Method and system for protecting native libraries

• US 6,862,683 B1
• Filed: 03/24/2000
• Issued: 03/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Wille, Robert Baird, Black, Russell Lane
• Primary Examiner(s): Peeso, Thomas R.
• Application Number:
  US09/534,362
• Time in Patent Office: 1,803 Days
• Field of Search: 713/151, 713/164, 713/200, 713/201, 713/167
• US Class Current: 713/151
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/14 against software analysis or reverse engineering, e.g. by obfuscation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/50 Monitoring users, programs or devices to maintain the integrity of platforms, e.g. of processors, firmware or operating systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/51 at application loading time, e.g. accepting, rejecting, starting or inhibiting executable software based on integrity or source reliability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/52 during program execution, e.g. stack integrity ; Preventing unwanted data erasure; Buffer overflow

Abstract

A method and system for protecting native libraries for Java and other applications. An application'"'"'s native library may be embedded in a system of code, such as Java code, so the protections afforded the system of code are provided to the native library. At runtime, the native library may be written to a randomly selected filename in a local file system. The native library is then loaded to support native method implementations. Because the library is written to a different and randomly chosen filename each time, a hacker will not know beforehand what library is going to be used. This invention is generally useful for protecting any native library, regardless of whether it is part of a shared Java library or not. It provides any native library the same level of protection that the symbolic obfuscator, or other method of protecting Java code, gives the Java code.

Claims

1. A method of protecting one or more native libraries to be used with code applications comprising steps of:

embedding the one or more native libraries in a system of code; and

protecting the system of code using a protection mechanism.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the protection mechanism comprises Java protection mechanism.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the Java protection mechanism comprises one or more of symbolic obfuscation, cryptographic obfuscation, or signed code.

4. A method of protecting one or more native libraries to be used with code applications comprising steps of:

embedding the one or more native libraries in a system of code;

protecting the system of code using a protection mechanism; and

extracting the native library during execution of an application, but prior to the invocation of a native method of the embedded one or more native libraries contained in the system of code.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the extracting step comprises the steps of:

selecting data associated with a predetermined native library of the one or more native libraries embedded in the system of code;

extracting data associated with the predetermined native library from the system of code;

writing the data associated with the predetermined native library to a filename in a local file system; and

loading the predetermined native library into an environment to enable implementation of one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library from the local file system.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the filename is a randomly selected filename.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the extracting step comprises the steps of:

selecting data associated with a predetermined native library of the one or more native libraries embedded in the system of code;

extracting data associated with the predetermined native library from the system of code;

extracting a class file containing one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library;

randomly renaming symbols exported by the predetermined native library;

randomly renaming symbols contained in the class file containing one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library;

writing the data associated with the predetermined native library to a first filename in a local file system;

writing the class file containing one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library to a second filename in the local file system; and

loading the predetermined native library and class file into an environment to enable implementation of one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library from the local file system.

8. The method of claim 7 where the step of randomly renaming comprises obfuscation.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of calling into the loaded class file through a wrapper function wherein the wrapper function calls into the loaded predetermined native library.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the first filename is a randomly selected filename.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein the second filename is a randomly selected filename.

12. The method of claim 4 wherein the extracting step comprises the steps of:

selecting data associated with a predetermined native library of the one or more native libraries embedded in the system of code;

extracting data associated with the predetermined native library from the system of code;

extracting a class file containing one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library;

randomly renaming symbols exported by the predetermined native library;

randomly renaming symbols contained in the class file containing one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library;

writing the data associated with the predetermined native library to a first filename in a local file system;

instantiating a class containing one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library from an image representation of the class; and

loading the predetermined native library into an environment to enable implementation of one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library.

13. The method of claim 12 where the step of randomly renaming comprises obfuscation.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of calling into the loaded class file through a wrapper function wherein the wrapper function calls into the loaded predetermined native library.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the first filename is a randomly selected filename.

16. A system for protecting one or more native libraries to be used with code applications comprising:

an embedding means for embedding the one or more native libraries in a system of code; and

a protection means for protecting the system of code using a protection mechanism.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the protection mechanism comprises a Java protection mechanism.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the Java protection mechanism comprises one or more of symbolic obfuscation, cryptographic obfuscation, or signed code.

19. A system for protecting one or more native libraries to be used with code applications comprising:

embedding means for embedding the one or more native libraries in a system of code;

protection means for protecting the system of code using a protection mechanism; and

extracting means for extracting the native library during execution of an application, but prior to the invocation of a native method of the embedded one or more native libraries contained in the system of code.

