. via rapid prototyping), maintenance (e.g. computer-aided repair), multimedia tools for education and dissemination (e.g. virtual museums), to artefact condition monitoring (e.g. computer-aided inspection) and many more. The first stage of the RE procedure is digital data acquisition that can be carried out by means of several different tools. The selection of the 3D digitising system is crucial as it directly affects the process time and the quality of the point cloud, which determines the final digital model. In this research work, following the EC FP7 open topic on ‘Equipment assessment for laser based applications’ compiled in Horizon 2020, two non-contact laser-based RE systems, respectively, based on a coordinate measuring machine and a portable 3D scanning equipment, are utilised for the digitisation and reconstruction of a free-form tangible cultural heritage artefact to comparatively assess the RE system's performance in terms of process time, accuracy and ease of use.

A Practical Teaching Experience about Software Reengineering

Software maintenance is recognized as an important knowledge area within the most common international curriculums in software engineering. Despite this fact, and its importance in the industry, software maintenance and supporting techniques such as reengineering are hardly ever taught in practical lessons. This paper presents a reengineering teaching experience conducted in lab sessions by using reverse engineering and code generation tools. The experience was carried out by merging traditional methods (such as teaching lessons) with technological resources (e.g., Learning Management Systems to conduct and analyze questionnaires). The teaching-learning process was qualitative- and quantitatively assessed by comparing results between an initial and final evaluation. The Reported results show that students do not know reengineering as a software maintenance technique and their satisfaction with the experience was high or very high (65%) or medium (35%). The key learned lessons are that students recognized the usage of reengineering tools as very convenient for their performance as future practitioners and the need to devote additional time in classroom to learn such tools.

Suggest a Reverse Engineering Tool to Analyze the Software Source Code Written in Java

Reverse engineering has presented solution to a major problem in the development and maintenance of the legacy software which is the process of understanding these software types, It is a difficult task because most of legacy software lacked a proper documentation or a correct design model. Unified Modeling Language has an important and great role in determine (extract) the specifications of the software in accordance with the principles of the reverse engineering and modeling it using one of its types which is a Class Diagram. Reverse Engineering Class Diagram is an abstract representation gives an overview of the software structure and it does not give full information about the internal details and the relationships of software components. In this research a computer aided software engineering tool has been constructed which is called RMDT (Relational Meta Data Table). It bases on constructing an interpreter of an entered software source code analyzing to extract an information that assist in understanding the structure of the software and to clarify its components and the relationships that bind its parts (internal structural of the entered software). The RMDT tool represents the information in tables which have been designed in a highly flexible manner and be suitable for use in the future when applying software re-engineering on the entered software. Furthermore ,the research has studied and tested several of most common software engineering tools which used to implement reverse engineering like (Reverse, ArgoUML, Rational rose, Enterprise Architecture (EA), class2uml, Together). The analysis focused on these tools to produce class diagram of the software source code written in Java. The produced class diagram includes the number of classes, relationship types among classes and the common classes. However, the obtained results from the RMDT tool has been compared with those obtained from others. The produced tables from RMDT tool includes all the information required to recover the design, as they used to produce a class diagram, due to the availability of class, method, variables names, method parameter names, interface, relationships (association, dependency and Generalization) and identify visibility while no such details found in a class diagram that produced by other tools.

Application of the 'Iterative Closest Point' Algorithm for Determination of Rotation Axis of a Turntable

Reverse engineering [ is a field of technology which has been under rapid development for several recent years. Optic scanners are basic devices used as reverse engineering tools. Point cloud describes the shape of a scanned object. Automatic turntable is a device which enables a scanning process from different viewing angles. In the paper, the algorithm is described which has been used for determination of rotation axis of a turntable. The obtained axis constitutes the base for an aggregation of particular point clouds into single resultant common cloud describing the shape of the scanned object. Usability of this algorithm for precise scanning of mechanical parts was validated, precision of shape replication was also evaluated.

Proposed Software Re-engineering Process That Combine Traditinal Software Reengineering Process With Spiral Model

Software re-engineering, a recent research area includes reverse engineering, forward engineering and reengineering tools while re-engineering modification to get new enhanced until now does not discussed in a serious manner, so in this paper the traditional software reengineering is discussed and the software reengineering process is suggested. The proposed incorporates both the reverse engineering and forward engineering integrated with spiral model where reverse engineering applies to existing system code to extract design & requirements, although this is often used as means to mitigate risks & reduced costs of operation and maintaining the software system. This paper briefly describes traditional re-engineering then discusses the emerging of proposed-reengineering which is often used as means to simplify the complex tasks. The paper represents how quality is going to be effect with the help of given software reengineering process. An analysis of various possible risks, their impact and mapping with various attributes is correspondingly presented. This paper is also presenting the way to reduce the impact of most of these risks by using proposed re-engineering through get all the useful features of spiral model. Keywords: Software Engineering, Software Re-engineering Process, Proposed Re-engineering Process, Reverses Engineering; Forward Engineering, Risk Assessment, Software Metrics.