James A. Davis

48 papers A* 5Misc 1Journal 38Unranked 3
YearRankTypeTitle / Venue / Authors
2025 J jnl
Des. Codes Cryptogr.
James A. Davis, John B. Polhill, Ken Smith, Eric Swartz, Jordan Webster
2024 J jnl
Finite Fields Their Appl.
James A. Davis, Sophie Huczynska, Laura M. Johnson, John B. Polhill
2021 J jnl
Des. Codes Cryptogr.
James A. Davis, J. J. Hoo, Connor Kissane, Ziming Liu, Calvin Reedy, Kartikey Sharma, Ken Smith, Yiwei Sun
2018 J jnl
Des. Codes Cryptogr.
James A. Davis, Oktay Ölmez
2017 J jnl
Int. J. Comput. Math.
Sihem Mesnager, Gavin McGrew, James A. Davis, Dayton Steele, Katherine Marsten
2017
James A. Davis
2017 J jnl
Des. Codes Cryptogr.
James A. Davis, Sophie Huczynska, Gary L. Mullen
2016 J jnl
Discret. Math.
James A. Davis, Luis Martínez, Maria José Sodupe
2014 J jnl
J. Comb. Theory A
James A. Davis, William J. Martin, John B. Polhill
2013 J jnl
Des. Codes Cryptogr.
John B. Polhill, James A. Davis, Ken Smith
2011 J jnl
IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory
Sarah Spence Adams, James A. Davis, Nathaniel J. Karst, Mathav Kishore Murugan, Bryce Lee, Matthew Crawford, Caitlin Greeley
2011 J jnl
IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory
Corneliu Bodea, Calina A. Copos, Matt Der, David O'Neal, James A. Davis
2010 J jnl
J. Comb. Theory A
James A. Davis, John B. Polhill
2008 J jnl
Des. Codes Cryptogr.
James A. Davis, Laurent Poinsot
2007 J jnl
IEEE Trans. Commun.
S. E. C. Crouch, James A. Davis, Jonathan Jedwab
2006 J jnl
Finite Fields Their Appl.
James A. Davis, Qing Xiang
2002 conf
Security Protocols Workshop
Alec Yasinsac, James A. Davis
2001 Misc conf
ISWC
James A. Davis, Andrew H. Fagg, Brian Neil Levine
2000 J jnl
Eur. J. Comb.
James A. Davis, Qing Xiang
1999 J jnl
IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory
James A. Davis, Jonathan Jedwab
1998 J jnl
IEEE Trans. Commun.
James A. Davis, Miranda Mowbray, Simon Crouch
1998 J jnl
Des. Codes Cryptogr.
James A. Davis, Jonathan Jedwab, Miranda Mowbray
1998 J jnl
Discret. Math.
James A. Davis
1997 J jnl
J. Comb. Theory A
James A. Davis, Jonathan Jedwab
1997 J jnl
J. Parallel Distributed Comput.
Trevor E. Meyer, James A. Davis, Jennifer L. Davidson
1997 J jnl
Des. Codes Cryptogr.
James A. Davis, Surinder K. Sehgal
1995 J jnl
Comb.
K. T. Arasu, James A. Davis, Jonathan Jedwab
1994 J jnl
J. Syst. Softw.
S. Mansoor Sarwar, James A. Davis
1993 J jnl
Des. Codes Cryptogr.
James A. Davis, Jonathan Jedwab
1993 conf
IPPS
Steven P. Vanderwiel, James A. Davis
1993 J jnl
J. Comb. Theory A
K. T. Arasu, James A. Davis, Jonathan Jedwab, Surinder K. Sehgal
1993 J jnl
Discret. Math.
James A. Davis
1992 J jnl
J. Comb. Theory A
James A. Davis
1992 J jnl
Discret. Math.
James A. Davis
1991 J jnl
Des. Codes Cryptogr.
James A. Davis
1991 J jnl
J. Comb. Theory A
James A. Davis
1991 J jnl
J. Comb. Theory A
James A. Davis
1991 J jnl
Comb.
K. T. Arasu, James A. Davis, Dieter Jungnickel, Alexander Pott
1990 J jnl
Eur. J. Comb.
K. T. Arasu, James A. Davis, Dieter Jungnickel, Alexander Pott
1988 A* conf
EUROCRYPT
James A. Davis, Diane B. Holdridge
1988 J jnl
ACM SIGPLAN Notices
S. Mansoor Sarwar, S. J. Hahn, James A. Davis
1987 conf
ACM Conference on Computer Science
James A. Davis
1984 A* conf
CRYPTO
James A. Davis, Diane B. Holdridge
1984 A* conf
EUROCRYPT
James A. Davis, Diane B. Holdridge, Gustavus J. Simmons
1983 A* conf
CRYPTO
James A. Davis, Diane B. Holdridge
1982 A* conf
CRYPTO
Ernest F. Brickell, James A. Davis, Gustavus J. Simmons
1981 J jnl
Discret. Appl. Math.
Diane B. Holdridge, James A. Davis
1979 J jnl
Comput. Networks
Arthur V. Pohm, James A. Davis, Steve Christiansen, Gary Bridges, Richard E. Horton
redb/extractors/elf_extractor.py
← Index redb/extractors/elf_extractor.py python
import logging
from abc import ABCMeta, abstractmethod
import inspect

