LICENSE VERIFICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS

• US 20140115720A1
• Filed: 10/21/2013
• Published: 04/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: YI, Jungbae
• Application Number:
  US14/058,828
• Publication Number:
  US 20140115720A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for verifying a license of software including binary files. The license verification method includes acquiring a binary file; extracting a symbol and a command sequence from the binary file; and verifying the symbol and the command sequence using a database including licenses to be verified.

Claims

1. A method of verifying a license by a license verification apparatus, the method comprising:

acquiring, by the license verification apparatus, a binary file;

extracting a symbol and a command sequence from the binary file; and

verifying the symbol and the command sequence using a database including licenses to be verified.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring the binary file comprises:

analyzing a type of a verification target;

performing one of decompressing, unpacking, and decompiling the verification target, when the verification target is one of a compressed file and a package file; and

acquiring the binary file, based on a result of one of the one of the decompressing, the unpacking, and the decompiling.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the symbol includes at least one of a function name included in the binary file, a type of a function, and a length of the function name.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein extracting the symbol and the command sequence from the binary file comprises:

extracting machine language of the binary file;

converting the machine language to an assembly language; and

normalizing the assembly language for each function.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein verifying the symbol comprises determining whether the symbol of the binary file is included in the database.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein verifying the command sequence comprises determining whether the command sequence of the binary file is included in the database.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the binary file corresponds to a license based on a verification result of verifying the symbol and the command sequence of the binary file.

8. A method for verifying a license of a binary file by a license verification apparatus, the method comprising:

selecting, by the license verification apparatus, symbols included in open sources;

generating a knowledge database including the selected symbols;

generating a hex knowledge database with per-function command sequences;

acquiring the binary file to be verified;

extracting a symbol and a command sequence of the binary file;

verifying the symbol of the binary file, based on the knowledge database; and

verifying the command sequence of the binary file, based on the hex knowledge database.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein selecting the symbols included in the open sources comprises excluding duplicate symbols and redundant symbols that are identical in function to another symbol, but different in spelling.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein selecting the symbols included in the open sources comprises:

calculating a degree of uniqueness for each of the symbols; and

extracting symbols having the degree of uniqueness equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the degree of uniqueness is proportional to a length of a symbol and inversely proportional to a number of duplicates of the symbol in the open sources.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the knowledge database includes at least one of a project name for a license, a license type, string literals, a function name, and a degree of uniqueness, based on a license to be verified.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein generating the hex knowledge database comprises:

compiling a source code of an open source into binary;

processing the binary into an assembly language for each function;

normalizing the assembly language based on the command; and

building the hex knowledge database with per-function commands.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein acquiring the binary file to be verified comprises:

analyzing a type of a verification target;

performing one of decompressing, unpacking, and decompiling the verification target, when the verification target is one of a compressed file and a package file; and

acquiring the binary file based on result of the one of the decompressing, the unpacking, and the decompiling.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the symbol includes at least one of a function name included in the binary file, a type of a function, and a length of the function name.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein extracting the symbol and the command sequence of the binary file comprises:

extracting machine language of the binary file;

assembling converting the machine language to an assembly language; and

normalizing the assembly language for each function.

17. The method of claim 8, wherein verifying the symbol of the binary file comprises determining whether the symbol of the binary file is included in the knowledge database.

18. The method of claim 8, wherein verifying the command sequence of the binary file comprises determining whether the command sequence of the binary file is included in the hex knowledge database.

19. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining whether the binary file corresponds to the license based on a verification result of verifying the symbol and the command sequence of the binary file.

20. The method of claim 8, further comprising displaying at least one of file information, extracted search target string literals information, a verification progress status, and a verification result.

21. A license verification apparatus comprising:

an input unit configured to receive an input for a license verification request; and

a control unit configured to acquire a binary file in response to the license verification request, extract a symbol and a command sequence of the binary file, and verify the symbol and command sequence in series using a database including licenses to be verified.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the control unit is configured to analyze a type of a verification target, perform one of decompressing, unpacking, and decompiling the verification target, when the verification target is one of a compressed file and a package file, and acquire the binary file, based on a result of the one of the decompressing, the unpacking, and the decompiling.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the symbol comprises at least one of:

a function name included in the binary file;

a type of a function; and

a length of the function name.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising a storage unit configured to store the database including a knowledge database and a hex knowledge database.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the knowledge database comprises a symbol record including at least one of a project name for a license, a license type, string literals, and a function name.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the control unit is configured to determine whether the symbol of the binary file is included in the knowledge database.

27. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the hex knowledge database comprises a command sequence record for use in license verification.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the control unit is configured to determine whether the command sequence of the binary file is included in the hex knowledge database.

29. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the control unit is configured to determine whether the binary file matches with a license, based on results of the symbol and command sequence verification.

30. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising a storage unit configured to store the database,

wherein the database comprises a knowledge database and a hex knowledge database.

31. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising a display unit,

wherein the control unit is configured to control the display unit to display at least one of acquired binary file information, extracted search target string literals information, a verification progress status, and a verification result.

32. A license verification apparatus for verifying a license of a binary file, the apparatus comprising:

a knowledge database generator configured to build a knowledge database including symbols selected from open sources, based on degrees of uniqueness;

a hex knowledge database generator configured to build a hex knowledge database including per-function command sequences of the open sources; and

a license verification engine configured to extract the symbols and command sequences of the binary file and to search the knowledge database and the hex knowledge database for the symbol and a per-function command sequence to verify the license of the binary file.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the knowledge database generator comprises records of symbols acquired by excluding duplicate symbols and redundant symbols that are identical in function to another symbol of the open sources, but different in spelling.