Rootkit Hunter alternatives

Looking for an alternative tool to replace Rootkit Hunter? During the review of Rootkit Hunter we looked at other open source tools. Based on their category, tags, and text, these are the ones that have the best match.

Top 3

  1. chkrootkit (malware scanner)
  2. ClamAV (malware scanner)
  3. LMD (malware detection tool)

These tools are ranked as the best alternatives to Rootkit Hunter.

Alternatives (by score)

59

chkrootkit

Introduction

The chkrootkit tool consists of multiple parts that may detect the presence of rootkit parts of rootkit behavior on a system.

Some areas that are checked include:

  • interface in promiscuous mode
  • lastlog deletions
  • wtmp deletions
  • wtmpx deletions
  • signs of LKM trojans
  • utmp deletions

Project details

chkrootkit is written in C, shell script.

Strengths and weaknesses

  • + Used language is shell script
  • + Project is mature (10+ years)
  • - Long time between releases

Typical usage

  • Malware detection
  • Malware scanning

chkrootkit review

100

ClamAV

Introduction

ClamAV is a popular tool to detect malicious software or malware. While it calls itself an antivirus engine, it probably won't encounter many viruses, as they have become rare. It is more likely to find other forms of malware like worms, backdoors, and ransomware. ClamAV can be used in a few ways, from doing an occasional scan up to scanning in batch. ClamAV does not do on-access scanning but can be combined with other tools to obtain similar functionality. ClamAV is often used to support scanning incoming emails for malicious content.

Project details

ClamAV is written in C.

Strengths and weaknesses

  • + Many maintainers
  • + The source code of this software is available

    Typical usage

    • Malware analysis
    • Malware detection
    • Malware scanning

    ClamAV review

    74

    LMD

    Introduction

    LMD uses MD5 file hashes and HEX pattern matches to define the malware signatures. These are used to detect malware.

    Project details

    LMD is written in shell script.

    Strengths and weaknesses

    • + The source code of this software is available

      Typical usage

      • Malware scanning

      LMD review

      60

      Malice

      Introduction

      Malice is a malware analysis that wants to provide a free and open source version of VirusTotal. The goal of Malice is to make it usable by both independent researchers up to fortune 500 companies.

      Malice is useful for those that do malware analysis or deal with user-generated files that may contain malware. The framework allows scanning files and directories to see if they are infected.

      Project details

      Malice is written in Golang.

      Strengths and weaknesses

      • + More than 500 GitHub stars
      • + The source code of this software is available

        Typical usage

        • Malware analysis
        • Malware detection
        • Malware research
        • Malware scanning

        Malice review

        74

        Malscan

        Introduction

        Malscan is a tool to scan for malicious software (malware) such as viruses, worms, and backdoors. Its goal is to extend ClamAV with more scanning modes and signatures. It targets web servers running Linux, but can also be used on mail servers and desktops.

        Project details

        Malscan is written in shell script.

        Strengths and weaknesses

        • + Used language is shell script
        • + The source code of this software is available

          Typical usage

          • Malware protection
          • Malware scanning

          Malscan review

          60

          MultiScanner

          Introduction

          MultiScanner helps malware analysts by providing a toolkit to perform both automated and manual analysis. The data extracted from the analysis can be easily stored together, including the relevant metadata and samples. It allows enriching the data further by retrieving information from external resources.

          Project details

          Strengths and weaknesses

          • + More than 10 contributors
          • + The source code of this software is available

            Typical usage

            • Malware analysis
            • Malware detection
            • Malware scanning

            MultiScanner review

            70

            Loki

            Introduction

            Loki is security tool to find so-called indicators of compromise (IOC). It does this by scanning files and then uses pattern matching.

            Project details

            Loki is written in Python.

            Strengths and weaknesses

            • + More than 10 contributors
            • + Commercial support available
            • + More than 500 GitHub stars
            • + The source code of this software is available

              Typical usage

              • Digital forensics
              • Intrusion detection
              • Security monitoring

              Loki review

              85

              Maltrail

              Introduction

              Maltrail monitors for traffic on the network that might indicate system compromise or other bad behavior. It is great for intrusion detection and monitoring.

