Valeria Gazzola

16 papers Journal 15Unranked 1
YearRankTypeTitle / Venue / Authors
2026 J jnl
NeuroImage
Yulong Huang, Chen Qu, Valeria Gazzola, Sara Garofalo, Francesca Starita, Ruth M. Krebs, Luigi A. E. Degni, Junjie Wei, Gianluca Finotti, Giuseppe Di Pellegrino, Michel Desmurget, Angela Sirigu, Lara Bardi
2026 J jnl
NeuroImage
Edoardo Arcuri, Leonardo Cerliani, Martina Ardizzi, Nunzio Langiulli, Francesca Ferroni, Christian Keysers, Valeria Gazzola, Vittorio Gallese
2023 J jnl
NeuroImage
Sebastian P. H. Speer, Christian Keysers, Judit Campdepadrós Barrios, Cas J. S. Teurlings, Ale Smidts, Maarten A. S. Boksem, Tor D. Wager, Valeria Gazzola
2020 J jnl
NeuroImage
K. C. Borja Jimenez, Abdel-Rahman Abdelgabar, Lorenzo De Angelis, Lawrie S. McKay, Christian Keysers, Valeria Gazzola
2020 J jnl
NeuroImage
Ritu Bhandari, Evgeniya Kirilina, Matthan W. A. Caan, Judith Suttrup, Teresa De Sanctis, Lorenzo De Angelis, Christian Keysers, Valeria Gazzola
2020 J jnl
NeuroImage
Emilie A. Caspar, Kalliopi Ioumpa, Christian Keysers, Valeria Gazzola
2018 J jnl
NeuroImage
Rajat M. Thomas, Teresa De Sanctis, Valeria Gazzola, Christian Keysers
2017 conf
RTSI
Serena Fiocchi, Emma Chiaramello, Valeria Gazzola, Judith Suttrup, Paolo Ravazzani, Marta Parazzini
2017 J jnl
NeuroImage
Nikola Valchev, Emmanuele Tidoni, Antonia F. de C. Hamilton, Valeria Gazzola, Alessio Avenanti
2015 J jnl
NeuroImage
L. Müller-Pinzler, Valeria Gazzola, Christian Keysers, Jens Sommer, Andreas Jansen, Stefan Frässle, Wolfgang Einhäuser, Frieder M. Paulus, Sören Krach
2015 J jnl
NeuroImage
Fang Cui, Abdel-Rahman Abdelgabar, Christian Keysers, Valeria Gazzola
2015 J jnl
NeuroImage
Nikola Valchev, Branislava Curcic-Blake, Remco J. Renken, Alessio Avenanti, Christian Keysers, Valeria Gazzola, Natasha M. Maurits
2011 J jnl
J. Cogn. Neurosci.
Susanne Quadflieg, Joset A. Etzel, Valeria Gazzola, Christian Keysers, Thomas Schubert, Gordon D. Waiter, C. Neil Macrae
2009 J jnl
NeuroImage
Idil Kokal, Valeria Gazzola, Christian Keysers
2009 J jnl
NeuroImage
Luca Nanetti, Leonardo Cerliani, Valeria Gazzola, Remco Renken, Christian Keysers
2007 J jnl
NeuroImage
Valeria Gazzola, Giacomo Rizzolatti, Bruno Wicker, Christian Keysers
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"