James S. Spencer

11 papers A* 1Journal 10
YearRankTypeTitle / Venue / Authors
2025 J jnl
CoRR
Andrew W. Senior, Thomas Edlich, Francisco J. H. Heras, Lei M. Zhang, Oscar Higgott, James S. Spencer, Taylor Applebaum, Sam Blackwell, Justin Ledford, Akvile Zemgulyte, Augustin Zídek, Noah Shutty, Andrew Cowie, Yin Li, George Holland, Peter Brooks, Charlie Beattie, Michael Newman, Alex Davies, Cody Jones, Sergio Boixo, Hartmut Neven, Pushmeet Kohli, Johannes Bausch
2023 A* conf
ICLR
Ingrid von Glehn, James S. Spencer, David Pfau
2023 J jnl
CoRR
David Pfau, Simon Axelrod, Halvard Sutterud, Ingrid von Glehn, James S. Spencer
2023 J jnl
CoRR
Wan Tong Lou, Halvard Sutterud, Gino Cassella, W. Matthew C. Foulkes, Johannes Knolle, David Pfau, James S. Spencer
2022 J jnl
CoRR
Ingrid von Glehn, James S. Spencer, David Pfau
2022 J jnl
CoRR
Jan Hermann, James S. Spencer, Kenny Choo, Antonio Mezzacapo, W. Matthew C. Foulkes, David Pfau, Giuseppe Carleo, Frank Noé
2022 J jnl
CoRR
Gino Cassella, Halvard Sutterud, Sam Azadi, N. D. Drummond, David Pfau, James S. Spencer, W. Matthew C. Foulkes
2022 J jnl
CoRR
Michael Schaarschmidt, Morgane Riviere, Alex M. Ganose, James S. Spencer, Alexander L. Gaunt, James Kirkpatrick, Simon Axelrod, Peter W. Battaglia, Jonathan Godwin
2020 J jnl
CoRR
James S. Spencer, David Pfau, Aleksandar Botev, W. Matthew C. Foulkes
2019 J jnl
CoRR
David Pfau, James S. Spencer, Alexander G. de G. Matthews, W. Matthew C. Foulkes
2014 J jnl
CoRR
James S. Spencer, N. S. Blunt, W. A. Vigor, F. D. Malone, W. Matthew C. Foulkes, James J. Shepherd, A. J. W. Thom
redb/extractors/js_extractors/js_deobfuscation.py
← Index redb/extractors/js_extractors/js_deobfuscation.py python
import hashlib
import inspect
import re
from datetime import datetime, timezone
from typing import Any

from redb.extractors.enum import Tag
from redb.extractors.js_extractor import JSExtractor
from redb.extractors.js_extractors.js_patterns import PATTERNS

# String literals of 4+ characters; only used by the deobfuscation diff to count
# strings revealed after deobfuscation. Compiled once at module load.
_STRING_LITERAL_4PLUS_RE = re.compile(r"[\"\']([^\"\']{4,})[\"\']")


class JSDeobfuscationExtractor(JSExtractor):
    """Compute pre/post-deobfuscation metrics for a JS sample.

    The actual deobfuscation pass (external tool with jsbeautifier fallback)
    lives on `JSContext.deobfuscated` and is cached per sample, so any other
    extractor that needs the deobfuscated text reads the same value without
    re-running the subprocess. Configure the external tool via env vars:
        JS_DEOBFUSCATOR_PATH    Path or name (default: webcrack)
        JS_DEOBFUSCATE_TIMEOUT  Seconds (default: 60)
    """

    def __init__(
        self, filepath, log, exporters=None, index_prefix=None,
        known_benign=False, known_malicious=False, source=None, context=None,
    ):
        super().__init__(
            filepath, log, exporters, index_prefix,
            known_benign, known_malicious, source, context=context,
        )
        self.deobfuscation_result = None
        self.log.debug(inspect.currentframe().f_code.co_name)

    def tag(self):
        return Tag.JS_DEOBFUSCATION.value

    def extract(self):
        src = self.js_source
        if not src:
            return None

        deobfuscated, deobfuscator_used = self._context.deobfuscated
        if deobfuscated is None:
            return None

        original_size = len(src)
        original_entropy = self._context.text_entropy
        deobfuscated_size = len(deobfuscated)
        deobfuscated_entropy = self._calculate_text_entropy(deobfuscated)
        size_change_ratio = round(deobfuscated_size / original_size, 4) if original_size else 0.0

        # Strings revealed by deobfuscation: matched literals are extracted from
        # both versions and the set difference is the count of "new" strings.
        original_strings = set(_STRING_LITERAL_4PLUS_RE.findall(src))
        deobfuscated_strings = set(_STRING_LITERAL_4PLUS_RE.findall(deobfuscated))
        new_strings = deobfuscated_strings - original_strings

        # Suspicious APIs revealed by deobfuscation. Both sides of the diff
        # come from JSContext caches: the raw scan is computed once for the
        # whole pipeline; the deobfuscated scan is computed once and reused
        # by JSSuspiciousAPIsExtractor's revealed_by_deobf rows.
        original_apis = {n for n in self._context.scan if n in PATTERNS}
        deobfuscated_apis = set(self._context.scan_deobfuscated)
        new_apis = deobfuscated_apis - original_apis

        deobfuscated_sha256 = hashlib.sha256(deobfuscated.encode('utf-8')).hexdigest()

        self.deobfuscation_result = {
            'deobfuscator_used': deobfuscator_used,
            'deobfuscation_successful': True,
            'original_size': original_size,
            'deobfuscated_size': deobfuscated_size,
            'size_change_ratio': size_change_ratio,
            'original_entropy': original_entropy,
            'deobfuscated_entropy': deobfuscated_entropy,
            'new_strings_found': len(new_strings),
            'new_apis_found': len(new_apis),
            'deobfuscated_sha256': deobfuscated_sha256,
        }
        return self.deobfuscation_result

    def prepare_export_data(self, exporter_type: str) -> Any:
        if exporter_type == "ClickHouseExporter":
            if not self.deobfuscation_result:
                return None

            r = self.deobfuscation_result
            current_time = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
            data = [[
                self.sha256,
                r['deobfuscator_used'],
                int(r['deobfuscation_successful']),
                r['original_size'],
                r['deobfuscated_size'],
                r['size_change_ratio'],
                r['original_entropy'],
                r['deobfuscated_entropy'],
                r['new_strings_found'],
                r['new_apis_found'],
                r['deobfuscated_sha256'],
                current_time,
            ]]

            column_names = [
                "sha256", "deobfuscator_used", "deobfuscation_successful",
                "original_size", "deobfuscated_size", "size_change_ratio",
                "original_entropy", "deobfuscated_entropy",
                "new_strings_found", "new_apis_found",
                "deobfuscated_sha256", "analysis_date",
            ]

            column_type_names = [
                "FixedString(64)", "LowCardinality(String)", "UInt8",
                "UInt64", "UInt64", "Float64",
                "Float64", "Float64",
                "UInt32", "UInt32",
                "FixedString(64)", "DateTime64(3, 'UTC')",
            ]

            return (data, column_names, column_type_names)

    def get_clickhouse_table(self) -> str:
        return "redb_js_deobfuscation"