from elftools.elf.elffile import ELFFile
from elftools.common.exceptions import ELFError

from redb.extractors.extractor import Extractor

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)


@abstractmethod
class ELFExtractor(Extractor, metaclass=ABCMeta):

    def __init__(
        self,
        filepath,
        log,
        exporters=None,
        index_prefix=None,
        elastic_index=None,
        known_benign=False,
        known_malicious=False,
        elf=None,
    ):
        super().__init__(
            filepath,
            log,
            exporters,
            index_prefix,
            elastic_index,
            known_benign,
            known_malicious
        )
        # Store ELF object if provided, otherwise we'll create it per-operation for security
        self._provided_elf = elf
        self._elf_file_valid = None  # Cache validity check

    def _with_elf_file(self, operation):
        """Safely execute an operation with an ELF file using context manager.

        Args:
            operation: A callable that takes an ELFFile object and returns a result

        Returns:
            The result of the operation, or None if an error occurred
        """
        if self._provided_elf:
            try:
                return operation(self._provided_elf)
            except ELFError as e:
                if "String Table not found" in str(e):
                    self.log.warning(f"String table missing in ELF {self.hash.sha256}: {e}")
                    return None
                else:
                    self.log.error(f"ELF format error {self.hash.sha256} Full error: {e}")
                    return None
            except Exception as e:
                self.log.error(f"Error processing ELF file {self.hash.sha256} Full error: {e}")
                return None

        try:
            with open(self.filepath, 'rb') as f:
                elf = ELFFile(f)
                if not elf:
                    raise ELFError("Empty file?")
                return operation(elf)
        except ELFError as e:
            if "String Table not found" in str(e):
                self.log.warning(f"String table missing in ELF {self.hash.sha256}: {e}")
                return None
            else:
                self.log.error(f"ELF format error {self.hash.sha256} Full error: {e}")
                return None
        except Exception as e:
            self.log.error(f"Error reading ELF file {self.hash.sha256} Full error: {e}")
            return None

    def _is_elf_file(self):
        """Check if the file is a valid ELF binary."""
        if self._elf_file_valid is not None:
            return self._elf_file_valid

        def check_elf_validity(elf):
            # pyelftools ELFFile object existing means it's valid ELF
            # Just check that we can access the header
            header = elf.header
            return header is not None

        try:
            result = self._with_elf_file(check_elf_validity)
            self._elf_file_valid = bool(result)
            return self._elf_file_valid
        except Exception as e:
            self.log.error(f"Error checking ELF file: {e}")
            self._elf_file_valid = False
            return False

