Published: 20 Aug 2024

Control Flow Obfuscation

Control flow obfuscation is a technique that protects software code by obscuring the execution logic. It does this by replacing the original code fragments with equivalent sequences of transformations that produce the same results. As a result, decompilers are confused and unable to properly reverse engineer the code.

Process

Control flow obfuscation involves:

1. Decomposing the source code into fragments.
2. Applying various transformations to the fragments.
3. Re-assembling and obfuscating the transformed fragments according to predefined criteria.

Benefits

Obfuscation benefits all types of programs, especially those with high complexity. The level of obfuscation strength depends on the programming language and available resources. Compiled languages are generally easier to obfuscate than assembly languages.

Languages

Obfuscation algorithms are available in various languages, including Java, C, and C++.