FlatScan is a production-grade static malware analysis and reporting engine written in pure Go. It is designed for analysts who need fast triage, IOC extraction, suspicious capability detection, executive reporting, and hunting-rule handoff — all without executing the sample.
FlatScan reads a file, hashes it, identifies the format, extracts strings, decodes suspicious encoded data, extracts and triages IOCs, inspects executable/container metadata, scores findings, enriches them into a malware profile, and produces text, JSON, PDF, HTML, IOC, YARA, Sigma, STIX 2.1, case database, and report-pack outputs.
- Why FlatScan Exists
- Architecture Overview
- Analysis Pipeline
- Features
- Quick Start
- Output Types
- Web GUI
- Sample Report
- Scan Modes
- Scoring Logic
- Plugin System
- Performance Architecture
- Module Map
- Safety Note
- Limitations
- Documentation
- Project URL
Malware triage often has two audiences:
| Audience | Needs |
|---|---|
| Security Analysts | Technical evidence: hashes, strings, imports, IOCs, entropy, sections, decoded data, TTPs, hunting rules |
| CISO / Management | Risk context: what it likely is, why it matters, business impact, recommended actions |
FlatScan serves both. It does static analysis for safety and speed, then converts the result into both machine-readable output and management-ready reporting.
graph LR
A[Malware Sample] --> B[FlatScan Engine]
B --> C[Analyst Reports]
B --> D[Executive Reports]
B --> E[Machine-Readable]
B --> F[Hunting Rules]
C -->|HTML, Full Text| G[SOC Team]
D -->|PDF, Executive MD| H[CISO / Board]
E -->|JSON, STIX 2.1| I[SIEM / SOAR]
F -->|YARA, Sigma| J[EDR / Hunt Team]
FlatScan is built as a multi-stage analysis pipeline with parallel execution, a plugin system, and zero external dependencies.
graph TB
subgraph "Input Layer"
CLI[CLI Parser] --> CFG[Config]
INT[Interactive Mode] --> CFG
SHL[Shell Mode] --> CFG
WCH[Watch Mode] --> CFG
end
subgraph "I/O Layer"
CFG --> MMP{File > 100MB?}
MMP -->|Yes| MMAP[Memory-Mapped I/O]
MMP -->|No| BUF[Buffered Read]
MMAP --> DATA[Raw Bytes + Hashes]
BUF --> DATA
end
subgraph "Analysis Pipeline"
DATA --> DET[File Type Detection]
DET --> ENT[Entropy Analysis]
ENT --> STR[String Extraction]
STR --> IOC[IOC Extraction]
IOC --> DEC[Decoder Pass]
DEC --> CRP[Corpus Build]
CRP --> PAT[Pattern Matching]
PAT --> PG["Parallel Group"]
subgraph PG["⚡ Parallel Stages"]
FMT[Format Analysis]
CRV[Safe Carving]
CRY[Crypto/Config]
SIM[Similarity Hash]
end
PG --> SEQ[Sequential Stages]
SEQ --> PLG[Plugin Engine]
PLG --> SCR[Risk Scoring]
end
subgraph "Output Layer"
SCR --> TXT[Text Report]
SCR --> JSN[JSON]
SCR --> PDF[PDF Report]
SCR --> HTM[HTML Report]
SCR --> YAR[YARA Rule]
SCR --> SIG[Sigma Rule]
SCR --> STX[STIX 2.1]
SCR --> RPK[Report Pack]
end
style PG fill:#1a1a2e,stroke:#e94560,stroke-width:2px
style SCR fill:#0f3460,stroke:#e94560,stroke-width:2px
| Principle | Implementation |
|---|---|
| Minimal, cgo-free deps | Go standard library plus one pure-Go module — golang.org/x/arch (disassembly engine, 0.8.0). No cgo, no native libraries |
| Static Only | Never executes the sample — reads bytes and metadata |
| Thread-Safe | parallelRun() with mutex-protected findings, race-detector verified |
| Platform Portable | Builds for Linux, macOS, Windows; mmap on Linux with transparent fallback |
| Extensible | Plugin interface + JSON manifests for custom detections without recompiling |
The engine processes files through 18 stages with parallel execution for independent operations:
sequenceDiagram
participant CLI as CLI/Interactive
participant IO as I/O Layer
participant Engine as Analysis Engine
participant Parallel as Parallel Group
participant Score as Scoring
participant Output as Output Renderers
CLI->>IO: Config + File Path
IO->>IO: mmap or buffered read
IO->>IO: Compute MD5/SHA1/SHA256/SHA512
IO->>Engine: Raw bytes + Hashes
Engine->>Engine: 1. File type detection
Engine->>Engine: 2. Entropy analysis (incremental)
Engine->>Engine: 3. String extraction (zero-alloc)
Engine->>Engine: 4. IOC extraction + triage
Engine->>Engine: 5. Decoder pass (base64/hex/URL)
Engine->>Engine: 6. Corpus build (shared, single alloc)
Engine->>Engine: 7. Pattern matching
Engine->>Parallel: Launch independent stages
par Format Analysis
Parallel->>Parallel: PE/ELF/Mach-O/APK/MSIX
and Safe Carving
Parallel->>Parallel: Embedded artifacts
and Crypto/Config
Parallel->>Parallel: C2, tokens, mutex, wallets
and Similarity
