reverse-skills-max: initial public release (restored, redacted, hardened)

vendor-new/analyst-ai-pack/skills/extracting-encryption-keys-from-binaries/SKILL.md

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+---
+name: extracting-encryption-keys-from-binaries
+description: 'Locates candidate encryption keys in a binary by finding high-entropy fixed-size
+  regions (16/24/32 bytes) near cryptographic constants or crypto API references, and surfacing
+  printable key/passphrase strings. Activates for requests to extract encryption keys, find an AES
+  key in a sample, or recover hardcoded crypto material.'
+domain: cybersecurity
+subdomain: reverse-engineering
+tags:
+  - reverse-engineering
+  - key-extraction
+  - cryptography
+  - entropy
+  - config-extraction
+version: 1.0.0
+author: analyst-ai-pack
+license: Apache-2.0
+mitre_attack:
+  - T1027
+  - T1573
+  - T1486
+d3fend:
+  - D3-SDA
+  - D3-DA
+references:
+  - 'FIPS 197 (AES key sizes) — https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/fips/197/final'
+  - 'MITRE ATT&CK T1573 Encrypted Channel — https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1573/'
+---
+
+# Extracting Encryption Keys From Binaries
+
+## When to Use
+
+- You have a sample with hardcoded crypto and want to surface candidate keys/IVs (16/24/32-byte
+  high-entropy blocks) and passphrase strings.
+- You are recovering material to decrypt config, C2 traffic, or ransomware test vectors.
+
+**Do not use** entropy alone as proof a region is a key — corroborate with proximity to crypto
+constants/APIs and by attempting decryption. This skill reads the binary statically and executes
+nothing.
+
+## Prerequisites
+
+- The binary (read inertly). Pairs well with the crypto-constant scanner.
+
+## Safety & Handling
+
+- Read bytes statically; handle recovered keys as sensitive and store securely.
+
+## Workflow
+
+### Step 1: Find high-entropy key-sized regions
+
+```bash
+python scripts/analyst.py keys sample.bin
+```
+
+Slides a window of 16/24/32 bytes and reports regions whose entropy exceeds a threshold (likely
+random key material), with offsets.
+
+### Step 2: Surface printable secrets
+
+Extract printable strings that look like passphrases/hex keys (e.g., 32/64-hex, base64 of 16/32
+bytes).
+
+### Step 3: Corroborate
+
+Rank candidates by proximity to crypto constants/API references and confirm by decrypting a known
+ciphertext.
+
+### Step 4: Document
+
+Record candidate keys, sizes, offsets, and the corroborating evidence.
+
+## Validation
+
+- Candidate regions are exactly key-sized (16/24/32 bytes) and high-entropy.
+- Hex/base64 key strings are length-consistent with a real key size.
+- A candidate is confirmed only by successful decryption, not entropy alone.
+
+## Pitfalls
+
+- Compressed/packed data producing many false high-entropy regions — unpack first.
+- Keys derived at runtime (KDF) not present statically.
+- Endianness/encoding of the key (raw vs hex vs base64) before use.
+
+## References
+
+- See [`references/api-reference.md`](references/api-reference.md) for the extractor.
+- FIPS 197 and ATT&CK T1573 (linked in frontmatter).