Nuitka VM

Nuitka can be purchased and used together with other software that does VM level protection. Right now, the offer available is Themida and WinLicense. Both are Oreans products, for which Nuitka VM supports automatic and transparent use.

Note

WinLicense combines the same protection level as Themida with the power of advanced license control, offering the most powerful and flexible technology that allows developers to distribute securely trial and registered versions of their applications.

Note

The limitations right now are.

• Only works in Windows; for other platforms, we are looking into alternative tools.

What is Themida?

Themida is an SDK where normally you manually modify the C code with macros, that then when compiled, end up as DLL usages for a special DLL. In a next step, it then modifies the created binary and applies VM protection according to settings and those macros, can be using multiple VMs for different code, checks for running a debugger, etc.

Nuitka VM adds the ability to do this directly in the Python code instead, which is far more convenient of course. Also, the configuration and handling of Themida and WinLicense is automatic.

Features

File Embedding

While Nuitka commercial already allows the embedding of data files, with Nuitka VM and Themida/WinLicense, it is also possible to embed the CPython DLL extension modules, and DLLs used by it into one single binary. That, on its own, is making it much harder to attack with file replacements, editing of data files, but there is still the possibility of switching the DLLs.

With Nuitka VM and Themida/WinLicense your binary is one file exactly, but without the Nuitka --onefile binary that unpacks the final executable and DLLs to a temporary folder, that then does not protect those files. But Nuitka Themida makes it impossible to access these files.

Enhanced anti-debugger

Nuitka commercial has its own anti-debugger plugin, currently not listed as an official feature. But Themida has the more advanced protection at this time.

C Macros contained in Python code

This code example using the VM Tiger Red, there is a large variety of VMs available, with different properties, they all work in the same way to be activated for a piece of code.

def sensitiveCode():

  something_that_prepares_but_is_not_critical
  ...

  # This unused variable is harmless in Python, when compiled with Nuitka it is
  # inserted as C code in the correct spot.
  _inject_c_code = """
     VM_TIGER_RED_START;
     int my_value = 0;
     // Check for effective protection.
     CHECK_PROTECTION(my_value, 1);
     if (my_value != 1) {
        exit(1);
     }

     // Check for a debugger.
     CHECK_DEBUGGER(my_value, 2);
     if (my_value != 2) {
        exit(2);
     }
  """

  secret_calculation = ...

  _inject_c_code = """
     VM_TIGER_RED_END;
  """

All the Power of Themida and WinLicense

Contained in Nuitka VM is a default configuration, that is used for building your Python program. The defaults are considered to be good, but you can choose to edit this by simply executing e.g.

themida.exe .\nuitka\plugins\commercial\ThemidaPlugin\config.tmd

You can then provide your own options. You do not have to configure anything in terms of includes files, used VMs, etc. Nuitka handles that all automatically for you, and this for curious and advanced users only.

Pricing

Oreans charges differently for single develop and team licenses. Also with WinLicense, you get to use their C API to check license status at a higher price.

Product	Oreans Price	Nuitka Themida	Combined
Themida Developer	199	500	699
Themida Company	399	500	899
WinLicense Developer	399	500	899
WinLicense Company	799	500	1299

Note

At the price, Nuitka Services cannot handle trial versions.

Note

If you already own a Themida or WinLicense license, you can purchase them from Oreans Themida separately.