prox0959/trueverdictZero-dependency Windows PE provenance and false-positive reduction engine (Embedded Authenticode + OS Security Catalogs, Rich Header ROL32 verification, Reproducible Build detection, and differential section entropy).
-success){kind=icon}
-brightgreen){kind=icon}
Deterministic PE Provenance & False-Positive Reduction Engine for Windows DFIR
Naive static malware scanners, YARA heuristics, and entropy scripts suffer from extreme False Positive Rates (often 40% to 60% on clean endpoints). They routinely misclassify legitimate Windows system utilities, .NET assemblies, Electron apps, PyInstaller bundles, and unsigned developer C/C++ builds as malware.
TrueVerdict is a zero-dependency Portable Executable (PE32 / PE32+) triage engine built strictly on the Python Standard Library (ctypes, struct, math, hashlib) and native Win32 cryptographic APIs (wintrust.dll, crypt32.dll). It drives false positives to near-zero (0.00% on standard OS/developer corpora) by replacing single-indicator heuristics with a 7-Layer Cryptographic & Structural Corroboration Matrix.
flowchart TD
A["Target PE32 / PE32+ Binary"] --> L1["Layer 1: Dual-Path Cryptographic Verification\n(wintrust.dll Embedded PKCS#7 + CatRoot .cat Lookup)"]
L1 --> L2["Layer 2: Compiler Provenance\n(Rich Header 'DanS' XOR Decryption & ROL32 Checksum)"]
L2 --> L3["Layer 3: Debug & Timestamp Validation\n(IMAGE_DEBUG_TYPE_REPRO Deterministic Build Detection)"]
L3 --> L4["Layer 4: Differential Entropy & Section Permissions\n(.text vs .rsrc Segmentation + RWX Memory Detection)"]
L4 --> L5["Layer 5: Combinatorial IAT Profiling\n(MD5 Imphash + Offensive Cluster vs. Benign CRT Density)"]
L5 --> L6["Layer 6: Canonical Path & Identity Verification\n(System32 Path Validation + Levenshtein Typosquatting + VS_VERSIONINFO)"]
L6 --> L7["Layer 7: Multi-Vector Corroboration Gate\n(Blocks Single-Indicator Alerts; Requires >= 2 Independent Layers)"]
L7 --> V["Deterministic Triage Verdict\n(BENIGN / LOW_RISK_ANOMALY / SUSPICIOUS / MALICIOUS)"]Running python trueverdict.py --benchmark evaluates 32 real Windows 11 system and developer binaries (including catalog-signed utilities, Brepro future-timestamped binaries, and an unsigned clean C/C++ build) alongside 5 synthetic adversarial PE64 specimens:
======================================================================================
TRUEVERDICT - LIVE FALSE-POSITIVE STRESS BENCHMARK & ADVERSARIAL VALIDATION
======================================================================================
[PHASE 1] Scanning 32 Legitimate OS & Developer Binaries...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BINARY NAME | SIGNING MODE | NAIVE | FINAL | VERDICT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
notepad.exe | OS_CATALOG | 45 | 0 | BENIGN (99.9%)
cmd.exe | OS_CATALOG | 80 | 0 | BENIGN (99.9%)
svchost.exe | EMBEDDED_AUTHENTICODE | 60 | 0 | BENIGN (99.9%)
calc.exe | OS_CATALOG | 45 | 0 | BENIGN (99.9%)
explorer.exe | EMBEDDED_AUTHENTICODE | 60 | 0 | BENIGN (99.9%)
regedit.exe | OS_CATALOG | 45 | 0 | BENIGN (99.9%)
certutil.exe | OS_CATALOG | 45 | 0 | BENIGN (99.9%)
spoolsv.exe | OS_CATALOG | 80 | 0 | BENIGN (99.9%)
powershell.exe | OS_CATALOG | 45 | 0 | BENIGN (99.9%)
python.exe | EMBEDDED_AUTHENTICODE | 0 | 0 | BENIGN (99.9%)
clean_unsigned_dev_tool.exe | UNSIGNED | 20 | 0 | BENIGN (98.5%)
... (all 32 legitimate binaries score 0/100)
[PHASE 2] Scanning 5 Synthetic Adversarial Threat Specimens...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THREAT SPECIMEN | PRIMARY DETECTION VECTORS | SCORE | VERDICT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
svchost.exe | L2_RICH_F,L6_MASQUE | 100 | MALICIOUS (99.4%)
scvhost.exe | L2_RICH_F,L6_MASQUE | 100 | MALICIOUS (99.4%)
reflective_rwx_stub.exe | L4_RWX_ME,L4_PACKED | 100 | MALICIOUS (99.4%)
hollow_injector.exe | L2_RICH_F,L3_TIMEST | 90 | MALICIOUS (94.6%)