Parallel->>Parallel: FlatHash, import hash, section hash
end
Parallel->>Engine: Merged results
Engine->>Engine: 8. Rules + Plugins
Engine->>Engine: 9. Family classification
Engine->>Score: Findings
Score->>Score: Deduplicate + Score + Verdict
Score->>Output: Enriched ScanResult
par Output Generation
Output->>Output: Text/JSON/PDF/HTML/YARA/Sigma/STIX
end
| # | Stage | Description | Optimization |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | File Read | Reads file and computes 4 hash algorithms simultaneously | mmap for files >100MB |
| 2 | Type Detection | Magic bytes + extension mapping for 25+ file types | — |
| 3 | Entropy | Full-file Shannon entropy + sliding-window high-entropy regions | Incremental histogram O(step) |
| 4 | String Extraction | ASCII + UTF-16LE string extraction with mode-based limits | Zero-alloc byte-slice indexing |
| 5 | IOC Extraction | URLs, domains, IPs, emails, hashes, CVEs, registry keys, paths | Batch normalization |
| 6 | Decoder Pass | Base64, hex, URL-percent with configurable nesting depth | — |
| 7 | Corpus Build | Shared lowercase corpus for all pattern-matching stages | Single alloc, 5x reuse |
| 8 | Pattern Matching | Behavioral signatures, import chains, capability detection | Corpus string search |
| 9 | Format Analysis | PE/ELF/Mach-O/APK/MSIX/ZIP/DEX structural parsing | ⚡ Parallel |
| 10 | Safe Carving | Embedded PE/ELF/DEX/ZIP/PDF/gzip/7z/RAR detection | ⚡ Parallel |
| 11 | Crypto/Config | C2 endpoints, webhook tokens, mutex, wallet strings, XOR keys | ⚡ Parallel |
| 12 | Similarity | FlatHash, byte-histogram, string-set, import, section hashes | ⚡ Parallel |
| 13 | API Chain Detection | Behavioral attack chains from API family combinations | 7 built-in chains |
| 14 | Packer Fingerprinting | Section-name + overlay marker detection for 8 packers | PE-only |
| 15 | Rules Engine | JSON rule packs + .rule declarative detections |
Corpus-aware |
| 16 | Plugin Engine | Built-in + JSON manifest plugins | Registry pattern |
| 17 | Family Classifier | Ransomware, stealer, loader, RAT, riskware, cryptominer, wiper | — |
| 18 | IOC Triage | PKI/schema/OID/loopback suppression | Audit trail |
| 19 | Risk Scoring | Severity-weighted score with dedup + verdict + per-category breakdown | — |
| 20 | Profile Enrichment | MITRE TTPs, business impact, capabilities, recommendations | — |
- Full-file MD5, SHA1, SHA256, and SHA512 hashing
- File type and MIME hint detection (25+ formats)
- ASCII and UTF-16LE string extraction with zero-allocation performance
- IOC extraction: URLs, domains, IPv4, IPv6, emails, hashes, CVEs, registry keys, paths, mutex names, named pipes, Ethereum/Monero/Bitcoin wallet addresses (0.5.0)
- IOC triage with built-in PKI, schema, OID, and loopback allowlists
- IOC confidence & categorization — every indicator tagged
ioc/suspicious-infra/benign-infra/build-artifact/compiler-metadata/source-path/package-namespacewith a confidence weight; non-actionable noise (Rust/Cargo/PDB/namespace) is excluded from--extract-iocand STIX (0.9.0) - Multi-evidence correlation engine — serious capabilities require corroborating evidence groups; every finding carries a numeric
confidenceandevidence_countso a lone generic string never reads as high-confidence (0.9.0) - Named-family fingerprints — RedLine, LummaC2, StealC, Vidar, Raccoon, Agent Tesla, FormBook/XLoader, AsyncRAT, Quasar, Remcos, XWorm, njRAT (multi-signal) (0.9.0)
- Similarity matching against a JSONL reference store (
--similarity-db) — "N% similar to " (0.9.0) - CAPA-style capability rules over strings + imports (incl. hashdb-resolved) + disasm techniques + IOC categories → ATT&CK; YARA-quality scoring (compiler-string exclusion + FP-risk) (0.9.0)
- Malware config extraction (C2/mutex/token/webhook/wallet/campaign), offline threat-intel enrichment (
--intel-db), and expected-behavior prediction for sandbox/EDR validation (0.9.0) - Recursive static payload resolution (
--resolve-depth) — peels base64/hex, gzip/zlib, single-byte-XOR, and carving layers and re-scans each recovered stage, surfacing a provenance-taggedpayload_treeso a buried PE/ELF/DEX/archive is scored instead of hiding behind its wrapper; pure data transformation, sample never executed (0.10.0) - DGA (algorithmically-generated domain) scoring on extracted domains — dictionary-free lexical model (entropy + FANCI features + n-gram normality) flagging likely C2 domains as MITRE T1568.002 (0.7.0)
