A Review of Modern Code Deobfuscation Techniques

Explore the evolution and limitations of code deobfuscation techniques in this 50-minute conference talk from the Hack In The Box Security Conference. Delve into the progression from manual static and dynamic analysis to more advanced methodologies like symbolic execution and taint analysis. Examine how these techniques struggle with syntactically complex code and modern obfuscation mechanisms. Discover the shift towards semantic-based approaches in recent deobfuscation efforts, with a particular focus on program synthesis. Learn from Arnau Gamez Montolio, a young mathematician and computer engineer specializing in reverse engineering and code deobfuscation research, as he presents the current state-of-the-art techniques for tackling sophisticated obfuscation methods.