    def _is_64bit(self):
        """Check if the ELF binary is 64-bit."""
        def check_64bit(elf):
            return elf.header.get('e_ident', {}).get('EI_CLASS') == 'ELFCLASS64'

        try:
            result = self._with_elf_file(check_64bit)
            return bool(result)
        except Exception as e:
            self.log.error(f"Error checking ELF bitness: {e}")
            return False

    def _is_stripped(self):
        """Check if the ELF binary is stripped (no symbol table)."""
        def check_stripped(elf):
            # Look for symbol table sections
            for section in elf.iter_sections():
                if section.name in ['.symtab', '.strtab']:
                    return False
            return True

        try:
            result = self._with_elf_file(check_stripped)
            return result if result is not None else True
        except Exception as e:
            self.log.error(f"Error checking if ELF is stripped: {e}")
            return True

    def _has_debug_info(self):
        """Check if the ELF binary contains debug information."""
        def check_debug_info(elf):
            # Look for debug sections
            debug_sections = ['.debug_info', '.debug_line', '.debug_str', '.debug_abbrev']
            for section in elf.iter_sections():
                if section.name in debug_sections:
                    return True
            return False

        try:
            result = self._with_elf_file(check_debug_info)
            return bool(result)
        except Exception as e:
            self.log.error(f"Error checking debug info: {e}")
            return False

    def _get_architecture(self):
        """Get the architecture of the ELF binary."""
        def get_arch(elf):
            machine = elf.header.get('e_machine', 'EM_NONE')

            # Map common machine types to readable names
            arch_map = {
                'EM_386': 'x86',
                'EM_X86_64': 'x86_64',
                'EM_ARM': 'ARM',
                'EM_AARCH64': 'ARM64',
                'EM_MIPS': 'MIPS',
                'EM_PPC': 'PowerPC',
                'EM_PPC64': 'PowerPC64',
                'EM_SPARC': 'SPARC',
                'EM_RISCV': 'RISC-V'
            }

            return arch_map.get(machine, machine)

        try:
            result = self._with_elf_file(get_arch)
            return result if result is not None else "unknown"
        except Exception as e:
            self.log.error(f"Error getting architecture: {e}")
            return "unknown"

    def _get_endianness(self):
        """Get the endianness of the ELF binary."""
        def get_endian(elf):
            data_encoding = elf.header.get('e_ident', {}).get('EI_DATA')
            if data_encoding == 'ELFDATA2LSB':
                return "little"
            elif data_encoding == 'ELFDATA2MSB':
                return "big"
            return "unknown"

        try:
            result = self._with_elf_file(get_endian)
            return result if result is not None else "unknown"
        except Exception as e:
            self.log.error(f"Error getting endianness: {e}")
            return "unknown"

    def _get_file_type(self):
        """Get the file type of the ELF binary."""
        def get_file_type(elf):
            etype = elf.header.get('e_type', 'ET_NONE')

            # Map file types to readable names
            type_map = {
                'ET_NONE': 'none',
                'ET_REL': 'relocatable',
                'ET_EXEC': 'executable',
                'ET_DYN': 'shared_object',
                'ET_CORE': 'core_dump'
            }

            return type_map.get(etype, etype)

        try:
            result = self._with_elf_file(get_file_type)
            return result if result is not None else "unknown"
        except Exception as e:
            self.log.error(f"Error getting file type: {e}")
            return "unknown"

    def _is_pie(self):
        """Check if the ELF binary is position-independent executable."""
        def check_pie(elf):
            # PIE binaries are typically ET_DYN type
            etype = elf.header.get('e_type', 'ET_NONE')
            if etype == 'ET_DYN':
                # Check if it has an entry point (executable) vs library
                entry_point = elf.header.get('e_entry', 0)
                return entry_point > 0
            return False

        try:
            result = self._with_elf_file(check_pie)
            return bool(result)
        except Exception as e:
            self.log.error(f"Error checking PIE: {e}")
            return False