- Suspicious base64, hex, and URL-percent decoding with nesting depth control, plus separator-delimited hex and whole-buffer reversed-string recovery that follows multi-stage script/LNK obfuscation and recovers hidden C2 IOCs (0.7.1)
- Code-level disassembly (x86/x64 PE+ELF) — instruction-level detection of API-hashing (ROR13) loops, PEB walks, GetPC/shellcode stubs, and anti-VM (VMware backdoor, hypervisor CPUID, Red Pill), with hash-database resolution of hash-obfuscated imports (ROR13/DJB2/SDBM) feeding the import/behavior layer (0.8.0)
- Shannon entropy scoring and high-entropy region detection
- Per-category score breakdown shown in every report and JSON output (0.5.0)
- PE: imports, sections, timestamp, subsystem, certificate table, overlay, import hash, .NET detection, exploit-mitigation posture (ASLR/DEP/CFG/HEVA), Rich-header hash, TLS callbacks, Authenticode signer, entry-point sanity (0.7.0)
- ELF: class, machine, type, imports, sections, static+stripped posture, legacy/IoT architecture profile, high-entropy code packing (0.7.1)
- Mach-O: CPU, type, imports, sections
- Windows shortcut (.lnk): ShellLinkHeader + StringData parsing, LOLBin target detection, embedded command-line extraction & deobfuscation, reversed-URL C2 recovery (0.7.1)
- Scripts (.ps1/.psm1/.bat/.cmd/.vbs/.js/.wsf/.hta/.sh): PowerShell/script behavioral engine — Defender/AMSI tampering, download-and-execute cradles, multi-layer deobfuscation, persistence (0.7.1)
- ZIP/APK/JAR/MSIX/AppX/Office XML: entry inspection without disk extraction
- MSIX/AppX: manifest parsing, publisher, capabilities, undeclared payloads, Magniber detection
- Android APK/DEX: manifest, permissions, exported components, DEX string/API scanning
- Code-level disassembly (x86/x64 PE+ELF): entry-point instruction analysis — API-hashing loops (ROR13), PEB walks, GetPC/shellcode stubs, instruction-level anti-VM (VMware backdoor, hypervisor CPUID, Red Pill), and hash-database resolution of hash-obfuscated imports (0.8.0)
mindmap
root((Behavioral<br/>Detection))
Injection
Process Injection APIs
NT-Level Injection APIs
Dynamic API Resolution
Reflective Loading
API Chain Detection
Network
Downloader Behavior
C2 Style Strings
Discord Webhook
Named Pipe C2
Lateral Movement Recon
DGA Domain Detection
Persistence
Registry Keys
Startup Folders
Scheduled Tasks
Cron/Systemd
Evasion
VM/Sandbox Awareness
Anti-Debugging
Timing Evasion APIs
Security Tool Bypass
Packer Fingerprinting
Credential Theft
Browser Credentials
DPAPI Access
Wallet Theft
Token Harvesting
Ransomware
Ransom Notes
File Encryption APIs
Shadow Copy Deletion
Cryptominer
Stratum Protocol
GPU Library Refs
Pool Strings
Wiper
Shadow Copy Deletion
Disk Write APIs
Boot Recovery Tampering
.NET Managed Code
Reflective Loading
P/Invoke Injection
Obfuscator Fingerprints
- Text: minimal, Summary, and Full report modes
- JSON: complete structured result for automation
- PDF: CISO/management-ready with executive summary, MITRE matrix, risk cards
- HTML: interactive analyst report with filters and expandable sections
- IOC: categorized text export with promoted payload hashes
- YARA: auto-generated hunting rule with structural guards
- Sigma: SIEM/EDR hunting rule with ATT&CK tags
- STIX 2.1: threat intelligence bundle (File SCO, Malware SDO, Indicators, Relationships)
- Report Pack: all of the above in a single directory
graph LR
subgraph "Operator Modes"
A[Direct CLI] --> E[Single Scan]
B[Interactive] --> E
C[Shell Mode] --> E
D[Batch Mode] --> F[Parallel Dir Scan]
G[Watch Mode] --> H[Continuous Monitor]
I[CI/CD Mode] --> J[Gate Check]
W[Web GUI] --> E
end
E --> K[Reports]
F --> L[Summary Table + JSON]
H --> M[Auto-Alert]
J --> N[Exit Code 0/10/20]
| Mode | Command | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Direct CLI | ./flatscan -f sample.bin -m deep |
One-off scans and automation |
| Web GUI | ./flatscan --web |
Browser-based upload, scan, and report download |
| Interactive | ./flatscan --interactive |
Guided wizard for new analysts |
| Shell | ./flatscan --shell |
Repeated scans in one session |
| Batch | ./flatscan --dir ./samples -m deep --batch-json results.json |
Parallel directory-wide triage |
| Watch | ./flatscan --dir ./inbox --watch --watch-alert-only |
Monitor for new files, alert on threats |
| CI/CD | ./flatscan -f build.exe --ci --ci-threshold 30 |
Pipeline gate with semantic exit codes |
The Go sources and go.mod live in the source go/ directory; build from there and emit the binary to the repo root:
cd "source go"
go build -o ../flatscan .
