Cryptology ePrint Archive: Report 2011/497

Can a Program Reverse-Engineer Itself?

Antoine Amarilli and David Naccache and Pablo Rauzy and Emil Simion

Abstract: Shape-memory alloys are metal pieces that "remember" their original cold-forged shapes and return to the pre-deformed shape after heating. In this work we construct a software analogous of shape-memory alloys: programs whose code resists obfuscation. We show how to pour arbitrary functions into protective envelops that allow recovering the functions' {\sl exact initial code} after obfuscation. We explicit the theoretical foundations of our method and provide a concrete implementation in Scheme.

Category / Keywords: foundations / obfuscation

Date: received 13 Sep 2011

Contact author: david naccache at ens fr

Available format(s): PDF | BibTeX Citation

Version: 20110918:014223 (All versions of this report)

Short URL: ia.cr/2011/497