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A Hybrid Software Protection Framework Against Reverse Engineering Using AST Obfuscation and Runtime Code Encryption

Year: 2026

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: Reverse engineering poses a persistent threat to software intellectual property in zero-trust environments. We present SoftwareProtector, a hybrid protection framework combining compile-time Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) obfuscation with finegrained runtime code encryption enforced at page granularity. The approach minimises the temporal window during which executable code resides in plaintext, raising the adversarial work-factor against both static and dynamic analysis. Empirical results—including IDA Pro before/after listings—confirm nearmaximum Shannon entropy (H > 7.99 bits/byte), effective static blindness, resilience to memory-dumping, and 22% runtime overhead.

Source: International Conference on Cybersecurity, Digital Forensics, and AI Applications (ICCSDFAI)

DOI: 10.1109/iccsdfai70505.2026.11647974

Authors: Askaruly Abinur, Saule T. Amanzholova, Shangytbayeva Gulmira, Yelepbergenova Aigul, Zhussupbayeva Marzhan, Shamisheva Bibigul

Institutions: Astana IT University, Aktobe Regional State University named after K.Zhubanov, Zhetysu University named after Ilyas Zhansugurov

Language: English

Topic: Security and Verification in Computing

Subfield: Hardware and Architecture

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

OpenAlex ID: W7203638154

FWCI:

Cites: 15

Cited by:

Related to: 10