# With version tag
go build -ldflags "-X main.version=0.10.0" -o ../flatscan .Since 0.8.0, the build pulls one pure-Go module —
golang.org/x/arch(the disassembly engine).go buildfetches it automatically; for offline/air-gapped builds rungo mod vendoronce on a connected host and commit thevendor/directory. The build remains cgo-free — no native libraries required.
# ⚡ Quick triage
./flatscan -m quick -f sample.exe --report-mode Summary
# 🔬 Deep scan with full report pack
./flatscan -m deep -f sample.exe --report-pack reports/case-001 --carve --debug
# 📂 Batch scan entire directory
./flatscan --dir ./samples -m deep
# 👁 Watch directory for new files
./flatscan --dir ./inbox --watch -m deep --watch-interval 5
# 📊 JSON to stdout for scripting
./flatscan -m deep -f sample.exe --json - --no-progress --no-splash --no-color | jq '.risk_score'
# 🔐 Full stealer analysis
./flatscan -m deep -f sample/mercuristealer \
--report-mode Full \
--report reports/stealer.txt \
--json reports/stealer.json \
--pdf reports/stealer.pdf \
--html reports/stealer.html \
--yara reports/stealer.yar \
--sigma reports/stealer.yml \
--stix reports/stealer.stix.json \
--extract-ioc reports/stealer.iocs.txt \
--carve --debug
# 📱 Android APK analysis with custom rules
./flatscan -m deep -f suspicious.apk --rules plugins/android-risk.rule --report-pack reports/apk-case
# 🎯 STIX threat intelligence export
./flatscan -m deep -f malware.exe --stix reports/threat-intel.stix.json
# 🛡️ CI/CD gate — native exit codes (0=clean, 10=suspicious, 20=malicious)
./flatscan -m quick -f build.exe --ci --ci-threshold 30 --no-splash; echo "Exit: $?"
# 📊 Machine-readable CSV pipeline
./flatscan -f sample.bin -m quick --output-format csv --no-splash 2>/dev/null
# 📂 Parallel batch scan with JSON summary
./flatscan --dir ./samples -m quick --batch-json results.json --no-splash
# 🔄 Batch report packs for all samples
for f in samples/*; do
./flatscan -m deep -f "$f" --report-pack "reports/$(basename "$f")" --no-splash --no-progress
done
# 💬 Interactive guided mode
./flatscan --interactive
# 🖥️ Manual command shell
./flatscan --shell
# 🌐 Local web GUI (open http://localhost:5000 in a browser)
./flatscan --web
# 🌐 Web GUI on a custom port
./flatscan --web --web-port 8080| Output | Flag | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Text report | --report PATH |
Human-readable report. Honors --report-mode. |
| JSON report | --json PATH |
Complete structured result for automation and pipelines. |
| JSON stdout | --json - |
Same as JSON report but piped to stdout for scripting. |
| PDF report | --pdf PATH |
CISO/management-ready report with executive summary, MITRE matrix, risk bar, impact. |
| HTML report | --html PATH |
Interactive dark analyst report with global search, MITRE heatmap, IOC tabs, theme toggle. |
| IOC export | --extract-ioc PATH |
Categorized IOC text with payload hashes, mutexes, named pipes, crypto wallets. |
| YARA rule | --yara PATH |
Auto-generated hunting rule with structural guards and entropy conditions. |
| Sigma rule | --sigma PATH |
Auto-generated SIEM/EDR hunting rule with ATT&CK tags. |
| STIX bundle | --stix PATH |
STIX 2.1 JSON bundle with File SCO, Malware SDO, Indicators, Relationships. |
| Report pack | --report-pack DIR |
All formats: PDF, HTML, JSON, IOC, YARA, Sigma, STIX, text, executive markdown. |
| Case DB | --case ID --case-db PATH |
Local JSONL case record for sample tracking. |
| CSV | --output-format csv |
filename,score,verdict,findings,iocs,sha256 one-liner to stdout. |
| JSONL | --output-format jsonl |
Compact single-line JSON to stdout for SIEM streaming. |
| Batch JSON | --batch-json PATH |
JSON summary of batch: scanned/malicious/suspicious/clean/errors + per-file results. |
| Stdout | default | Text report to stdout, colorized when terminal supports it. |
FlatScan ships a self-contained local web interface. Run --web and open the printed URL in a browser — no separate install, no CDN, no npm, and zero new Go dependencies (the entire single-page app is embedded in the binary).
