README

  Midgetpack
  ~-~-~-~-~-
    aris@badcode.be
  
  Table of contents:
  
1- What is Midgetpack
2- Features
3- Use
4- Shortcomings
5- Installation

***********************************************************

1- What is Midgetpack

 Midgetpack is a binary packer for ELF binaries, such as burneye, upx or 
 other tools. Its goal is to protect your assets (tools, exploits) when using
 them on untrusted systems (e.g on a monitored customer's system during a
 pentest).
 Midgetpack contains two modes of operation: password and curve25519 key exchange.
 
 The password mode is the classical password that is asked when starting the
 binary. I believe the binary to be secure against cracking if you choose a
 strong password, but once someone has both binary and password he can do whatever
 he wants.
 
 The curve25519 is the real advantage of midgetpack. In this mode, you do not
 provide any password or key. Instead, a key file is generated at packing time.
 This key file must be used everytime you wish to use the binary. When you start
 the binary, it will give a challenge and expect a response. You copy/paste the
 challenge in the input of the mpkex tool and receive a response containing the
 encrypted key to the binary.
 This key exchange is protected by Curve25519 key exchange, the key is encrypted
 with aes-128 and the whole exchange is authenticated with HMAC-SHA256 to avoid
 generic man-in-the-middle attacks.
 This mode is truly secure as eavesdropping the terminal will *not* be enough to
 recover the key or the unprotected binary.
 
2- Features

 Midgetpack is able to pack binaries in different architectures using the same
 executable. This makes possible to pack an x86 binary on an amd64 one.
 
 Currently Linux and freebsd are supported.
 CPU supported: x86-32, x86-64, arm
 
 Encryption: 
  - Password (PBKCS2, AES128-cbc, HMAC-SHA256)
  - curve25519 (Curve25519 kex, AES128-cbc, HMAC-SHA256)
  
3- Use
 As stated above, there are 2 different operation modes: password and curve25519.
 
 - Password:
   $ ./midgetpack -o binary -p src/tests/test32-dynamic 
   x86 ELF file
   Adding new pheader with vaddr base badd000, offset 0 of filesz 5eca
   Please enter password:
   Enter the password again:
   $ chmod +x binary 
   $ ./binary 
   starting stub...
   Password: 
   Hello, world !
 
 - Curve25519
   $ ./midgetpack -o binary -c src/tests/test32-dynamic
   x86 ELF file
   Adding new pheader with vaddr base badd000, offset 0 of filesz 5eca
   Key data written in file key
   
   Then, two consoles are needed:
 
 $ ./binary                            | $ src/packer/mpkex key 
starting stub...                       | Waiting for challenge...
challenge:                             |
ZABpaSpiAkNzJTFKkiE3S7mW-vC7YrcBainilU |
1yScpWEWZB9epppJHeicqd9wj4             |
                                       | ZABpaSpiAkNzJTFKkiE3S7mW-vC7YrcBainilU
                                       | 1yScpWEWZB9epppJHeicqd9wj4
                                       | Response:
                                       | jvDFJApVgXUASz-7hLj_2BJ40ppY0EsJ9GOsM-f
                                       | 7pkBVFsu6cnV4XWBSO5nz82lVopPJJ5PRy7Pi-l
                                       | urGgtPDDAA
jvDFJApVgXUASz-7hLj_2BJ40ppY0EsJ9GOsM- | $ 
f7pkBVFsu6cnV4XWBSO5nz82lVopPJJ5PRy7Pi |
-lurGgtPDDAA                           |
Hello, world !                         |

4- Shortcomings

 The password version of midgetpack is not very secure. The password is currently
 echoed back so it appears in cleartext on honeypots. However it may be enough when
 there's good confidence that the system is not monitored.
 
 The Curve25519 version is stronger, but is subject to replay attacks if the PRNG
 can be forced to replay same numbers. To do so, an attacker would need to hook
 /dev/urandom, the rdtsc instruction and the ELF Aux vector on the first run
 to force output of the same numbers.
 
 The Curve25519 version is also vulnerable to some active man-in-the middle attacks
 in which an attacker would need to extract the HMAC key from the binary and dynamically
 replace the binary's challenge with its own.
 
 Both these attacks are unlikely to be seen in the wild.
 
 Both versions are vulnerable to snapshots attacks, in which a snapshot of the VM or
 the running process is taken in order to analyse the cleartext version of the binary.
 Reducing the impact of these attacks may be a target for next versions.
 
5- Installation

 Requirements:
 - cmake
 - C compiler (tested with gcc, may fail on clang)

 $ mkdir build/
 $ cd build/
 $ cmake ..
  (note: cmake .. -DWITH_PRECOMPILED_STUBS if you don't want any binary blob)
 $ make
 $ src/packer/midgetpack -o packed -P mypassword src/tests/test32-dynamic
 $ ./packed