analyzing-authenticode-signatures

analyzing-authenticode-signatures is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from meltedinhex/analyst-ai-pack. It costs 74 tokens per session (750 once invoked), scanned A, original, Apache-2.0.

A static-analysis guide for checking Authenticode signatures on Windows executable files. Authenticode is Microsoft's code-signing system, and a signature identifies a signer but does not prove that software is safe.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to check whether a PE file is signed, read its certificate chain, assess signer trust, detect signature removal or catalog-signing abuse, and document the result.
Why use it?
It helps distinguish unsigned, invalid, expired, revoked, stolen, or abused signatures from trustworthy signing evidence. The file can be inspected without executing it.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Written for no agent in particular: nothing here depends on one.

Good fit Use it to check whether a PE file is signed, read its certificate chain, assess signer trust, detect signature removal or catalog-signing abuse, and document the result.

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Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/meltedinhex/analyst-ai-pack/analyzing-authenticode-signatures
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 meltedinhex/analyst-ai-pack --skill analyzing-authenticode-signatures
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/meltedinhex/analyst-ai-pack

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for analyzing-authenticode-signatures

README.md
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Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/meltedinhex/analyst-ai-pack/analyzing-authenticode-signatures"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/meltedinhex/analyst-ai-pack/analyzing-authenticode-signatures/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for analyzing-authenticode-signatures

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/meltedinhex/analyst-ai-pack/analyzing-authenticode-signatures"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/meltedinhex/analyst-ai-pack/analyzing-authenticode-signatures.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 74 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 750 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 $0.00074 $0.00750
Opus 5 $0.00037 $0.00375
Sonnet 5 $0.00015 $0.00150
Haiku 4.5 $0.00007 $0.00075

Measured 10d ago against content hash ae63cbb3849f, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-09, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

analyzing-authenticode-signatures 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 10d ago.

The scan reads SKILL.md. This mod also ships 1 executable file (scripts/analyst.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-authenticode-signatures/SKILL.md · 92 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 92 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Analyzing Authenticode Signatures

When to Use

  • You need to know whether a PE is signed and whether the signer is trustworthy.
  • You suspect a stolen/abused code-signing certificate or a forged/invalid signature.
  • You are distinguishing legitimately signed software from signed malware.

Do not use "is signed" as "is safe" — adversaries use stolen certs, abuse catalog signing, and append invalid signatures; a valid signature only attests the signer, not benignity.

Prerequisites

  • Access to the PE security directory (Python struct/pefile); on Windows, signtool/PowerShell Get-AuthenticodeSignature for authoritative verification.

Safety & Handling

  • Parse the signature statically; never execute the sample.
  • Keep the sample password-protected at rest and reference it by hash.

Workflow

Step 1: Check for a signature

Read the PE security directory (certificate table). Absent entry = unsigned; present = embedded PKCS#7. Note that valid signing can also be via a catalog file (not embedded).

python scripts/analyst.py check sample.exe

Step 2: Extract signer details

Parse the PKCS#7 to read the signer certificate: subject, issuer, validity dates, and serial. Cross-reference against known-abused/stolen certs.

Step 3: Verify, do not just read

On Windows, verify the signature cryptographically and check revocation (Get-AuthenticodeSignature). A present-but-invalid signature is a strong red flag.

Step 4: Assess trust in context

Weigh signer reputation, certificate age, and whether the signed file's behavior matches the purported publisher. Treat anomalies (recently issued cert, mismatched publisher) as suspicious.

Validation

  • Signature presence is determined from the security directory, and verified (not just read) on Windows.
  • Signer certificate details are extracted and checked against abuse intel.
  • The trust conclusion accounts for revocation/validity, not mere presence.

Pitfalls

  • Equating a present signature with safety; stolen-cert malware is common.
  • Missing catalog-signed files by only checking embedded signatures.
  • Reading the signature without cryptographically verifying it.

Read the full file on GitHub · 92 lines

Files

What ships with it

3 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. 10d ago First seen · 92 lines · 74 tokens per session scan A ae63cbb3849f

Subscribe to this mod's changes

analyzing-authenticode-signatures is a skill published in the GitHub repository meltedinhex/analyst-ai-pack (22 stars, last pushed 2mo ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 74 tokens to every session and 750 once invoked, about $0.0004 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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