Query: mitigate Stripped Payloads
Matching passage: T1027.008 Stripped Payloads. Tactics: stealth. Description: Adversaries may attempt to make a payload difficult to analyze by removing symbols, strings, and other human readable information. Scripts and executables may contain variables names and other strings that help developers document code functionality. Symbols are often created by an operating system’s `linker` when executable payloads are compiled. Reverse engineers use these symbols and strings to analyze code and to identify functionality in payloads.(Citation: Mandiant golang stripped binaries explanation)(Citation: intezer stripped binaries elf files 2018) Adversaries may use stripped payloads in order to make malware analysis more difficult. For example, compilers and other tools may provide features to remove or obfuscate strings and symbols. Adversaries have also used stripped payload formats, such as run-only AppleScripts, a compiled and stripped version of [AppleScript](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/002), to evade detection and analysis. The lack of human-readable information may directly hinder detection and analysis of payloads.(Citation: SentinelLabs reversing run-only applescripts 2021)
Near-miss passage: T1027.018 Invisible Unicode. Tactics: stealth. Description: Adversaries may abuse invisible or non-printing Unicode characters to conceal malicious content within files, scripts, or text. By inserting characters that do not visibly render, adversaries may hide data, alter how content is interpreted, or make malicious code appear as benign text or whitespace. Adversaries may encode these malicious payloads, using binary, Base64, or custom schemes, to be reconstructed at runtime through scripting features such as [JavaScript](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059/007) Proxy traps, `eval()`, or other dynamic execution methods. This technique enables adversaries to evade visual inspection and basic static analysis by hiding malicious encoded content in innocuous text.(Citation: PUAs Unicode - Eriksen)(Citation: Tycoon2FA - Unicode)(Citation: Unicode - Veracode) Unicode is a standardized character encoding model that assigns a unique numerical value, known as a code point, to every character across writing systems, enabling consistent text representation across platforms, applications, and languages. Code points are represented as `U+` followed by a hexadecimal value and may be encoded using formats such as `UTF-8` or `UTF-16`. Adversaries may abuse the valid code points in Unicode that are not visibly rendered but still take up bytes, such as zero-width spaces, variation selectors, or bidirectional formatting controls, to conceal malicious payloads.(Citation: Tycoon2FA - Unicode)(Citation: GlassWorm - Unicode)(Citation: Unicode and Hidden Prompts - Perets) Adversaries may additionally exploit Private Use Area (PUA) characters, a range of code points reserved for custom assignment. PUA characters that are not defined by a font or application are typically rendered blank.(Citation: PUAs Unicode - Eriksen) Unicode characters may also be leveraged in support of other techniques such as [Phishing](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1660), [Right-to-Left Override](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1036/002), or [User Executio