Nalini Chintalapudi

13 papers Journal 10Unranked 3
YearRankTypeTitle / Venue / Authors
2024 J jnl
Artif. Intell. Rev.
Gopi Battineni, Nalini Chintalapudi, Giovanna Ricci, Ciro Ruocco, Francesco Amenta
2023 J jnl
Inf.
Vinto Gujjar, Neeru Mago, Raj Kumari, Shrikant Patel, Nalini Chintalapudi, Gopi Battineni
2023 J jnl
Axioms
Usharani Bhimavarapu, Gopi Battineni, Nalini Chintalapudi
2023 J jnl
Comput.
Usharani Bhimavarapu, Gopi Battineni, Nalini Chintalapudi
2022 J jnl
Algorithms
Usharani Bhimavarapu, Nalini Chintalapudi, Gopi Battineni
2022 J jnl
Inf.
Manish Kumar Pandey, Anu Saini, Karthikeyan Subbiah, Nalini Chintalapudi, Gopi Battineni
2022 J jnl
Comput.
Usharani Bhimavarapu, M. Sreedevi, Nalini Chintalapudi, Gopi Battineni
2022 J jnl
Algorithms
Gopi Battineni, Nalini Chintalapudi, Gregory Zacharewicz
2021 conf
BIOIMAGING
Gopi Battineni, Nalini Chintalapudi, Francesco Amenta, Enea Traini
2021 J jnl
Int. J. Inf. Manag. Data Insights
Nalini Chintalapudi, Gopi Battineni, Marzio Di Canio, Getu Gamo Sagaro, Francesco Amenta
2020 conf
ICAART (2)
Gopi Battineni, Nalini Chintalapudi, Francesco Amenta
2020 conf
ICCCS
Madhu Arora, Lalit Mohan Goyal, Nalini Chintalapudi, Mamta Mittal
2020 J jnl
EAI Endorsed Trans. Pervasive Health Technol.
Gopi Battineni, Nalini Chintalapudi, Francesco Amenta
redb/extractors/apk_extractors/apk_resources.py
← Index redb/extractors/apk_extractors/apk_resources.py python
import hashlib
import inspect
import os
from datetime import datetime, timezone
from typing import Any

from redb.extractors.enum import Tag
from redb.extractors.apk_extractor import APKExtractor
from redb.models.dataclasses import APKResource


# ─── Suspicious file types ──────────────────────────────────────────────
# File types that are suspicious when found inside res/ or assets/.
# Excludes javascript/html (extremely common in legitimate hybrid apps)
# and common media/font types that are normal APK content.
SUSPICIOUS_TYPES = {
    # Executables — no legitimate reason in assets/res
    "elf", "pebin", "macho", "dex", "apk",
    # Java containers — DexClassLoader target
    "jar",
    # Archives — rare in legitimate assets (~135:1 malware-to-benign ratio)
    "zip", "gzip", "7z", "xz", "tar", "bzip2", "rar", "7zip", "lzma",
    # Scripts with system execution capability
    "shell", "python", "powershell", "batch",
}

# ─── Entropy thresholds ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
# For unrecognized/unknown types: encrypted payloads typically land > 7.0
ENTROPY_HIGH_UNKNOWN = 7.0
# For recognized-but-non-image types: stricter threshold
ENTROPY_EXTREME = 7.85

# ─── Android-specific binary format magic bytes ─────────────────────────
# These formats are common in legitimate APKs but unknown to Magika,
# causing misclassification (e.g., AXML → "gzip", profm → "unknown").
AXML_MAGIC = b'\x03\x00\x08\x00'       # Android Binary XML (compiled res/*.xml)
ARSC_MAGIC = b'\x02\x00\x0c\x00'       # Android compiled resource table
ART_PROF_MAGIC = b'pro\x00'            # ART baseline profile
ART_PROFM_MAGIC = b'prm\x00'           # ART baseline profile metadata

# ─── Allowlisted paths ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
# Fixed, hardcoded paths in the Android build system that are always benign.
# ART profiles at these exact paths are shipped by Jetpack ProfileInstaller.
ALLOWLISTED_PATHS = {
    "assets/dexopt/baseline.prof",
    "assets/dexopt/baseline.profm",
}