              Project details

              Maltrail is written in Python.

              Strengths and weaknesses

              • + More than 10 contributors
              • + More than 3000 GitHub stars
              • + The source code of this software is available

                Typical usage

                • Intrusion detection
                • Network analysis
                • Security monitoring

                Maltrail review

                97

                YARA

                Introduction

                YARA is a tool to identify and classify malware samples. It uses textual or binary patterns to match data, combined with a boolean expression to define a match. YARA is multi-platform, can be used via a command-line interface or via Python scripts using the yara-python extension.

                Project details

                YARA is written in C.

                Strengths and weaknesses

                • + More than 50 contributors
                • + More than 2000 GitHub stars
                • + The source code of this software is available

                  Typical usage

                  • Malware analysis
                  • Malware detection
                  • Malware scanning

                  YARA review

                  60

                  Dagda

                  Introduction

                  The main reasons to use Dagda is the detection of vulnerable or malicious components within your containerized environment.

                  Project details

                  Dagda is written in Python.

                  Strengths and weaknesses

                  • + The source code of this software is available

                    Typical usage

                    • Malware detection
                    • Malware scanning
                    • Vulnerability management
                    • Vulnerability scanning

                    Dagda review

                    78

                    SSMA

                    Introduction

                    SSMA is short for Simple Static Malware Analyzer. The tool can perform a set of tests against a malware sample and retrieve metadata from it. SSMA can analyze ELF and PE and analyze its structure. For example, it can retrieve the PE file header information and its sections. Other pieces it can analyze is the usage of packers, anti-debugging techniques, cryptographic algorithms, domains, email addresses, and IP addresses. It can also check if the sample is already detected or blocked by using VirusTotal and the blocklist of malwaredomains.com.

                    Project details

                    SSMA is written in Python.

                    Strengths and weaknesses

                    • + The source code of this software is available
                    • - No releases on GitHub available

                    Typical usage

                    • Malware analysis
                    • Malware detection
                    • Malware scanning
                    • Reverse engineering

                    SSMA review

                    64

                    Diamorphine

                    Introduction

                    Rootkits are typically considered to be malware, or malicious software. With the intent to hide, this type of software is often used after a breach. Learning about how it works can be useful for security researchers and security professionals.

                    Project details

                    Diamorphine is written in C.

                    Strengths and weaknesses

                    • + The source code of this software is available

                      Typical usage

                      • Learning

                      Diamorphine review

                      60

                      YaraGuardian

                      Introduction

                      YaraGuardian provides a web-based interface that helps to manage Yara rules. It can be used to search, organize, and bulk-edit rules. The tool also prevents creating duplicate entries, which is a nice additional benefit of this management utility.

                      Project details

                      YaraGuardian is written in Python.

                      Strengths and weaknesses

                      • + The source code of this software is available

                        Typical usage

                        • Malware analysis

                        YaraGuardian review

                        60

                        yarGen

                        Introduction

                        The yarGen utility helps with creating YARA rules for malware detection. It can combine both 'goodware' and 'malware', to properly craft the right rules.

                        Project details

                        60

                        PHP Malware Finder

                        Introduction

                        PHP Malware Finder is a tool to find malicious PHP scripts. This threat is common for most web hosters and websites of their customers.

                        Project details

                        PHP Malware Finder is written in shell script.

                        Strengths and weaknesses

                        • + More than 500 GitHub stars
                        • + The source code of this software is available

                          Typical usage

                          • Malware scanning

                          PHP Malware Finder review

                          64

                          EvilAbigail

                          Introduction

                          This tool is used to perform an attack that is known as "evil maid".

                          Project details

                          60

                          WeBaCoo

                          Introduction

                          WeBaCoo could be useful for penetration tests and security assessments, to test the effectiveness of security monitoring solutions.

                          Project details

                          WeBaCoo is written in Perl, Ruby.

