Setting licenses free vs. locking them down

Setting Licenses Free vs.
Locking Them Down
Ruediger Kuegler
VP Sales & Professional Services
Dr. Bjoern Grohmann
Security Architect Corporate Technology
License Lock-Down
16.05.2018 © WIBU-SYSTEMS AG 2018 - Setting Licenses Free vs. Locking Them Down 1

Agenda
 Use Case for Locking Licenses Down
 Technical Foundations
 Firm Access Counter
 How to Lock Licenses Down
 with CodeMeter Protection Suite
 with CodeMeter License Central
 with CodeMeter Core API
 Releasing Locked Licenses

Use Cases for
Locking Down Licenses

Reverse Engineering Attack
 An attacker attempts to remove the licensing (CmDongle / CmActLicense)
from the software or to extract intellectual property from the application
 Automatically encrypted applications (AxProtector)
 Memory dump of the application
 Reassembly of IAT and OEP
 Queries in the software (CodeMeter Core API)
 Running the application in a debugger (dynamic analysis)
 Analysis of the application with a disassembler (static analysis)

Reverse Engineering Attack 2
 Individually encrypted application (IxProtector, AxProtector .NET,
AxProtector Java)
 Tooling to decrypt all the encrypted functions in the application
 Application with CodeMoving
 Run many requests and guess the functionality

Wouldn’t it be nice? (Reverse Engineering)
 Apart from the static analysis of simple API calls in the disassembler,
during each attack, parts of the application are executed and operations
(encryption, CodeMoving) are run in the CmDongle or in the CmRuntime
 This means that the attacker needs a valid license.
Wouldn’t it be nice,
if such attack patterns were detected and
the license was locked automatically?

Highlights from almost 30 years of dongle support
 “My dog has swallowed the dongle”
 “The dongle is cooked”
 Query
 “The whole factory has burned down and with it all the computers that were in it.
The dongle was still plugged to the computer.”
 “The dongle is dead because my computer has crashed”
 Query
 “The computer was on the desk and the dongle was plugged in, and now is no
longer working.”

Wouldn’t it be nice? (Lost dongles)
 Dongles can be lost. However, the user could also make such a claim to
get another license for free.
 Users expect a replacement.
 Trust or Doubt is the question.
If you (the ISV) could deliver the user a new dongle and
did not have to worry about the allegedly lost dongle?

Cracked and missing CmActLicenses
 CodeMeter SmartBind® provides a tolerance level (Tight, Medium, Loose)
for changes to the user's hardware.
 A license can thus become invalid, if the hardware is changed beyond the tolerance
threshold.
 A license automatically becomes invalid, if the hard disk of one computer is cloned
on that of another computer.
 A license becomes invalid, if it is operated in a virtual high-availability solution, but
was not intended for it.
 A license may be lost, if the hardware crashes and the license has not
been previously disabled.

Wouldn’t it be nice? (Cracked and missing licenses)
 CmActLicenses can be lost or become invalid.
 Trust or Doubt is the question.
if you (the ISV) could deliver the user a new license and
did not have to worry about the allegedly lost license?
if the process of releasing a new license could be automated
in accordance to a set of rules?

Technical Foundations
Firm Access Counter

Creating a License with CodeMeter
 The highest level is the CmContainer (CmDongle
/ CmActLicense / CmCloudLicense)
 The CmContainer includes 1 (CmActLicense,
CmCloudLicense) to n (CmDongle) Firm Items
 Each Firm Item is defined with properties, the
Firm Item Options
 The Firm Item includes the Licenses in the form
of Product Items
 The Product Item is defined with properties, the
Product Item Options
Firm Item: 6.000.010
…
Product Item: 201.000
Firm Item Options
Firm Item Text: My Company
Firm Update Counter: 1
Firm Access Counter: 0xFFFF
Firm Precise Time: 2018-05-03 …
…
Product Item: 201.000
Product Item Options
Product Item Text: My Software
License Quantity: 1, local
….