./flatscan --web # http://localhost:5000
./flatscan --web --web-port 8080 # custom portOn startup it prints:
[flatscan-web] WARNING: no authentication — bind to localhost only
[flatscan-web] listening on http://localhost:5000
[flatscan-web] open your browser at http://localhost:5000
sequenceDiagram
participant B as Browser
participant S as flatscan --web
B->>S: POST /api/scan (file + options)
S-->>B: 202 { job_id }
loop every 800ms
B->>S: GET /api/result/{id}
S-->>B: 202 scanning… / 200 done + ScanResult
end
B->>S: GET /api/download/{id}/{format}
S-->>B: stream artifact (json/txt/iocs/yar/yml/stix/html/pdf/pack)
Workflow: drag a file onto the drop zone (or click to browse) → pick a scan mode (quick / standard / deep) → toggle options (--carve, --yara, --sigma, --stix, --report-pack) → Run Scan. The page polls the job and renders the result across nine tabs: overview, findings, IOC, functions, PE details, artifacts, profile, log, and outputs. Every generated format can be downloaded directly from the outputs tab, including the full report pack as a .zip. The last 10 scans are kept in an in-session history for quick reload.
The web GUI analyzing a Windows banker trojan sample (banker.exe — verdict SUSPICIOUS, 34/100):
Overview — verdict bar, score breakdown, stat cells, collapsible hashes, and the section entropy map.
| Endpoint | Method | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
/ |
GET | Serves the embedded single-page UI |
/api/scan |
POST | multipart/form-data upload; returns 202 { "job_id": ... } |
/api/result/{id} |
GET | Poll job status; returns the full ScanResult + available_downloads when done |
/api/download/{id}/{format} |
GET | Streams one artifact (json, txt, iocs, yar, yml, stix, pack) |
🔒 Security: the server binds to
127.0.0.1only and has no authentication — it is a single-user local tool. Each upload is isolated in its own temp directory (reaped after 30 minutes), filenames are sanitized, and uploads are capped at 256 MB. Do not expose the port to untrusted networks. See security.md. As of v0.7.0, the web GUI also serves HTML and PDF report downloads.
Below is the full plain-text report for the same banker.exe sample shown in the screenshots above — a deep scan produced by FlatScan (reports/banker.exe.txt). It demonstrates the verdict, score breakdown, malware profile, findings with ATT&CK mappings, suspicious APIs, IOCs, carved artifacts, similarity hashes, and full PE metadata.
At a glance:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Verdict | Suspicious (34/100) |
| Score breakdown | Persistence:20 Evasion:10 Configuration:4 |
| File type | PE executable (amd64, windows-console) · 332.5 KiB |
| Entropy | 5.73 / 8.00 — normal |
| Likely type | Persistent Windows malware |
| Top finding | [High] Windows persistence indicator — ATT&CK T1547.001 |
| Carved artifacts | 2 gzip blobs · 20 embedded compressed streams |
| SHA-256 | 67e55b73e07b3cb11d3f5bc1490cb585fb185c0267a7827cf801c9f6bb3abe7e |
📄 Click to expand the full text report (banker.exe.txt)
FlatScan 0.5.0 report
Target: /tmp/flatscan_web_18b67081d06bd58c-8c6fba26_3793890109/banker.exe
Mode: deep
Verdict: Suspicious (34/100)
Score breakdown: [Persistence:20 Evasion:10 Configuration:4]
File type: PE executable
MIME hint: application/octet-stream
Size: 332.5 KiB (340480 bytes)
Analyzed bytes: 332.5 KiB
Entropy: 5.73/8.00 - normal
Strings: 2095
Duration: 348.588417ms
Malware profile:
- Classification: Suspicious
- Confidence: Medium (34/100)
- Likely type: Persistent Windows malware
- Capabilities: Embedded artifact carrier, Sandbox and VM awareness, Static configuration artifacts, Windows startup persistence
- MITRE TTPs mapped: 2
- Crypto indicators: 1
- Assessment: The sample contains meaningful suspicious static indicators. The findings should be correlated with endpoint, network, and sandbox telemetry before final disposition.
Hashes:
- MD5: 34949ecd38a1d532fa22cb88fa55be98
- SHA1: a4eb77b3d8f3cc506629294f9e8e00b078192dfa
- SHA256: 67e55b73e07b3cb11d3f5bc1490cb585fb185c0267a7827cf801c9f6bb3abe7e
- SHA512: 0e49ccca3b65e2a45f91c1a3c4313c4b95ac31966b8561d2aeaf97515ba44f140b476852a47db34a432914c0a4d14f9b26fef57a98566ad2d197a9caa53d9cec
- PE import hash: e303152d27f8be77fa72264ebc0c1ef4
Findings: 4
- [High] Persistence: Windows persistence indicator (Run keys, service creation, scheduled task, or startup folder strings are present) score=20
ATT&CK: Persistence / Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder (T1547.001)
Recommendation: Inspect Run keys, services, scheduled tasks, and startup directories on systems where this file executed.