                          Strengths and weaknesses

                          • + The source code of this software is available

                            Typical usage

                            • Application testing
                            • Penetration testing

                            WeBaCoo review

                            56

                            sshLooter

                            Introduction

                            The most likely use for tools like this is backdoor a system after root permissions were gained. By planting it into the PAM stack, it allows for password sniffing.

                            Project details

                            sshLooter is written in Python, shell script.

                            Strengths and weaknesses

                            • + The source code is easy to read and understand
                            • - Unknown project license

                            Typical usage

                            • Information snooping
                            • Password discovery
                            • Password sniffing

                            sshLooter review

                            64

                            Binary Analysis Next Generation (BANG)

                            Introduction

                            BANG is a framework to unpack files recursively and scan them. The files can be firmware, binaries, or malware. The main goal is to scan all files and perform classification and labeling. This way each file can be further analyzed based on the characteristics.

                            Project details

                            Binary Analysis Next Generation is written in Python.

                            Strengths and weaknesses

                            • + The source code of this software is available
                            • - No releases on GitHub available

                            Typical usage

                            • Binary analysis
                            • Malware analysis
                            • Malware scanning

                            Binary Analysis Next Generation review

                            74

                            Cuckoo Sandbox (cuckoo)

                            Introduction

                            In a matter of seconds, Cuckoo Sandbox provides detailed results on what a file does within an isolated environment. This helps with malware analysis and understanding what it exactly tries to achieve. Further analysis can be done, based on the previous actions that were done.

                            Cuckoo Sandbox was created by Claudio Guarnieri as part of the Google Summer of Code project in 2010.

                            Project details

                            Cuckoo Sandbox is written in Python.

                            Strengths and weaknesses

                            • + More than 2000 GitHub stars
                            • + The source code of this software is available
                            • - Many provided pull requests are still open
                            • - Many reported issues are still open

                            Typical usage

                            • Digital forensics
                            • Malware analysis

                            Cuckoo Sandbox review

                            64

                            Mal Tindex

                            Introduction

                            Mal Tindex is a tool that performs binary analysis on malware samples. It analyzes the binaries it is provided to learn about the specifics of each malware sample that makes them unique. This way data can be gathered that may provide background information. For example, it could provide the attribution of a particular actor or malware campaign.

                            Project details

                            Mal Tindex is written in Python.

                            Strengths and weaknesses

                            • + The source code of this software is available

                              Typical usage

                              • Malware analysis
                              • Malware research

                              Mal Tindex review

                              70

                              Viper

                              Introduction

                              Viper organizes the malware samples and exploits you found over time. It calls itself "Metasploit for malware researchers". Viper has a terminal interface to store, search and analyze files. As it is a framework, is also allows you to create your plugins.

                              Project details

                              52

                              bingrep

                              Introduction

                              Searches through binaries and highlights the most important areas with colors.

                              Supported binary formats:

                              • ELF 32/64, arm, x86, openrisc
                              • Mach 32/64, arm, x86
                              • PE

                              Project details

                              97

                              hBlock

                              Introduction

                              For the privacy-aware users, tools like hBlock can be helpful to block malicious domains, malware, advertisements, and trackers. Trackers could be pixels added to websites to track which pages you visited, which might invade your privacy.

                              Project details

                              hBlock is written in shell script.

                              Strengths and weaknesses

                              • + Used language is shell script
                              • + The source code of this software is available

                                Typical usage

                                • Malware protection
                                • Privacy enhancement
                                • Provide anonymity

                                hBlock review

                                60

                                bamfdetect

                                Introduction

                                With bamfdetect, malware and bots can be analyzed. It identifies and extracts information and returns data in JSON format.

                                Project details

                                bamfdetect is written in Python.

                                Strengths and weaknesses

                                • + The source code of this software is available

                                  Typical usage

                                  • Malware analysis
                                  • Malware scanning

                                  bamfdetect review

                                  Some relevant tool missing as an alternative to Rootkit Hunter? Please contact us with your suggestion.