Firm Access Counter (Basics, CodeMeter API)
 Default value is MaxValue (65535, corresponding to 0xFFFF)
 If Firm Access Counter == 0, then cryptographic operations with this Firm
Item are no longer possible
 The Firm Access Counter can be decremented by 1 via CodeMeter API, if
it is not equal to MaxValue
 Prior to the delivery, the Firm Item must be set to the appropriate value !=MaxValue
 Call of CmCrpyt wih flag CM_CRYPT_FACDECREMENT

Firm Access Counter (IFIL, CodeMoving)
 The Firm Access Counter can be set directly to 0 via IFIL (Implicit Firm
Item Locking)
 No preliminary programming necessary, requires CmDongle firmware 1.14
 Requires the use of CodeMeter Protection Suite
 Used when reverse engineering of the application is detected
 Used when the code “falls into a trap”
 IFIL can be triggered via CodeMoving using the CodeMoving API function
trap_execute

Firm Access Counter (CodeMeter License Central)
 The Firm Access Counter can be set with CodeMeter License Central
 No preliminary programming necessary
 Can be set to any value
 Locking and unlocking are possible

Locking Licenses with
CodeMeter Protection Suite

Configuration in AxProtector
 Activate license access lock
 Recommendation: Lock license
container (new)
 Uses IFIL and does not require a
prepared Firm Access Counter
 The license is locked as soon as
one of the active anti-debug
checks reports a find

Use of IxProtector and Traps
 Implement a function
 Export the function
 Encrypt with AxProtector
 Specify the function under IxProtector with
the exported name
 Set the flag “trap”
 The decryption (e.g., due to execution) of this function triggers IFIL and
locks the license

Use of AxProtector .NET
 Activate license access lock
 Recommendation: Lock license
container (new)
 Uses IFIL and does not require a
prepared Firm Access Counter
 The license is locked as soon as
one of the active anti-debug
checks reports a find
 A license is also locked when a
trap is decrypted

Use of AxProtector .NET (automatic traps)
private void myFunction
(String value)
{
MessageBox.Show(value);
}
private void
btnHelloWorld_Click
(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
myFunction("Hello World");
}

CodeMeter License Central

Automatic Blacklists
 The reactivation of an already activated license results in the addition of
the CmContainer in question to the blacklist
 Manual authorization by the vendor
 Automatic authorization with rules in CodeMeter License Central
 Next actions lock down all licenses with the same Firm Code
 License update (activation / deactivation)
 Auto update via WebDepot
 Auto update in your software

Automatic Blacklisting in CodeMeter License Central

CodeMeter API

How to Integrate a Lock into Your Software
 Deploy blacklists with the next software release
 Export from CodeMeter License Central
 Integrate into the software (hash list)
 Check used serial numbers in software
 “Call” a trap function to execute the Lock-Down

AxProtector .NET (individual integration of a trap)
[WupiEngine.Protection
(WupiEngine.TrapLevel.Trap1)]
private void trap()
{
return;
}
private void btnDontClick_Click
(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
trap();
}
 One or more special functions
are marked as traps
 The decryption of the feature
automatically locks the license
(IFIL)
 A call to the function decrypts the
function
 As a test or for blacklisting
purposes

Releasing Locked Licenses

Removing a License Lock
The ISV
 Creates a “Remove Lock” Item in CodeMeter License Central
 Removes CmContainers from the blacklist 
 Sells the “Remove Lock” Item
 As Ticket (flexible)
 As auto update (assigned to a locked CmContainer)
The User
 Activates the “Remove Lock”

Summary

Summary
 License Lock-Down is a powerful CodeMeter feature that can be used in
the following use cases:
 Extended protection against reverse engineering
 Replacement of lost CmDongles
 Replacement of lost and invalid CmActLicenses
 Depending on the application, the integration can be carried out via
 CodeMeter Protection Suite
 CodeMeter License Central
 CodeMeter API and blacklist of missing CmContainers

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http://www.wibu.com
info@wibu.com
Thank you for joining our today’s session

Setting licenses free vs. locking them down

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