Using Binary Code Rewrite to Bypass License Checks
File(s)
Date
2003Author
Kosar, Tevfik
Christodorescu, Mihai
Iverson, Rob
Miller, Barton P
Publisher
University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Computer Sciences
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
A comnon method of enforcing software license terms is for a program to contact another program, called a license server, and ask for permission to run. This study attempts to bypass these license checks in a commercial product through runtime code modification, using the DynInst library. The programs chosen as victims for this study are Adobe FrameMalter, the Purify family of programs, and MatLab. We successfully bypass the FrameMaker licensing checks, allowing full use of the product when the license server is unavailable. Limitations in DynInst prevent similar results with Purify or MatLab. A set of powerful tools has been developed and used in the process, and their generality should simplify similar license bypassing efforts on other software products. Key words : System security, intellectual property protection, cyber cime, dynamic instrumentation,
bypassing licence checks, binary code rewriting.
Permanent Link
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/60352Citation
TR1479