计算机科学 ›› 2026, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (3): 411-423.doi: 10.11896/jsjkx.250400047

• 信息安全 • 上一篇    下一篇

基于应用程序的隐蔽信道研究综述

常慧妍1, 扈红超1, 周大成1,2,3, 许德鹏1, 程国振1,2,3   

  1. 1 信息工程大学信息技术研究所 郑州 450002
    2 网络空间安全教育部重点实验室 郑州 450002
    3 先进通信网全国重点实验室 郑州 450002
  • 收稿日期:2025-04-10 修回日期:2025-06-28 发布日期:2026-03-12
  • 通讯作者: 周大成(zhoudacheng932@163.com)
  • 作者简介:(ccchy249@163.com)
  • 基金资助:
    国家重点研发计划(2024YFB2907201);河南省重大科技专项(241110210200)

Research Review of Application-based Covert Channel

CHANG Huiyan1, HU Hongchao1, ZHOU Dacheng1,2,3, XU Depeng1, CHENG Guozhen1,2,3   

  1. 1 Institute of Information Technonlogy, Information Engineering University, Zhengzhou 450002, China
    2 Key Laboratory of Cyberspace Security, Ministry of Education of China, Zhengzhou 450002, China
    3 National Key Laboratory of Advanced Communication Networks, Zhengzhou 450002, China
  • Received:2025-04-10 Revised:2025-06-28 Online:2026-03-12
  • About author:CHANG Huiyan,born in 2000,postgraduate.Her main research interests include covert communication and image steganography.
    ZHOU Dacheng,born in 1995,Ph.D,assistant research fellow.His main research interests include cyberspace security and cloud computing.
  • Supported by:
    National Key Research and Development Program of China(2024YFB2907201) and Henan Province Major Science and Technology Project(241110210200).

摘要: 近年来,在安全可信的应用程序所生成的网络信息流中应用隧道实现信息隐蔽,已成为构建隐蔽通信信道的常见技术手段。随着隐蔽信道技术的发展,基于各类不同应用程序的隐蔽信道系统被相继提出,但当前综述多聚焦于深入探讨其技术原理和定义,在分类的详细解析上略显不足,并且缺乏对分类依据以及各类系统优缺点的详尽阐述。因此,对基于应用程序的隐蔽信道这一领域进行全面并深入的综述。从底层应用程序角度出发,将其分为多媒体流应用程序型和实时在线游戏型两大类。依据嵌入隐蔽数据所处环节的不同,将基于多媒体流应用程序的隐蔽信道分为在原始多媒体流中嵌入和在压缩多媒体流中嵌入两类方法。此外,通过深入细致地分析各类方法所具备的独特优势及潜在问题,对多种基于多媒体流的隐蔽信道进行多维对比分析,旨在揭示各类隐蔽信道技术的特性与差异。在现有研究的基础上,归纳总结该领域核心挑战并展望未来发展趋势。

关键词: 隐蔽信道, 隐蔽通信, 隐写术, 隐私安全, 网页实时通信

Abstract: Recently,tunneling covert information in the network information flow generated by secure and trusted applications has become a prevalent technique for building covert channels.With the development of covert channel technology,a variety of application-based covert channel systems have been proposed.However,existing reviews predominantly focus on the principles and definitions of the application-based covert channel technologies,omitting detailed explanations of the classification criteria and the strengths and weaknesses of various systems.Consequently,this paper gives a comprehensive and profound review of the field of application-based covert channels.From the perspective of the underlying applications,these covert channels are classified into two categories:those based on multimedia streaming applications and those based on real-time online games.Further,based on the different stages of embedding covert data,the covert channels based on multimedia streaming are subdivided into two types of methods:embedding in the original multimedia stream and embedding in the compressed multimedia stream.In addition,by conducting an in-depth analysis of the unique advantages and potential problems of each method,a multi-dimensional comparative analysis of covert channels based on multimedia flow is established,aiming to reveal the characteristics and differences of various covert channel technologies.Building on the prior research,the prevailing challenges and prospective development trajectories in this field are delineated.

Key words: Covert channel, Covert communication, Steganography, Privacy security, Web real-time communication

中图分类号: 

