analyzing-network-covert-channels-in-malware

analyzing-network-covert-channels-in-malware is a skill for Claude Code from killvxk/cybersecurity-skills-zh. It costs 59 tokens per session (1,897 once invoked), scanned A, original, Apache-2.0.

A guide to finding covert communication channels in malware, where data is hidden inside ordinary DNS, ICMP, or HTTP traffic. Command and control means the connection malware uses to receive instructions; data exfiltration means stealing data from a system.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to inspect packet captures and network logs, detect hidden channels, and investigate malware communication and data theft.
Why use it?
It helps identify traffic that may look normal while carrying attacker instructions or stolen information, including DNS tunneling and protocol abuse.

Skill for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: shipped in a Claude Code plugin.

Part of the cybersecurity-skills-zh plugin — 58 skills shipped together

Good fit Use it to inspect packet captures and network logs, detect hidden channels, and investigate malware communication and data theft.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/killvxk/cybersecurity-skills-zh/analyzing-network-covert-channels-in-malware
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add killvxk/cybersecurity-skills-zh --skill analyzing-network-covert-channels-in-malware
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/killvxk/cybersecurity-skills-zh

Made for: Claude Code.

Or install cybersecurity-skills-zh, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 58 skills.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

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README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/killvxk/cybersecurity-skills-zh/analyzing-network-covert-channels-in-malware/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/killvxk/cybersecurity-skills-zh/analyzing-network-covert-channels-in-malware)
Your own site
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<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/killvxk/cybersecurity-skills-zh/analyzing-network-covert-channels-in-malware"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/killvxk/cybersecurity-skills-zh/analyzing-network-covert-channels-in-malware.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 59 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,897 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00059 $0.01897
Opus 5 $0.00030 $0.00949
Sonnet 5 $0.00012 $0.00379
Haiku 4.5 $0.00006 $0.00190

Measured 11d ago against content hash e556a1fa00ac, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-11, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

analyzing-network-covert-channels-in-malware scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 11d ago.

The scan reads SKILL.md. This mod also ships 1 executable file (scripts/agent.py), listed below but not scanned — reading those needs a real analyzer, not pattern matching.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

skills/analyzing-network-covert-channels-in-malware/SKILL.md · 186 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 186 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

分析恶意软件中的网络隐蔽信道

概述

恶意软件使用隐蔽信道将 C2 通信和数据泄露伪装成看似合法的网络流量。DNS 隧道将数据编码在 DNS 查询和响应中(iodine、dnscat2 等工具和 FrameworkPOS 等恶意软件家族均使用此技术)。ICMP 隧道将数据隐藏在回显请求/响应载荷中(icmpsh、ptunnel)。HTTP 隐蔽信道将 C2 数据嵌入头部、Cookie 或隐写图像中。协议滥用利用允许的协议绕过防火墙。现代基于机器学习的方法对 DNS 隧道检测可达 99% 以上的召回率,但低吞吐量泄露仍然具有挑战性。Palo Alto Unit42 在 2024 年跟踪了三个主要的 DNS 隧道活动(TrkCdn、SecShow、Savvy Seahorse),显示了该技术的持续普遍性。

前置条件

  • Python 3.9+,安装 scapydpktdnslib
  • Wireshark/tshark,用于 PCAP 分析
  • Zeek(原 Bro),用于网络监控
  • DNS 查询日志基础设施
  • 对 DNS、ICMP、HTTP 协议的数据包级理解

操作步骤

步骤 1:DNS 隧道检测

#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""检测网络流量中的 DNS 隧道和隐蔽信道。"""
import sys
import json
import math
from collections import Counter, defaultdict

try:
    from scapy.all import rdpcap, DNS, DNSQR, DNSRR, IP, ICMP
except ImportError:
    print("pip install scapy")
    sys.exit(1)


def entropy(data):
    if not data:
        return 0
    freq = Counter(data)
    length = len(data)
    return -sum((c/length) * math.log2(c/length) for c in freq.values())


def analyze_dns_tunneling(pcap_path):
    """检测 PCAP 中的 DNS 隧道指标。"""
    packets = rdpcap(pcap_path)
    domain_stats = defaultdict(lambda: {
        "queries": 0, "total_qname_len": 0, "subdomain_lengths": [],
        "query_types": Counter(), "unique_subdomains": set(),
    })

    for pkt in packets:
        if pkt.haslayer(DNS) and pkt.haslayer(DNSQR):
            qname = pkt[DNSQR].qname.decode('utf-8', errors='replace').rstrip('.')
            qtype = pkt[DNSQR].qtype

            parts = qname.split('.')
            if len(parts) >= 3:
                base_domain = '.'.join(parts[-2:])
                subdomain = '.'.join(parts[:-2])

                stats = domain_stats[base_domain]
                stats["queries"] += 1
                stats["total_qname_len"] += len(qname)
                stats["subdomain_lengths"].append(len(subdomain))
                stats["query_types"][qtype] += 1
                stats["unique_subdomains"].add(subdomain)

