ASPack compresses the original .text , .data , .rdata , and other sections of a PE file. It then adds a new section (usually named .aspack ) containing the unpacking stub—a small piece of code that runs first when the executable is launched.
Historically, the (specifically the version used within Symantec/Norton antivirus products) was found to have a severe heap overflow vulnerability (CVE-2016-2208). aspack unpacker
Elias loaded the file into his debugger. To any normal user, the program was just a simple tool. But to a reverse engineer, it was a locked vault. He could see the —bloated, encrypted chunks of data that didn't look like code at all. ASPack compresses the original
ASPack Unpacker: Restoring Packed Executables ASPack unpacker Elias loaded the file into his debugger
| Feature | ASPack | UPX | Themida | |---------|--------|-----|---------| | Compression | Strong, proprietary | Weak, LZMA | Virtualized | | Anti-debug | Minimal (older versions) | None | Extreme | | Unpack difficulty | Easy to Medium | Trivial (UPX -d) | Very Hard | | OEP recovery | POPAD + JMP | Compressed imports | VM entry |
To unpack ASPack effectively, you need to understand how it transforms an executable.