- [Medium] Evasion: Anti-debugging reference (debugger detection strings or APIs are present) score=10
- [Low] Configuration: Static configuration artifacts extracted (20 likely configuration or secret-handling artifacts) score=4
ATT&CK: Discovery / Data from Local System
Recommendation: Review extracted config artifacts for live C2, token, wallet, campaign, or mutex values before sharing reports.
- [Info] Classifier: Malware family hypothesis (Packed or bundled payload (Medium))
Suspicious functions/APIs: 10
- [Medium] IsDebuggerPresent (anti-debugging, strings/imports)
- [Medium] QueryPerformanceCounter (timing evasion, strings/imports)
- [Low] LoadLibrary (dynamic loading, strings/imports)
- [Low] GetProcAddress (dynamic loading, strings/imports)
- [Medium] CreateProcess (execution, strings/imports)
- [Medium] CreateProcess (execution, pe imports)
- [Low] GetProcAddress (dynamic loading, pe imports)
- [Medium] IsDebuggerPresent (anti-debugging, pe imports)
- [Low] LoadLibrary (dynamic loading, pe imports)
- [Medium] QueryPerformanceCounter (timing evasion, pe imports)
IOCs: 4 total
Windows paths:
- C:\Users\Eu\Desktop\ORGANIZAR\Rats\Meus\KL2021\PlusPlus\xpl-uac-(x64)\byeintegrity8-uac-master\x64\Release\PcaPayload.pdb
- D:\a\_work\1\s\src\vctools\crt\vcruntime\src\eh\std_exception.cpp
- D:\a\_work\1\s\src\vctools\crt\vcruntime\src\internal\per_thread_data.cpp
- D:\a\_work\1\s\src\vctools\crt\vcruntime\src\internal\winapi_downlevel.cpp
Family classifier: 1 hypotheses
- [Medium] Packed or bundled payload (dropper) score=55 evidence=2 carved artifacts
Crypto/config artifacts: 20
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: zlib at 0x6012 (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: zlib at 0xbfe2 (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: zlib at 0xde06 (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: zlib at 0xee9a (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: zlib at 0x112d0 (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: zlib at 0x11750 (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: zlib at 0x11bd0 (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: zlib at 0x12050 (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: zlib at 0x124d0 (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: zlib at 0x12950 (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: zlib at 0x23694 (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: zlib at 0x25e47 (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: zlib at 0x30470 (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: gzip at 0x316f4 (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: zlib at 0x3313e (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: zlib at 0x33146 (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: zlib at 0x331a1 (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: zlib at 0x331a9 (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: gzip at 0x3589b (compressed stream magic found in file body)
- [Low] embedded-compressed-blob from raw-bytes: zlib at 0x362d8 (compressed stream magic found in file body)
Carved artifacts: 2
- Gzip compressed data offset=0x316f4 length=16807 sha256=6ecb8a31a426df4aacc9dba966f6343346bf1c74037ffa55061fc92f8173a9bf entropy=5.48 preview=H9D$P
- Gzip compressed data offset=0x3589b length=121189 sha256=01609509698b8714ec873256b3759c277b1f3e35b6d8f5437aa0c4970e8a96b3 entropy=5.30 preview=L$8H+
Similarity hashes:
- FlatHash: FLS1:4096: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
- Byte histogram: b0df31abc3e464958ae3796fea251f69ef20c070127e56c532fe2c51a1549c78
- String set: 178261f2b131f2d3bd863d64d60236bdd234e928cdd725e5ce30d8434dbd6838
Analysis plugins: 6
- similarity status=complete summary=computed FlatHash and structural similarity hashes
- safe-carver status=complete summary=2 embedded artifacts reported
- crypto-config-extractor status=complete summary=20 config artifacts
- family-classifier status=complete summary=1 family hypotheses
- high-entropy-blob-detector status=complete summary=ran in 1ms
- suspicious-import-combinator status=complete summary=ran in 0s
PE details:
- Machine: amd64
- Timestamp: 2026-05-15T01:34:00Z
- Subsystem: windows-console
- Image base: 0x180000000
- Entry point: 0x1c30
- Managed .NET runtime: false
- Certificate table present: false
Sections:
- .text raw=0x400 size=243200 entropy=5.69 flags=X
- .rdata raw=0x3ba00 size=77824 entropy=4.57 flags=-
- .data raw=0x4ea00 size=3072 entropy=2.03 flags=W
- .pdata raw=0x4f600 size=12288 entropy=5.38 flags=-
- _RDATA raw=0x52600 size=512 entropy=1.95 flags=-
- .rsrc raw=0x52800 size=512 entropy=4.72 flags=-
- .reloc raw=0x52a00 size=2048 entropy=4.96 flags=-
PE imports: 87 stored
- CloseHandle:KERNEL32.dll
- CoTaskMemFree:ole32.dll
- CreateFileW:KERNEL32.dll
- CreateProcessW:KERNEL32.dll
- ... (83 more; see reports/banker.exe.txt for the full list)
Suspicious strings:
- IsDebuggerPresent
The sample report above was generated with FlatScan 0.5.0. The engine and output format are backward-compatible in later versions; v0.7.0 adds PE Header Intelligence (mitigations, Rich hash, TLS callbacks, Authenticode, entry-point), v0.7.1 adds the LNK/script/ELF-posture detections, and v0.8.0 adds the instruction-level Code analysis (disassembly) section. The full untruncated file (including all 87 PE imports) lives at
reports/banker.exe.txt.