20. The system of claim, 19 wherein the extracting means comprises:

a selecting means for selecting data associated with a predetermined native library of the one or more native libraries embedded in the system of code;

a data extracting means for extracting data associated with the predetermined native library from the system of code;

a writing means for writing the data associated with the predetermined native library to a filename in a local file system; and

a loading means for loading the predetermined native library into an environment to enable implementation of one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library from the local file system.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the filename is a randomly selected filename.

22. The system of claim 19 wherein the extracting means comprises the steps of:

a selecting means for selecting data associated with a predetermined native library of the one or more native libraries embedded in the system of code;

a data extracting means for extracting data associated with the predetermined native library from the system of code;

a class extracting means for extracting a class file containing one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library;

a first renaming means for randomly renaming symbols exported by the predetermined native library;

a second renaming means for randomly renaming symbols contained in the class file containing one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library;

a data writing means for writing the data associated with the predetermined native library to a first filename in a local file system;

a class writing means for writing the class file containing one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library to a second filename in the local file system; and

a loading means for loading the predetermined native library and class file into an environment to enable implementation of one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library from the local file system.

23. The system of claim 22 where the step of randomly renaming comprises obfuscation.

24. The system of claim 22 further comprising the step of calling into the loaded class file through a wrapper function wherein the wrapper function calls into the loaded predetermined native library.

25. The system of claim 22 wherein the first filename is a randomly selected filename.

26. The system of claim 22 wherein the second filename is a randomly selected filename.

27. The system of claim wherein the extracting means comprises the steps of:

a selecting means for selecting data associated with a predetermined native library of the one or more native libraries embedded in the system of code;

a data extracting means for extracting data associated with the predetermined native library from the system of code;

a class extracting means for extracting a class file containing one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library;

a first renaming means for randomly renaming symbols exported by the predetermined native library;

a second renaming means for randomly renaming symbols contained in the class file containing one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library;

a data writing means for writing the data associated with the predetermined native library to a first filename in a local file system;

a class instantiating means for instantiating a class containing one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library from an image representation of the class; and

a loading means for loading the predetermined native library into an environment to enable implementation of one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library.

28. The system of claim 27 where the step of randomly renaming comprises obfuscation.

29. The system of claim 27 further comprising the step of calling into the loaded class file through a wrapper function wherein the wrapper function calls into the loaded predetermined native library.

30. The system of claim 27 wherein the first filename is a randomly selected filename.

31. A processor readable medium having processor readable code embodied therein for accessing data on a computer-based data accessing system, the processor readable medium comprising:

processor readable code for embedding the one or more native libraries in a system of code; and

processor readable code for protecting the archive file using a protection mechanism.

32. The processor of claim 31 wherein the protection mechanism comprises a Java protection mechanism.

33. A processor readable medium having processor readable code embodied therein for accessing data on a computer-based data accessing system, the processor readable medium comprising:

processor readable code for embedding the one or more native libraries in a system of code;

processor readable code for protecting the archive file using a protection mechanism; and

processor readable code for extracting the native library during execution of an application, but prior to the invocation of native methods of the embedded native libraries contained in the system of code.

34. The processor of claim 33 further comprising:

processor readable code for causing a processor to select a class containing data associated with a predetermined native library of the one or more native libraries embedded in the system of code;

processor readable code for causing a processor to extract data associated with the predetermined native library from the system of code;

processor readable code for causing a processor to write the data associated with the predetermined native library to a filename in a local file system;

processor readable code for causing a processor to load the predetermined native library into an environment to enable implementation of one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library.

35. The processor of claim 34 wherein the filename is a randomly selected filename.

36. The processor of claim 33 further comprising:

processor readable code for selecting data associated with a predetermined native library of the one or more native libraries embedded in the system of code;

processor readable code for extracting data associated with the predetermined native library from the system of code;

processor readable code for extracting a class file containing one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library;

processor readable code for randomly renaming symbols exported by the predetermined native library;

processor readable code for randomly renaming symbols contained in the class file containing one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library;

processor readable code for writing the data associated with the predetermined native library to a first filename in a local file system;

processor readable code for writing the class file containing one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library to a second filename in the local file system; and

processor readable code for loading the predetermined native library and class file into an environment to enable implementation of one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library from the local file system.

37. The processor of claim 33 further comprising:

processor readable code for selecting data associated with a predetermined native library of the one or more native libraries embedded in the system of code;

processor readable code for extracting data associated with the predetermined native library from the system of code;

processor readable code for extracting a class file containing one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library;

processor readable code for randomly renaming symbols exported by the predetermined native library;

processor readable code for randomly renaming symbols contained in the class file containing one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library;

processor readable code for writing the data associated with the predetermined native library to a filename in a local file system;

processor readable code for instantiating a class containing one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library from an image representation of the class; and

processor readable code for loading the predetermined native library into an environment to enable implementation of one or more native methods associated with the predetermined native library.