    def _has_stack_protection(self):
        """Check if the binary has stack protection (canaries)."""
        def check_stack_protection(elf):
            # Look for stack protection symbols
            stack_symbols = ['__stack_chk_fail', '__stack_chk_guard']

            for section in elf.iter_sections():
                if hasattr(section, 'iter_symbols'):
                    for symbol in section.iter_symbols():
                        if symbol.name in stack_symbols:
                            return True
            return False

        try:
            result = self._with_elf_file(check_stack_protection)
            return bool(result)
        except Exception as e:
            self.log.error(f"Error checking stack protection: {e}")
            return False

    def _has_nx_bit(self):
        """Check if the binary has NX bit (non-executable stack)."""
        def check_nx_bit(elf):
            # Look for GNU_STACK segment
            for segment in elf.iter_segments():
                if segment.header.get('p_type') == 'PT_GNU_STACK':
                    flags = segment.header.get('p_flags', 0)
                    # Check if execute flag is NOT set (NX enabled)
                    return not (flags & 0x1)  # PF_X = 0x1
            return False

        try:
            result = self._with_elf_file(check_nx_bit)
            return bool(result)
        except Exception as e:
            self.log.error(f"Error checking NX bit: {e}")
            return False

    def _has_relro(self):
        """Check if the binary has RELRO (Relocation Read-Only)."""
        def check_relro(elf):
            # Look for GNU_RELRO segment
            for segment in elf.iter_segments():
                if segment.header.get('p_type') == 'PT_GNU_RELRO':
                    return True
            return False

        try:
            result = self._with_elf_file(check_relro)
            return bool(result)
        except Exception as e:
            self.log.error(f"Error checking RELRO: {e}")
            return False

    def _get_build_id(self):
        """Extract build ID from notes section."""
        def get_build_id(elf):
            # Look for build ID in notes sections
            for section in elf.iter_sections():
                if section.name == '.note.gnu.build-id':
                    for note in section.iter_notes():
                        if note['n_type'] == 'NT_GNU_BUILD_ID':
                            # Convert bytes to hex string
                            build_id = note['n_desc']
                            if isinstance(build_id, bytes):
                                return build_id.hex()
                            return str(build_id)
            return None

        try:
            result = self._with_elf_file(get_build_id)
            return result
        except Exception as e:
            self.log.error(f"Error getting build ID: {e}")
            return None

    def _count_sections(self):
        """Count the number of sections in the ELF file."""
        def count_sections(elf):
            return elf.header.get('e_shnum', 0)

        try:
            result = self._with_elf_file(count_sections)
            return result if result is not None else 0
        except Exception as e:
            self.log.error(f"Error counting sections: {e}")
            return 0

    def _count_segments(self):
        """Count the number of segments (program headers) in the ELF file."""
        def count_segments(elf):
            return elf.header.get('e_phnum', 0)

        try:
            result = self._with_elf_file(count_segments)
            return result if result is not None else 0
        except Exception as e:
            self.log.error(f"Error counting segments: {e}")
            return 0

    def _count_symbols(self):
        """Count the total number of symbols in symbol tables."""
        def count_symbols(elf):
            symbol_count = 0
            for section in elf.iter_sections():
                if hasattr(section, 'iter_symbols'):
                    symbol_count += section.num_symbols()
            return symbol_count

        try:
            result = self._with_elf_file(count_symbols)
            return result if result is not None else 0
        except Exception as e:
            self.log.error(f"Error counting symbols: {e}")
            return 0

    def _get_dependencies(self):
        """Get list of dynamic dependencies."""
        def get_dependencies(elf):
            dependencies = []
            dynamic_section = elf.get_section_by_name('.dynamic')
            if dynamic_section:
                for tag in dynamic_section.iter_tags():
                    if tag.entry.d_tag == 'DT_NEEDED':
                        dependencies.append(tag.needed)
            return dependencies

        try:
            result = self._with_elf_file(get_dependencies)
            return result if result is not None else []
        except Exception as e:
            self.log.error(f"Error getting dependencies: {e}")
            return []