  • TP393
[1]BALUJA S.Hiding Images in Plain Sight:Deep Steganography[C]//Proceedings of the 31st Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems.2017:2066-2076.
[2]BASH B A,GOECKEL D,TOWSLEY D,et al.Hiding information in noise:Fundamental limits of covert wireless communication[J].IEEE Communications Magazine,2015,53(12):26-31.
[3]GILAD-BACHRACH R,DOWLIN N,LAINE K,et al.Cryp-tonets:Applying neural networks to encrypted data with high throughput and accuracy[C]//Proceedings of the 33rd International Conference on Machine Learning.2016:201-210.
[4]WANG M M,RUI L L,XU S Y.Multi-factor identity authentication scheme for trusted sharing of cultural resources[J].Journal on Communications,2023,44(10):34-45.
[5]TANG F,BAO J L,HUANG Y H,et al.Multi-authority attri-bute-based identification scheme[J].Journal on Communications,2021,42(3):220-228.
[6]MONTIERI A,CIUONZO D,ACETO G,et al.Anonymity ser-vices Tor,I2P,JonDonym:Classifying in the dark(web)[J].IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing,2018,17(3):662-675.
[7]ZHANG Z,ZHANG Y Q,CHU X,et al.An overview of virtual private network(VPN):IP VPN and optical VPN[J].Photonic Network Communications,2004,7:213-225.
[8]CHEN X,AN J,XIONG Z,et al.Covert communications:Acomprehensive survey[J].IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials,2023,25(2):1173-1198.
[9]NIA M A,RUIZ-MARTINEZ A.Systematic literature review on the state of the art and future research work in anonymous communications systems[J].Computers & Electrical Enginee-ring,2018,69:497-520.
[10]LI L X,DU J Z,LIN H,et al.Research progress of blockchain network covert channel[J].Journal on Communications,2022,43(9):209-223.
[11]ZHANG T,LI B,ZHU Y,et al.Covert channels in blockchain and blockchain based covert communication:Overview,state-of-the-art,and future directions[J].Computer Communications,2023,205:136-146.
[12]HOWES J K IV,GEORGIOU M,MALOZEMOFF A J,et al.Security foundations for application-based covert communication channels[C]//2022 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy.2022:1971-1986.
[13]LAMPSON B W.A note on the confinement problem[J].Communications of the ACM,1973,16(10):613-615.
[14]LI Y F,DING L P,WU J Z,et al.Survey on Key Issues in Networks Covert Channel[J].Journal of Software,2019,30(8):2470-2490.
[15]SIMMONS G J.The prisoners’ problem and the subliminalchannel[C]//Advances in Cryptology:Proceedings of Crypto 83.1984:51-67.
[16]WENDZEL S,KELLER J.Hidden and under control:A survey and outlook on covert channel-internal control protocols[J].Annals of Telecommunications,2014,69:417-430.
[17]WANG C,WANG X L,LYU Y R,et al.Categorization of Covert Channels and Its Application in Threat Restriction Techniques[J].Journal of Software,2020,31(1):228-245.
[18]LUO Y,LUO W,SUN X,et al.Whispers between the containers:High-capacity covert channel attacks in Docker[C]//Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE TrustCom/BigDataSE/ISPA.2016:630-637.
[19]KADLOOK S,KIYAVASH N,VENKITASUBRAMANIAM P.Mitigating timing side channel in shared schedulers[J].IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking,2015,24(3):1562-1573.
[20]TAHMASBI F,MOGHIM N,MAHDAVI M.Code-based ti-ming Covert channel in IEEE 802.11[C]//Proceedings of the 2015 5th International Conference on Computer and Knowledge Engineering(ICCKE).2015:12-17.
[21]QI W,DING W,WANG X,et al.Construction and mitigation of user-behavior-based covert channels on smartphones[J].IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing,2017,17(1):44-57.
[22]GURI M,MONITZ M,MIRSKI Y,et al.BITWHISPER:Covert signaling channel between air-gapped computers using thermal manipulations[C]//2015 IEEE 28th Computer Security Foundations Symposium.2015:276-289.
[23]LYU J S,CAO X C.Covert Communication Technology Based on Bitcoin[J].Journal of Cyber Security,2021,6(2):143-152.
[24]HUANG D Y,LI K.Research on multi-address time-basedblockchain covert communication method[J].Journal on Communications,2023,44(2):148-159.
[25]XIONG L Z,ZHU R,FU Z J.Covert communication method of blockchain network based on transaction construction and forwarding mechanism[J].Journal on Communications,2022,43(8):176-187.
[26]RECABARREN R,CARBUNAR B.Tithonus:A bitcoin based censorship resilient system[J].arXiv:1810.00279,2018.
[27]CHEN Z,ZHU L,JIANG P,et al.Exploring unobservableblockchain-based covert channel for censorship-resistant systems[J].IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security,2024,19:3380-3394.
[28]BOCOVICH C,GOLDBERG I.Slitheen:Perfectly imitated decoy routing through traffic replacement[C]//2016 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security.2016:1702-1714.
[29]DALAL M,JUNEJA M.A survey on information hiding using video steganography[J].Artificial Intelligence Review,2021,54(8):5831-5895.
