Pack-A-Mal: A Malware Analysis Framework for Open-Source Packages

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Vu, Duc-Ly, Nguyen, Thanh-Cong, Vu, Minh-Khanh, Nguyen, Ngoc-Thanh, Thi, Kim-Anh Do
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Vu, Duc-Ly
Nguyen, Thanh-Cong
Vu, Minh-Khanh
Nguyen, Ngoc-Thanh
Thi, Kim-Anh Do
author_facet Vu, Duc-Ly
Nguyen, Thanh-Cong
Vu, Minh-Khanh
Nguyen, Ngoc-Thanh
Thi, Kim-Anh Do
contents The increasingly sophisticated environment in which attackers operate makes software security an even greater challenge in open-source projects, where malicious packages are prevalent. Static analysis tools, such as Malcontent, are highly useful but are often incapable of dealing with obfuscated malware. Such situations lead to an unreasonably high rate of false positives. This paper highlights that dynamic analysis, rather than static analysis, provides greater insight but is also more resource-intensive for understanding software behaviour during execution. In this study, we enhance a dynamic analysis tool, package-analysis, to capture key runtime behaviours, including commands executed, files accessed, and network communications. This modification enables the use of container sandboxing technologies, such as gVisor, to analyse potentially malicious packages without significantly compromising the host system.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_09957
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Pack-A-Mal: A Malware Analysis Framework for Open-Source Packages
Vu, Duc-Ly
Nguyen, Thanh-Cong
Vu, Minh-Khanh
Nguyen, Ngoc-Thanh
Thi, Kim-Anh Do
Cryptography and Security
The increasingly sophisticated environment in which attackers operate makes software security an even greater challenge in open-source projects, where malicious packages are prevalent. Static analysis tools, such as Malcontent, are highly useful but are often incapable of dealing with obfuscated malware. Such situations lead to an unreasonably high rate of false positives. This paper highlights that dynamic analysis, rather than static analysis, provides greater insight but is also more resource-intensive for understanding software behaviour during execution. In this study, we enhance a dynamic analysis tool, package-analysis, to capture key runtime behaviours, including commands executed, files accessed, and network communications. This modification enables the use of container sandboxing technologies, such as gVisor, to analyse potentially malicious packages without significantly compromising the host system.
title Pack-A-Mal: A Malware Analysis Framework for Open-Source Packages
topic Cryptography and Security
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.09957