graph LR
subgraph Quick["⚡ Quick Mode"]
Q1[Hashes]
Q2[File Type]
Q3[Entropy]
Q4[Strings ~30K]
Q5[IOCs + Decode]
Q6[Key Signatures]
end
subgraph Standard["📊 Standard Mode"]
S1[Everything in Quick]
S2[High-Entropy Regions]
S3[ZIP/APK Entry Inspection]
S4[Strings ~100K]
end
subgraph Deep["🔬 Deep Mode"]
D1[Everything in Standard]
D2[Strings ~250K]
D3[Extended Import Analysis]
D4[Richest Profile]
D5[Full Decoder Depth]
end
| Mode | String Limit | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
quick |
30,000 | Fast triage — hashes, type, strings, IOCs, signatures |
standard |
100,000 | Normal analyst triage — adds entropy regions and ZIP inspection |
deep |
250,000 | Final reports — largest limits, richest profile output |
FlatScan assigns a risk score from 0-100 based on cumulative finding severity:
graph LR
subgraph Severity["Finding Severity Weights"]
C["🔴 Critical: 35 pts"]
H["🟠 High: 22 pts"]
M["🟡 Medium: 10 pts"]
L["🟢 Low: 3 pts"]
I["⚪ Info: 0 pts"]
end
| Score Range | Verdict | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
0-9 |
No strong indicators | Static scan found no strong evidence. Not a clean verdict. |
10-29 |
Low suspicion | Weak or limited indicators. Review context. |
30-54 |
Suspicious | Meaningful suspicious evidence. Correlate with telemetry. |
55-79 |
High suspicion | Strong suspicious indicators. Treat as high risk. |
80-100 |
Likely malicious | Multiple high-confidence indicators. Prioritize containment. |
graph TD
A[Finding Generated] --> B{Severity Score Set?}
B -->|Yes| C[Use Explicit Score]
B -->|No| D[Use Default Severity Score]
C --> E{Duplicate?}
D --> E
E -->|Yes| F[Skip]
E -->|No| G[Add to Findings]
G --> H[Sum All Scores]
H --> I{Score > 100?}
I -->|Yes| J[Cap at 100]
I -->|No| K[Use Raw Sum]
J --> L[Assign Verdict Band]
K --> L
L --> M[Sort by Severity + Score]
M --> N[Compute ScoreBreakdown per category]
Every scan shows a compact per-category breakdown in the report header and in JSON output:
Score breakdown: [Credential Access:44 Evasion:31 Exfiltration:28 Packing:24 Persistence:20]
Available in ScanResult.score_breakdown (JSON) for programmatic use.
| Code | Condition | Use |
|---|---|---|
0 |
Score < 30 | Clean / no strong indicators |
10 |
Score ≥ 30 | Suspicious / CI threshold exceeded |
20 |
Score ≥ 80 | Likely malicious |
1 |
Scan error | File not found, parse failure |
2 |
Usage error | Bad flags |
# One-liner for GitHub Actions / GitLab CI
./flatscan -f artifact.exe --ci --ci-threshold 30 --no-splash
# Exit 0 = pass, Exit 10 = blockFlatScan supports extensible analysis through a plugin interface:
graph TB
subgraph "Plugin Architecture"
REG[Plugin Registry] --> BP1[High-Entropy Blob<br/>Detector]
REG --> BP2[Suspicious Import<br/>Combinator]
REG --> JP[JSON Manifest<br/>Plugins]
BP1 -->|ShouldRun| CHK{File Type?}
BP2 -->|ShouldRun| CHK
JP -->|ShouldRun| CHK
CHK -->|Match| RUN[Execute Plugin]
CHK -->|Skip| NOP[No-op]
RUN --> FIND[AddFinding]
end
| Plugin | Purpose | Triggers On |
|---|---|---|
| High-Entropy Blob | Detects large encrypted/packed regions | Any binary with >7.5 entropy in 64KB+ regions |
| Import Combinator | Detects process hollowing and reflective injection | PE files with specific API combinations |
External plugins can be defined without recompiling:
{
"name": "Custom Webhook Detector",
"version": "1.0",
"author": "SOC Team",
"description": "Detects exfiltration via webhook services",
"file_types": ["PE executable", "ELF binary"],
"mode_min": "standard",
"checks": [
{
"title": "Webhook exfiltration endpoint",
"severity": "High",
"category": "Exfiltration",
"score": 20,
"strings_any": ["discord.com/api/webhooks", "api.telegram.org/bot"],
"tactic": "Exfiltration",
"technique": "Exfiltration Over Web Service"
}
]
}FlatScan achieves high performance through several architectural optimizations:
graph LR
subgraph "Performance Optimizations"
A[Corpus Caching] -->|1 alloc| B[5 consumers]
C[Incremental Entropy] -->|O per step| D[vs O per window]
E[Zero-Alloc Strings] -->|slice index| F[No heap allocs]
G[XOR Buffer Reuse] -->|1 buffer| H[256 key probes]
I[Parallel Pipeline] -->|goroutines| J[4 concurrent stages]
K[Memory-Mapped I/O] -->|syscall.Mmap| L[Zero-copy >100MB]
end
| Optimization | Before | After | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corpus Build | 5 independent builds (~240MB total) | 1 shared build (~48MB) | 5x memory reduction |
| Entropy Window | O(window) per step | O(step) incremental | 2x faster entropy |
| String Extraction | Per-string heap alloc | Direct slice indexing | Zero allocations |
| XOR Scan | New buffer per key | Single reused buffer | 256x fewer allocs |
| Pipeline | Sequential stages | 4 parallel goroutines | ~40% faster on multi-core |
| Large File I/O | Buffered read+copy | mmap zero-copy | Near-instant for >100MB |
All Go source files below live in the
source go/directory alongsidego.mod. Runtime assets (rules/,plugins/) and documentation stay at the repository root.