[30]LI S,SCHLIEP M,HOPPER N.Facet:Streaming over videoconferencing for censorship circumvention[C]//Proceedings of the 13th Workshop on Privacy in the Electronic Society.2014:163-172.
[31]BARRADAS D,SANTOS N,RODRIGUES L,et al.Poking ahole in the wall:Efficient censorship-resistant Internet communications by parasitizing on WebRTC[C]//Proceedings of the 2020 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security.2020:35-48.
[32]ROSEN M B,PARKER J,MALOZEMOFF A J.Balboa:Bobbing and weaving around network censorship[C]//30th USENIX Security Symposium(USENIX Security 21).2021:3399-3413.
[33]SUN Z,SHMAN TIKOV V.Telepath:A Minecraft-based Co-vert Communication System[C]//2023 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy.2023:2223-2237.
[34]KOHLS K,HOLZ T,KOLOSSA D,et al.SkypeLine:Robust hidden data transmission for VoIP[C]//Proceedings of the 11th ACM on Asia Conference on Computer and Communications Security.2016:877-888.
[35]FIGUEIRA G,BARRADAS D,SANTOS N.Stegozoa:Enhancing WebRTC covert channels with video steganography for internet censorship circumvention[C]//Proceedings of the 2022 ACM on Asia Conference on Computer and Communications Security.2022:1154-1167.
[36]GIBBS C,SHASHIDHAR N.Stegorogue:Steganography intwo-dimensional video game maps[J].Advances in Computer Science:An International Journal,2015,4(3):141-146.
[37]The development overview of china’s game industry-based on data from the 2024China game industry report[J].China Digital Publishing,2025,3(1):61-66.
[38]JOHNSTON A B,BURNETT D C.WebRTC:APIs and RTCWEB protocols of the HTML5 real-time web[M].Saint Louis:Digital Codex LLC,2012.
[39]GOODE B.Voice over internet protocol(VoIP)[J].Proceedings of the IEEE,2002,90(9):1495-1517.
[40]SREDOJEV B,SAMARDZIJA D,POSARAC D.WebRTC technology overview and signaling solution design and implementation[C]//2015 38th International Convention on Information and Communication Technology,Electronics and Microelectro-nics(MIPRO).2015:1006-1009.
[41]HOUMANSADR A,RIEDL T J,BORISOV N,et al.I want my voice to be heard:IP over Voice-over-IP for unobservable censorship circumvention[C]//Proceedings of the 20th Annual Network and Distributed System Security Symposium.2013.
[42]RICHARD M,AMIR H,VITALY S.CovertCast:Using LiveStreaming to Evade Internet Censorship[J].Computer Science,2016,2016(3):212-225.
[43]BARRADAS D,SANTOS N,RODRIGUES L.DeltaShaper:Enabling unobservable censorship-resistant TCP tunneling over videoconferencing streams[J].Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies,2017,2017(4):5-22.
[44]JIA W,EICHENHOFER J,WANG L,et al.Voiceover:Censorship-Circumventing Protocol Tunnels with Generative Modeling[J].Free and Open Communications on the Internet,2023,2:67-80.
[45]GEDDES J,SCHUCHARD M,HOPPER N.Cover your acks:Pitfalls of covert channel censorship circumvention[C]//Proceedings of the 2013 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer & Communications Security.2013:361-372.
[46]GOODFELLOW I,POUGET-ABADIE J,MIRZA M,et al.Ge-nerative adversarial nets[J].Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems,2014,27:2672-2680.
[47]FILLER T,JUDAS J,FRIDRICH J.Minimizing additive distortion in steganography using syndrome-trellis codes[J].IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security,2011,6(3):920-935.
[48]VILALONGA A,RESENDE J S,DOMINGOS H.TorKame-leon:Improving Tor’s censorship resistance with K-anonymization and media-based covert channels[C]//2023 IEEE 22nd International Conference on Trust,Security and Privacy in Computing and Communications(TrustCom).2023:1490-1495.
[49]KHATTAK S,SIMON L,MURDOCH S J.Systemization ofpluggable transports for censorship resistance[J].arXiv:1412.7448,2014.
[50]HOUMANSADR A,BRUBAKER C,SHMATIKOV V.Theparrot is dead:Observing unobservable network communications[C]//2013 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy.2013:65-79.
[51]VINES P,KOHNO T.Rook:Using video games as a low-bandwidth censorship resistant communication platform[C]//Proceedings of the 14th ACM Workshop on Privacy in the Electro-nic Society.2015:75-84.
[52]HAHN B,NITHYANANE R,GILL P,et al.Games without frontiers:Investigating video games as a covert channel[C]//2016 IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy(EuroS&P).2016:63-77.
[53]BARRAS D,SANTOS N,RODRIGUES L.Effective detectionof multimedia protocol tunneling using machine learning[C]//27th USENIX Security Symposium(USENIX Security 18).2018:169-185.
[54]CHEN T,GUESTRIN C.Xgboost:A scalable tree boosting system[C]//Proceedings of the 22nd ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining.2016:785-794.
Viewed
Full text


Abstract

Cited

  Shared   
  Discussed   
No Suggested Reading articles found!