stop debug (debug exe to script)

[ansonedona]

hallo,

hope you could help me.

we have restrictions in our firm so that all sales guys work with user rights.

problem is that a special (ony for our firm developed) program needs admin rights to work.

my idea was, to write a script which starts the program with "runas".

problem is that i have to post the admin password in the script.

Exe2Aut.exe works not with the latest version but in future...

my question is: how can i protect my exe file from decompile, so that nobody could decompile the exe to script and use the admin password?

thanks in advance!!

Edited October 8, 2008 by ansonedona

[dbzfanatic]

There's no real way to protect your script. Obfuscation and UPX make it a bit harder but they don't make it impossible. This topic has come up many times before in the forum with the same answer.

[ansonedona]

ok so it would be more difficult when i use the option "Use UPX" in the compile options or shall i use another programm, too?

if yes could you help me with some suggestions which program could be useful?

[dbzfanatic]

I'm saying it won't really matter. If a person really wants the password a script won't really be much of a hindrance. There's an option when you compile to obfuscate the script as well but once again, that's only a minor hindrance. If you absolutely need to use RunAs() I suggest you use the provided .dll and write your program in C++ which is much harder to decompile. There are tutorials on using the autoit functions in C++ so that would probably work best for you.

[Jos]

UPX is not doing anything for protection but compresses the Programs resources.

There is no fullproof protection possible since to will have to provide the password somehow in the program that shells the application.

Jos

[Community On Patrol]

Hi ansonedona,

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[Szhlopp]

There is one and only one option that works for keeping a script secure(Without a DLL). However this ONLY works for people who do not have the password. Once you get the password you can still decompile.

Create the EXE without any protection in it.

Use one of those "On autoItExit" functions to have the EXE delete itself.

Convert that EXE into binary.

Encrypt the binary with a password.

Now you just have a big fat string to store in a new script. It doesn't matter if it's decompiled because it's encrypted.

Script #2

Has a simple login

You enter the password.

You use that password to decrypt your EXE file.

If the left two characters of the decrypted string are "0x" then convert the binary back into ASCII and save it.

This make sense?

[martin]

There is one and only one option that works for keeping a script secure(Without a DLL). However this ONLY works for people who do not have the password. Once you get the password you can still decompile.

Create the EXE without any protection in it.

Use one of those "On autoItExit" functions to have the EXE delete itself.

Convert that EXE into binary.

Encrypt the binary with a password.

Now you just have a big fat string to store in a new script. It doesn't matter if it's decompiled because it's encrypted.

Script #2

Has a simple login

You enter the password.

You use that password to decrypt your EXE file.

If the left two characters of the decrypted string are "0x" then convert the binary back into ASCII and save it.

This make sense?

I don't really get the idea of that. If it is necessary to enter the password to be able to run the program which needs to use a password then why not just have a program which doesn't have a password and asks you for it?