graph TB
subgraph "Entry Points"
main.go
interactive.go
end
subgraph "Core Engine"
scanner.go
types.go
progress.go
logger.go
end
subgraph "Analysis Modules"
signatures.go
chains.go
packer.go
ioc.go
ioc_triage.go
entropy.go
strings_extract.go
decode.go
formats.go
pe_intel.go
dga.go
dotnet.go
falsepositive.go
end
subgraph "Format Parsers"
apk.go
carve.go
config_extract.go
family.go
similarity.go
platform.go
end
subgraph "Output Renderers"
report.go
pdf.go
html.go
yara.go
sigma.go
stix.go
case_report_pack.go
end
subgraph "Architecture"
plugin.go
rules.go
parallel.go
cache.go
batch.go
watch.go
mmap_linux.go
color.go
external_tools.go
expert.go
splash.go
end
subgraph "Web Interface"
web.go
web_ui.go
end
main.go --> scanner.go
main.go --> web.go
web.go --> web_ui.go
web.go --> scanner.go
interactive.go --> scanner.go
scanner.go --> signatures.go
scanner.go --> ioc.go
scanner.go --> formats.go
scanner.go --> parallel.go
scanner.go --> plugin.go
scanner.go --> mmap_linux.go
style main.go fill:#e94560,color:#fff
style scanner.go fill:#0f3460,color:#fff
style parallel.go fill:#16213e,color:#fff
style web.go fill:#2dd4bf,color:#000
style web_ui.go fill:#2dd4bf,color:#000
| Category | Files | Lines of Code |
|---|---|---|
| Core Engine | 4 | ~1,300 |
| Analysis Modules | 11 | ~3,600 |
| Format Parsers | 5 | ~2,500 |
| Output Renderers | 7 | ~3,200 |
| Architecture | 11 | ~2,100 |
| Web Interface | 2 | ~1,380 |
| Tests | 3 | ~700 |
| Total | 47 | ~15,400 |
FlatScan performs static analysis only. It does not execute samples. That reduces risk, but it does not make malware handling safe by itself.
⚠️ Recommended handling:
- Work inside an isolated malware-analysis VM
- Do not double-click or execute samples
- Keep samples password-protected when sharing
- Store reports separately from live malware
- Treat generated findings as triage evidence, not a final clean/malicious verdict
- Static analysis can miss environment-gated, packed, staged, encrypted, or dynamically generated behavior
- Hashes cannot be decoded or reversed — FlatScan can classify hash-looking values as IOCs, but cannot recover original data
- Generated YARA and Sigma rules are starting points for hunting — review before deployment
- Safe carving reports offsets and hashes; it does not extract payloads to disk
- PKCS#7/CMS signature parsing is dependency-free and best-effort
- The local case database is JSONL, not SQLite, to keep FlatScan lightweight and cgo-free (the only third-party module is the pure-Go
golang.org/x/archdisassembler) - MITRE mapping is static-evidence mapping, not proof that the behavior executed
- PDF reports are generated by FlatScan's internal PDF writer (no external dependencies)
| Document | Purpose |
|---|---|
| install.md | Build, verify, cross-compile, lab setup |
| usage.md | Comprehensive flag reference, mode details, output interpretation |
| USECASE.md | Use cases, deployment scenarios, and recommended workflows |
| contributing.md | Code style, testing, adding detections, PR guidelines |
| security.md | Security policy, safe handling, output safety, dependency policy |
| changelog.md | Version history with all changes |
| roadmap.md | What's shipped (0.1.0–0.9.0) and the 5-year direction |
| QC_REPORT.md | Cumulative quality-assurance audit log per release |
Use this URL for issues, releases, documentation, and source references:








