The Malware analysis tools allow us to quickly and effectively determine a threat’s actions in the system. This method soon collects all the information about created files, network connections, changes in the registry, etc.
It determines the functionality, origin, and impact of malware variants, including viruses, worms, ransomware, adware, and spyware. We all know that circulating malware is one of the well-known and big businesses in the internet world, and the constantly rising malware plague will only increase in the coming years.
With the commercialization of cybercrime, malware varieties continue to grow at an alarming rate, placing several protectors on their back foot. Malware analysis concepts have grown into a complicated mix of technologies in data science and human understanding.
Hence, by using open-source malware analysis tools, the analyst can quickly test and identify all the necessary documents of different variants of ill-disposed activities while learning about the various attacks in the lifecycle.
Hence, for this reason, in today’s post, we will share some of the best malware analysis tools to consider when knowing what the malicious code is doing that we want to analyze.
Best Malware Analysis Tools
Malware analysis is critical to cybersecurity, enabling professionals to dissect and understand malware to develop effective countermeasures. This article explores various tools used in malware analysis, categorized by their analysis approaches: static, dynamic, behavioral, sandboxes, and reverse engineering.
Static Analysis Tools
Static analysis involves examining malware without executing it, focusing on its code, structure, and static properties.
- PeStudio: A tool for initial triage, providing quick insights into Windows executables, including hashes, strings, and potential indicators of compromise (IOCs)
- VirusTotal: A web-based service that scans files and URLs with multiple antivirus engines, offering a broad perspective on potential threats.
- CFF Explorer: Allows users to view and edit the internal structure of Windows executable files, aiding in assessing malware’s potential impact.
Dynamic Analysis Tools
Dynamic analysis observes malware behavior in a controlled environment, tracking its actions and effects on the system.
- Cuckoo Sandbox: An open-source tool that automates malware analysis by executing samples in isolated virtual machines and generating detailed reports on their behavior
- Process Monitor (ProcMon): Captures real-time system activity, including registry, file system, and network operations, providing insights into malware’s runtime behavior
- Wireshark: A network protocol analyzer that captures and analyzes network traffic, helping to understand malware’s communication patterns
Behavioral Analysis Tools
Behavioral analysis classifies malware based on its actions and effects, identifying malware families and variants.
- YARA: Enables the creation and application of rules to describe malware patterns, facilitating the detection and classification of malware based on its behavior.
- Volatility: A tool for memory forensics, extracting information from memory dumps to analyze malware’s runtime behavior and effects on the system.
Sandboxes
Sandboxes provide a secure environment to execute and analyze malware without risking the host system.
- Cuckoo Sandbox: As mentioned earlier, it’s widely used for dynamic analysis, offering a comprehensive environment for observing malware behavior
- Joe Sandbox and Any.Run is a commercial alternative to Cuckoo that offers advanced features for automated malware analysis in a sandboxed environment.
Reverse Engineering Tools
Reverse engineering dissects malware to understand its construction and operation, aiding in the development of defenses.
- Ghidra: Developed by the NSA, Ghidra is a disassembler and decompiler that allows deep inspection of malware code and structure.
- x64dbg: A debugger for manual debugging and reverse engineering, requiring knowledge of assembly code but offering detailed insights into malware’s operation.
- IDA Pro: A popular reverse engineering tool that supports a wide range of programming languages and platforms, enabling detailed analysis of malware’s inner workings
Here Are Our Picks For The 10 Best Free Malware Analysis Tools To Break Down The Malware Samples And Their Short Feature
- ANY.RUN: Interactive malware analysis platform for real-time threat detection and dynamic behavior analysis in an isolated environment.
- Yara: Pattern-matching tool used to identify and classify malware based on textual or binary patterns.
- Ghidra: Open-source reverse engineering suite developed by NSA, supporting disassembly, decompilation, and debugging.
- Frida: Dynamic instrumentation toolkit for analyzing and modifying running processes on multiple platforms.
- Cuckoo Sandbox: Automated malware analysis system that performs behavioral analysis on suspicious files in a controlled environment.
- PeStudio: Static analysis tool for inspecting executable files and identifying potential security risks without execution.
- Volatility: Memory forensics framework for analyzing volatile memory dumps to investigate malware and advanced threats.
- Resource Hacker: Utility to view, modify, and extract resources in executable files, sound for static analysis.
- Wireshark: A network protocol analyzer that captures and inspects network traffic to identify malicious activity.
- OllyDbg: An assembly-level debugger for analyzing binary executables and debugging malware at a low level.
Key Features of Malware Analysis Tools Features
| Product | Key Features | Stand Alone Feature | Pricing | Free Trial / Demo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Any.Run | Interactive malware analysis Real-time collaboration Detailed behavioral reports Customizable analysis environment Comprehensive API integration | Interactive sandbox for real-time malware analysis. | Subscription-based, various plans | Yes |
| 2. Yara | Pattern matching Customizable rules Cross-platform support Efficient scanning Open-source | Pattern matching for identifying malware families. | Free | No |
| 3. Ghidra | Advanced decompilation Interactive interface Scripting support Collaboration features Open-source | Open-source software reverse engineering suite. | Free | No |
| 4. Frida | Dynamic instrumentation Cross-platform compatibility Scripting capabilities Real-time analysis API hooking | Dynamic instrumentation toolkit for deep malware analysis. | Free | No |
| 5. Cuckoo Sandbox | Automated analysis Comprehensive reports Customizable environments Open-source API integration | Automated malware analysis with virtualized environments. | Free | Yes |
| 6. PeStudio | Static analysis Malicious indicators File inspection No installation required Quick assessment | Static analysis of Windows executable files. | Free | Yes |
| 7. Volatility | Memory forensics Plugin support Cross-platform Detailed analysis Open-source | Advanced memory forensics framework. | Free | No |
| 8. Resource Hacker | Resource extraction Binary editing Interface modification Scriptable Freeware | Editing and viewing resources in executables. | Free | No |
| 9. Wireshark | Network packet analysis Protocol decoding Live capture Filtering capabilities Open-source | Network protocol analyzer for traffic inspection. | Free | No |
| 10. OllyDbg | Binary code analysis Interactive debugging Plugin support User-friendly interface Disassembly features | Binary code debugger with dynamic analysis. | Free | No |
1. ANY.RUN
ANY.RUN is an interactive online malware analysis sandbox that allows users to execute and analyze malicious files and URLs in a controlled environment, providing detailed insights into the behavior and characteristics of malware samples.
It offers real-time monitoring and visualization of malware activities, including network connections, file modifications, and system processes, enabling security professionals to identify and understand potential threats quickly.
The platform supports a collaborative approach, allowing users to share analysis results and insights with team members, fostering a community-driven effort to effectively combat and mitigate malware threats.
Why did we recommend it?
- ANY.RUN offers real-time interactive analysis. It allows users to observe and control malware’s execution, providing immediate and detailed insights into its behavior.
- The platform supports many file types and URLs, making it versatile for analyzing various malware samples and threats encountered in different environments.
- It provides comprehensive and detailed reports, including network activity, file system changes, and process interactions, helping security teams understand the full scope of malware impact.
- ANY.RUN’s collaborative features enable the sharing of analysis results and findings with team members or the broader security community, enhancing collective threat intelligence.
- The user-friendly interface simplifies malware analysis, making it accessible even to those with limited experience in malware research and forensics.
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better? |
|---|---|
| Interactive real-time analysis of malware samples. | Enhanced user interface for more straightforward navigation. |
| User-friendly interface with intuitive controls. | Faster analysis processing for quicker results. |
| Detailed and comprehensive threat reports. | Improved integration with more security tools. |
2. Yara
Yara is a powerful tool designed for malware analysis and detection, enabling researchers to create custom rules for identifying and classifying malware based on textual or binary patterns, enhancing threat detection capabilities.
It is highly extensible and can be integrated into various security workflows and tools. It allows for automated scanning and analysis of files and processes across different platforms, improving efficiency in identifying malicious activities.
Yara supports complex matching criteria and boolean expressions, providing detailed and precise results. This flexibility makes it an essential tool for security analysts to dissect and understand malware behavior and signatures.
Why did we recommend it?
- Yara allows for custom rule creation, enabling precise malware detection tailored to specific threats and unique patterns.
- It supports integration with various security tools, enhancing the overall malware analysis and detection ecosystem.
- Yara’s ability to handle complex matching criteria and boolean expressions ensures detailed and accurate threat identification.
- It is an open-source tool, offering flexibility and adaptability for various security needs without additional costs.
- Regular updates and active community support keep Yara effective against evolving malware threats.
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better? |
|---|---|
| Customizable malware detection rules. | Enhanced user-friendly interface |
| Integration with various security tools. | More comprehensive documentation and tutorials |
| Supports complex matching criteria. | Improved integration with other security tools |
3. Ghidra
Ghidra is an open-source reverse engineering tool developed by the NSA. It provides powerful disassembly, decompilation, and debugging capabilities to analyze and break down malware samples, making it a valuable asset for cybersecurity professionals.
The tool supports a wide range of processor architectures and file formats, allowing analysts to examine diverse types of malware. Its modular framework facilitates customizing and extending functionalities to suit specific analysis needs.
Ghidra offers collaborative features, enabling multiple users to collaborate on the same project. This enhances teamwork and efficiency in malware analysis, helping to uncover and mitigate threats more effectively.
Why did we recommend it?
- Ghidra is an open-source tool, making it freely accessible and cost-effective for in-depth malware analysis and reverse engineering.
- It supports a wide range of processor instruction sets, offering versatility in analyzing different types of malware.
- Ghidra provides a powerful disassembler and decompiler, enabling detailed inspection of executable code to understand malware behavior.
- The tool offers collaborative features, allowing multiple analysts to work together on the same project, enhancing team productivity.
- It includes extensive documentation and community support, enabling users to effectively learn and leverage its capabilities.
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better? |
|---|---|
| Open-source and free to use. | Improved user interface for more straightforward navigation. |
| Powerful decompilation capabilities. | Enhanced documentation and community support. |
| Supports multiple platforms and architectures. | Faster processing for large binaries. |
4. Frida
Frida is a dynamic instrumentation toolkit designed for developers and reverse engineers, allowing them to inject custom scripts into running processes. This capability enables detailed analysis and manipulation of malware behavior in real time.
It supports multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android, making it a versatile tool for analyzing malware across different environments and uncovering hidden or obfuscated malicious activities.
Frida’s scripting environment uses JavaScript, offering flexibility and ease of use for writing custom analysis scripts. This makes it a powerful tool for creating tailored solutions to dissect and understand complex malware samples.
Why did we recommend it?
- Frida allows dynamic instrumentation, enabling real-time application analysis and modification, crucial for in-depth malware analysis.
- It supports multiple platforms, making it versatile for analyzing malware across different operating systems and environments.
- Frida’s scripting capabilities provide flexibility to create custom tools and automate repetitive analysis tasks, enhancing efficiency.
- Its open-source nature encourages community contributions, ensuring continuous improvement and a wide range of available resources.
- Frida can hook into running processes without modifying binaries, preserving the integrity of the original malware sample for accurate analysis.
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better? |
|---|---|
| Real-time code instrumentation | Enhanced documentation for easier onboarding. |
| Supports multiple platforms | Improved GUI for a user-friendly experience. |
| Flexible scripting with JavaScript | More pre-built scripts for common tasks. |
5. Cuckoo Sandbox
Cuckoo Sandbox is an open-source automated malware analysis system that allows users to run suspicious files in an isolated environment. It captures detailed behavior reports to identify and understand potential threats without risking the host system.
It supports various file types, including executables, office documents, and emails, providing comprehensive insights into how malware interacts with the system, network, and other resources during execution.
Cuckoo Sandbox integrates various tools and technologies for in-depth analysis, including network traffic inspection and memory forensics. It is a versatile and powerful tool for security researchers and IT professionals.
Why did we recommend it?
- Cuckoo Sandbox provides automated malware analysis, generating detailed reports on behavior and system impact.
- It supports analyzing various file types, including executables, documents, and URLs.
- The tool offers detailed insights into network traffic, file modifications, and registry changes.
- Cuckoo Sandbox is highly customizable, allowing integration with other tools and adapting to specific analysis needs.
- It is open-source and regularly updated, ensuring access to the latest malware detection techniques.
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better? |
|---|---|
| Automated malware behavior analysis. | Improved analysis speed |
| Supports various file formats. | Enhanced user interface |
| Detailed, customizable reports. | Better documentation and support |
6. PeStudio
PeStudio is a static malware analysis tool that enables users to examine executable files without executing them. It provides insights into the file’s characteristics, potential threats, and anomalies, ensuring a safe analysis environment.
It offers detailed information about the analyzed files, including imported libraries, API functions, and suspicious indicators, helping analysts identify malicious behaviors and potential security risks embedded within the files.
PeStudio integrates various databases and resources to flag known malware signatures and unusual patterns, enhancing the accuracy of malware detection and aiding in the swift identification of harmful elements in executable files.
Why did we recommend it?
- PeStudio offers static analysis without executing files, ensuring the safe examination of potentially malicious software.
- It provides detailed insights into file properties, revealing hidden and suspicious characteristics.
- The tool supports the detection of known malware signatures, enhancing the accuracy of threat identification.
- PeStudio integrates with various antivirus engines, providing comprehensive malware scanning and reporting.
- Its user-friendly interface simplifies the analysis process, making it accessible for novice and expert analysts.
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better? |
|---|---|
| Static analysis with no execution risk. | Enhanced real-time analysis capabilities |
| Detailed insights into PE file properties. | Improved user interface design |
| User-friendly interface and easy to use. | More comprehensive documentation and tutorials |
7. Volatility
Volatility is a powerful open-source memory forensics framework that allows security professionals to analyze RAM dumps, helping to uncover malicious activities, rootkits, and other in-memory threats, providing detailed insights into the state of a compromised system.