    # 对域名进行隧道指标评分
    suspicious = []
    for domain, stats in domain_stats.items():
        if stats["queries"] < 5:
            continue

        avg_subdomain_len = (sum(stats["subdomain_lengths"]) /
                             len(stats["subdomain_lengths"]))
        unique_ratio = len(stats["unique_subdomains"]) / stats["queries"]

        # 计算子域名熵
        all_subdomains = ''.join(stats["unique_subdomains"])
        sub_entropy = entropy(all_subdomains)

        score = 0
        reasons = []

        if avg_subdomain_len > 30:
            score += 30
            reasons.append(f"子域名过长(平均 {avg_subdomain_len:.0f} 字符)")
        if unique_ratio > 0.9:
            score += 25
            reasons.append(f"唯一性高({unique_ratio:.2%})")
        if sub_entropy > 4.0:
            score += 25
            reasons.append(f"熵值高({sub_entropy:.2f})")
        if stats["query_types"].get(16, 0) > 10:  # TXT 记录
            score += 20
            reasons.append(f"大量 TXT 查询({stats['query_types'][16]} 次)")

        if score >= 50:
            suspicious.append({
                "domain": domain,
                "score": score,
                "queries": stats["queries"],
                "avg_subdomain_length": round(avg_subdomain_len, 1),
                "unique_subdomains": len(stats["unique_subdomains"]),
                "subdomain_entropy": round(sub_entropy, 2),
                "reasons": reasons,
            })

    return sorted(suspicious, key=lambda x: -x["score"])


def analyze_icmp_tunneling(pcap_path):
    """检测 PCAP 中的 ICMP 隧道。"""
    packets = rdpcap(pcap_path)
    icmp_stats = defaultdict(lambda: {"count": 0, "payload_sizes": [], "payloads": []})

    for pkt in packets:
        if pkt.haslayer(ICMP) and pkt.haslayer(IP):
            src = pkt[IP].src
            dst = pkt[IP].dst
            key = f"{src}->{dst}"

            payload = bytes(pkt[ICMP].payload)
            icmp_stats[key]["count"] += 1
            icmp_stats[key]["payload_sizes"].append(len(payload))
            if len(payload) > 64:
                icmp_stats[key]["payloads"].append(payload[:100])

    suspicious = []
    for flow, stats in icmp_stats.items():
        if stats["count"] < 5:
            continue
        avg_size = sum(stats["payload_sizes"]) / len(stats["payload_sizes"])
        if avg_size > 64 or stats["count"] > 100:
            suspicious.append({
                "flow": flow,
                "packets": stats["count"],
                "avg_payload_size": round(avg_size, 1),
                "reason": "大型/频繁的 ICMP 载荷表明存在隧道",
            })

    return suspicious


if __name__ == "__main__":
    if len(sys.argv) < 2:
        print(f"用法:{sys.argv[0]} <pcap_file>")
        sys.exit(1)

    print("[+] DNS 隧道分析")
    dns_results = analyze_dns_tunneling(sys.argv[1])
    for r in dns_results:
        print(f"  {r['domain']}(评分:{r['score']})")
        for reason in r['reasons']:
            print(f"    - {reason}")

    print("\n[+] ICMP 隧道分析")
    icmp_results = analyze_icmp_tunneling(sys.argv[1])
    for r in icmp_results:
        print(f"  {r['flow']}:{r['reason']}")

Read the full file on GitHub · 186 lines

Files

What ships with it

6 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 11d ago First seen · 186 lines · 59 tokens per session scan A e556a1fa00ac

Subscribe to this mod's changes

analyzing-network-covert-channels-in-malware is a skill published in the GitHub repository killvxk/cybersecurity-skills-zh (44 stars, last pushed 4mo ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 59 tokens to every session and 1,897 once invoked, about $0.0003 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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