tampered_cert_implant.exe | L1_CRYPTO,L2_RICH_F | 100 | MALICIOUS (99.4%)
======================================================================================
BENCHMARK SUMMARY: NAIVE HEURISTICS vs. TRUEVERDICT CORROBORATION ENGINE
======================================================================================
Total Binaries Evaluated : 37 (2.70s)
Naive Heuristic False Positives : 18/32 (56.25% FPR)
TrueVerdict False Positives : 0/32 (0.00% FPR)
Total False-Positive Risk Suppressed: -1175 heuristic noise points
Adversarial Threat Detection Rate : 5/5 (100.00% TPR)
======================================================================================
cmd.exe)Notice how C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe on Windows 11 carries no embedded Authenticode signature, has a year 2034 compile timestamp (0x789F4656), and imports ResumeThread. A naive heuristic scanner scores it at 80/100 (Malicious/Suspicious). TrueVerdict resolves its OS Catalog signature, validates its IMAGE_DEBUG_TYPE_REPRO entry, verifies its DanS Rich Header checksum, and reduces its risk score to 0/100 (BENIGN):
====================================================================================
TRUEVERDICT FORENSIC TRIAGE REPORT : cmd.exe
====================================================================================
File Path : C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe
File Size : 344,064 bytes
SHA-256 : 97ac98b1a92c286054cce55239cfccdfc23a5517bd07fe693072c9ca96c7dabb
Imphash (MD5) : 010b165e4c37f484601d3dbd700c9423
Architecture : x64 (64-bit) | Linker: 14.38 | Container: NATIVE_UNPACKED
Compile Timestamp : 2034-02-16 12:02:30 UTC [REPRODUCIBLE_BUILD_HASH]
[1] CRYPTOGRAPHIC PROVENANCE (AUTHENTICODE + OS CATALOG)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Verification Mode : OS_CATALOG
Status : Valid Windows Security Catalog Signature
Verified Signer : Microsoft Windows Production PCA 2011
Certificate Issuer: Microsoft Root Certificate Authority 2010
OS Security Cat : C:\WINDOWS\system32\CatRoot\{F750E6C3-38EE-11D1-85E5-00C04FC295EE}\Microsoft-Windows-Client-Desktop-Required-Package0512~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~10.0.26100.9444.cat
[2] COMPILER PROVENANCE (RICH HEADER & DEBUG METADATA)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rich Header (DanS): Present | XOR Key: 0xD7965A3A | ROL32 Checksum: VALID (Authentic MSVC Build)
Toolchain Objects : 11 @comp.id records
CodeView PDB Path : cmd.pdb
[5] FALSE-POSITIVE SUPPRESSION & CORROBORATION MATRIX
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[+] TRUST ANCHOR [L1_CRYPTO_TRUST ] (-75) Valid Windows Security Catalog Signature (Microsoft Windows Production PCA 2011)
[+] TRUST ANCHOR [L2_RICH_PROVENANCE ] (-15) Authentic MSVC Rich Header ('DanS') verified via ROL32 checksum (0xD7965A3A, 11 toolchain build objects)
[~] FP SUPPRESSED [L1_CATALOG_RECOVERY ] (-20) Binary has no embedded Authenticode table, but matched verified OS Catalog
[~] FP SUPPRESSED [L3_BREPRO_TIMESTAMP ] (-25) Non-chronological PE TimeDateStamp (0x789F4656) verified as deterministic Reproducible Build (IMAGE_DEBUG_TYPE_REPRO) hash
[~] FP SUPPRESSED [L5_DUAL_USE_API_SUPPRESSION] (-35) Dual-use Win32 APIs (ResumeThread) suppressed within high-density/trusted IAT (287 total imports)
[*] Active Risk Vectors: 0 (Zero corroborated threat indicators)
====================================================================================
NAIVE HEURISTIC SCORE : 80/100 --> TRUEVERDICT FINAL SCORE : 0/100 (-80 FP noise suppressed)
FINAL VERDICT : BENIGN (Confidence: 99.9% | Corroborated Layers: 0)
====================================================================================
TrueVerdict requires zero external PyPI packages and runs out-of-the-box on any standard Python 3.10+ installation on Windows.