# ─── Image handling ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
# Magika-confirmed image types: high entropy is expected (lossy codecs
# like VP8/JPEG arithmetic-code toward entropy ~7.95-8.0 by design).
IMAGE_MAGIKA_TYPES = {"png", "webp", "jpeg", "gif", "bmp", "tiff", "ico"}
IMAGE_EXTENSIONS = {".png", ".webp", ".jpg", ".jpeg", ".gif", ".bmp", ".tiff", ".ico"}

# ─── Types Magika assigns when it can't identify the content ────────────
UNRECOGNIZED_MAGIKA_TYPES = {"unknown", "empty"}

# ─── Resource scan limits ───────────────────────────────────────────────
MAX_RESOURCE_FILES = 5000


class APKResourceExtractor(APKExtractor):

    def __init__(
        self, filepath, log, exporters=None, index_prefix=None,
        known_benign=False, known_malicious=False,
        apk=None,
    ):
        super().__init__(
            filepath, log, exporters, index_prefix,
            known_benign, known_malicious, apk,
        )
        self.resources = []
        self.suspicious_files = []
        self.log.debug(inspect.currentframe().f_code.co_name)

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

    # ─── Core classification logic ──────────────────────────────────────

    def _identify_android_format(self, header: bytes) -> str | None:
        """
        Identify Android-specific binary formats that Magika doesn't know.
        Returns a corrected type label, or None to fall through to Magika.
        """
        if len(header) < 4:
            return None

        magic4 = header[:4]

        # Android Binary XML — all res/*.xml in a compiled APK.
        # Magika often misclassifies this as "gzip".
        if magic4 == AXML_MAGIC:
            return "android_binary_xml"

        # Android compiled resource table (resources.arsc chunks)
        if magic4 == ARSC_MAGIC:
            return "android_resource_table"

        # ART baseline profiles — high entropy (zlib inside) but benign.
        # The format is inert (method reference bitmaps/metadata, not
        # executable code) and some build configs place them at varying paths.
        if magic4 == ART_PROF_MAGIC:
            return "android_art_profile"
        if magic4 == ART_PROFM_MAGIC:
            return "android_art_profile_metadata"

        return None

    def _is_suspicious_resource(
        self, path: str, magika_type: str, entropy: float,
        android_type: str | None,
    ) -> bool:
        """
        Determine if a resource file is suspicious.

        Detection layers:
        1. Allowlisted paths → always benign
        2. Android-specific format override → reclassify Magika mislabels
        3. Image extension vs Magika type mismatch → encrypted blob detection
        4. Magika-confirmed images → benign regardless of entropy
        5. Suspicious type match → flag known-dangerous types
        6. High-entropy unknown blobs → likely encrypted payloads
        """

        # ── Layer 1: Allowlisted paths (hardcoded Android build artifacts) ──
        if path in ALLOWLISTED_PATHS:
            return False

        # ── Layer 2: Android-specific format detection ──────────────────────
        # Override Magika's label for formats it doesn't recognize.
        # All Android-specific formats (AXML, ARSC, ART profiles) are
        # legitimate build artifacts — never suspicious.
        if android_type is not None:
            return False

        # ── Layer 3: Image extension / Magika type mismatch ─────────────────
        # If the file extension claims "image" but Magika's content analysis
        # disagrees, this is a strong signal for an encrypted payload with
        # a fake image extension (e.g., ErrorFather's "rbyypivsnw.png").
        ext = os.path.splitext(path)[1].lower()
        if ext in IMAGE_EXTENSIONS and magika_type not in IMAGE_MAGIKA_TYPES:
            # Exception: Magika might label a valid image as "unknown" if
            # the file is very small (< ~16 bytes). Don't flag tiny files.
            if entropy > 5.0:
                return True

        # ── Layer 4: Magika-confirmed images → benign ───────────────────────
        # Lossy codecs (VP8, JPEG) produce entropy up to ~8.0 by design.
        # If Magika confirms image structure, high entropy is expected.
        if magika_type in IMAGE_MAGIKA_TYPES:
            return False

        # ── Layer 5: Known suspicious file types ────────────────────────────
        if magika_type in SUSPICIOUS_TYPES:
            return True