The tool supports various file formats and operating systems, making it versatile for forensic investigations and enabling thorough analysis of malware behavior and system anomalies.
Volatility offers a comprehensive set of plugins and modules that facilitate tasks such as process listing, registry examination, and network connection analysis, aiding in identifying and understanding malware functionalities.
Its robust community and extensive documentation provide valuable resources and continuous updates, ensuring users can access the latest techniques and tools for practical malware analysis and incident response.
Why did we recommend it?
- Volatility excels in analyzing memory dumps, providing crucial insights into malware behavior and system state at the time of infection.
- It’s open-source and widely used, ensuring community support and continuous updates for handling new threats.
- The tool offers comprehensive plugin support, enhancing its capabilities for diverse and detailed malware analysis tasks.
- Volatility can uncover hidden processes, network connections, and other artifacts essential for thorough forensic investigations.
- It supports various operating systems, making it versatile for analyzing memory dumps from different environments.
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better? |
|---|---|
| Comprehensive memory analysis capabilities. | Enhanced user interface. |
| Supports various operating systems. | Improved documentation and tutorials. |
| Extensible with custom plugins. | Faster processing speeds. |
8. Resource Hacker
Resource Hacker is a robust resource editing tool that allows users to view, modify, rename, add, delete, and extract resources in 32-bit and 64-bit Windows executables. It helps analysts examine and alter malware components embedded in software.
It provides a detailed inspection of executable files, enabling malware analysts to uncover hidden resources, such as icons, menus, dialogs, and strings, which can offer insights into the malware’s behavior and functionality.
Resource Hacker’s user-friendly interface and powerful features make it an essential tool for reverse engineering and dissecting malware samples. It aids in the identification and analysis of malicious code and its payload.
Why did we recommend it?
- Resource Hacker allows easy extraction and modification of executable resources, aiding in malware reverse engineering.
- It supports a wide range of file formats, enhancing its versatility in malware analysis.
- The tool provides a user-friendly interface, making it accessible for beginners and experts.
- It enables detailed inspection of resources like icons, strings, and dialogs, which is essential for understanding malware behavior.
- Resource Hacker is free and lightweight, offering cost-effective and efficient malware analysis capabilities.
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better? |
|---|---|
| Easy resource editing and extraction. | Enhanced user interface design. |
| User-friendly and intuitive interface. | Support for more file formats. |
| Supports multiple file formats. | Improved debugging capabilities. |
9. Wireshark
Wireshark is a powerful network protocol analyzer that captures and inspects data packets in real-time. It is an essential tool for malware analysis because it reveals malicious network activity and identifies anomalies in network traffic.
It supports deep inspection of hundreds of protocols, providing detailed insights into network communications. This helps analysts understand how malware interacts with systems and communicates with external servers, aiding in identifying and mitigating threats.
With features like filtering, color coding, and customizable reports, Wireshark enables efficient analysis and visualization of complex data, making it easier for security professionals to trace the behavior and origin of malware samples.
Why did we recommend it?
- Wireshark captures and analyzes network traffic in real-time, which is crucial for identifying malicious activity.
- It supports deep inspection of hundreds of protocols, aiding thorough malware investigation.
- Wireshark’s user-friendly interface simplifies complex network data visualization and analysis.
- It offers powerful filtering and search capabilities, making it easier to pinpoint malware communications.
- Wireshark is open-source and widely used, ensuring a robust community for support and continuous improvement.
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better? |
|---|---|
| Detailed network packet analysis | Enhanced user interface simplicity |
| Extensive protocol support | Improved real-time analysis speed |
| User-friendly interface | Advanced automated threat detection |
10. OllyDbg
OllyDbg is a powerful, 32-bit assembler-level debugger designed for Windows applications. It provides an in-depth analysis of binary code, which helps identify and understand malware’s behavior.
It features dynamic analysis capabilities, allowing users to debug programs in real-time, view memory and CPU registers, and trace program execution. This is essential for dissecting and neutralizing malware threats.
OllyDbg is user-friendly with an intuitive interface. It offers various plugins and extensions to enhance functionality, making it a favored tool among malware analysts and reverse engineers for detailed malware dissection.
Why did we recommend it?
- OllyDbg provides real-time debugging, which is crucial for dynamic malware analysis.
- Its intuitive interface is user-friendly, even for beginners.
- It supports detailed inspection of binary code, aiding in understanding malware behavior.
- Offers plugin support for extended functionality and customization.
- Free to use, making it accessible for all analysts.
| What is Good? | What Could Be Better? |
|---|---|
| Real-time debugging capabilities. | Improved 64-bit support |
| User-friendly and intuitive interface. | Enhanced scripting capabilities |
| Extensive plugin support. | Modernized user interface |