git clone https://github.com/prox0959/TrueVerdict.git
cd TrueVerdict
# 1. Run the live False-Positive Stress Benchmark (32 OS/Dev binaries + 5 synthetic threats)
python trueverdict.py --benchmark
# 2. Triage a single binary (.exe, .dll, .sys)
python trueverdict.py C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe
# 3. Triage an entire directory and export structured JSON
python trueverdict.py --dir C:\Windows\System32 --limit 50 --json system32_triage.json
# 4. Run unit & integration test suite
python -m unittest discover -s tests -v
Released under the MIT License.
| Naive Scanner Trap | Why Clean Binaries Trigger It | How TrueVerdict Eliminates the False Positive |
|---|
| 1. "Missing" Digital Signatures on Windows System Files | Over 50% of C:\Windows\System32 binaries (cmd.exe, notepad.exe, powershell.exe, regedit.exe) do not contain an embedded Authenticode certificate table (IMAGE_DIRECTORY_ENTRY_SECURITY == 0). | Queries both embedded PKCS#7 signatures (WinVerifyTrust) and the Windows OS Security Catalog (CatRoot .cat) database via CryptCATAdminCalcHashFromFileHandle + CryptCATAdminEnumCatalogFromHash. |
| 2. "Future / Forged" Compile Timestamps (e.g. Year 2034 or 2089) | Starting in Windows 10 1607+, Microsoft switched to Reproducible Builds (Brepro), replacing the COFF TimeDateStamp with a deterministic build hash. | Parses IMAGE_DIRECTORY_ENTRY_DEBUG for IMAGE_DEBUG_TYPE_REPRO (Type 16). Recognizes deterministic build hashes and suppresses false timestamp alerts. |
3. High File Entropy (H > 7.2 bits/byte) | Compressed icons/PNGs in .rsrc, .NET metadata, or installer overlays (PyInstaller, InnoSetup, NSIS, Electron) naturally approach 7.5 - 7.99 bits/byte. | Computes Differential Section Entropy, isolating executable code (.text) from non-executable resources (.rsrc) and fingerprinting known application containers. |
4. Dual-Use Win32 API Imports (VirtualAllocEx, ResumeThread) | Compilers, browsers, debuggers, and language runtimes (python.exe, cmd.exe, kernel32.dll) legitimately import memory and thread manipulation APIs. | Evaluates Import Table Density & Combinatorial Clusters, suppressing dual-use APIs when embedded within high-density CRT/OS import tables (55+ imports) or verified signatures. |
| 5. Unsigned Local Developer Builds | Locally compiled C/C++, Rust, or Go binaries lack Authenticode certificates and get flagged by "Unsigned = Suspicious" rules. | Enforces Unsigned != Malicious (0 baseline penalty) and validates compiler provenance by decrypting the MSVC Rich Header (DanS) and verifying its ROL32 checksum. |