        # ── Layer 6: High-entropy unrecognized blobs ────────────────────────
        # Files Magika can't identify with high entropy are likely encrypted
        # payloads. Most Android malware packers store encrypted DEX/SO
        # payloads as opaque blobs with random names and no valid magic.
        if magika_type in UNRECOGNIZED_MAGIKA_TYPES and entropy > ENTROPY_HIGH_UNKNOWN:
            return True

        # ── Layer 7: Extreme entropy on any non-image recognized type ───────
        # Catches edge cases where Magika assigns a benign label (e.g.,
        # "xml", "txt") but the entropy is impossibly high for that format.
        if magika_type not in IMAGE_MAGIKA_TYPES and entropy > ENTROPY_EXTREME:
            return True

        return False

    # ─── Extraction pipeline ────────────────────────────────────────────

    def extract(self):
        if not self._is_valid_apk():
            self.log.error(f"Invalid APK for {self.hash.sha256}")
            return None

        try:
            from magika import Magika
            magika = Magika()
        except Exception as e:
            self.log.error(f"Failed to initialize Magika for {self.hash.sha256}: {e}")
            magika = None

        self.resources = []
        self.suspicious_files = []
        scanned = 0

        zf = self._get_zip_file()
        if not zf:
            return None

        with zf:
            for info in zf.infolist():
                if info.is_dir():
                    continue
                if not (info.filename.startswith("res/") or
                        info.filename.startswith("assets/")):
                    continue

                if scanned >= MAX_RESOURCE_FILES:
                    self.log.warning(
                        f"Resource scan limit reached ({MAX_RESOURCE_FILES}), "
                        f"stopping resource enumeration"
                    )
                    break
                scanned += 1

                try:
                    data = zf.read(info.filename)
                except Exception as e:
                    self.log.warning(
                        f"Error reading resource {info.filename}: {e}"
                    )
                    continue

                try:
                    file_sha256 = hashlib.sha256(data).hexdigest()
                    file_entropy = round(self.calculate_entropy(data), 3)

                    # Read first bytes for Android-specific format detection
                    header = data[:16] if len(data) >= 16 else data

                    if magika:
                        try:
                            filetype = magika.identify_bytes(data).output.label
                        except Exception:
                            filetype = "unknown"
                    else:
                        filetype = "unknown"

                    # Identify Android-specific formats once, reuse for
                    # both stored type and suspicion classification
                    android_type = self._identify_android_format(header)
                    stored_type = android_type if android_type else filetype

                    suspicious = self._is_suspicious_resource(
                        path=info.filename,
                        magika_type=filetype,
                        entropy=file_entropy,
                        android_type=android_type,
                    )

                    resource = APKResource(
                        path=info.filename,
                        size=info.file_size,
                        sha256=file_sha256,
                        filetype_magika=stored_type,
                        entropy=file_entropy,
                    )

                    if suspicious:
                        resource.is_suspicious = True
                        self.suspicious_files.append(resource)

                    self.resources.append(resource)
                except Exception as e:
                    self.log.warning(
                        f"Error processing resource {info.filename}: {e}"
                    )
                    continue

        if not self.resources:
            return None

        return {
            "total_resource_count": len(self.resources),
            "total_resource_size": sum(r.size for r in self.resources),
            "suspicious_file_count": len(self.suspicious_files),
            "resources": self.resources,
            "suspicious_files": self.suspicious_files,
        }

    # ─── Export ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

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

            current_time = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
            data = []
            for res in self.resources:
                data.append([
                    self.sha256,
                    res.path,
                    res.size,
                    res.sha256,
                    res.filetype_magika,
                    res.entropy,
                    int(res.is_suspicious),
                    current_time,
                ])

            column_names = [
                'sha256', 'resource_path', 'resource_size',
                'resource_sha256', 'resource_magika', 'resource_entropy',
                'is_suspicious', 'analysis_date',
            ]

            column_type_names = [
                'FixedString(64)', 'String', 'UInt64',
                'FixedString(64)', 'LowCardinality(String)', 'Float32',
                'UInt8', "DateTime64(3, 'UTC')",
            ]

            return (data, column_names, column_type_names)

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