MalShare Java API client

MalShare is a free initiative for researchers to share malware samples for research purposes, which can be accessed via the website and via the API. Before open-sourcing this API client, there was no publicly supported Java library. The code can be found on Github. Below, more information on the usage is given, as well as a rationale on the code.

Table of contents

• Usage
• Rationale
• Release notes

Usage

One can use this API client library in two ways: either as a Maven dependency, or as a generic library. Below, both methods are explained in detail.

Maven

Since the project is Maven based, one can install it in your local Maven repository using the command that is given below, where one has to change the paths. More information can be found on the official Maven website.

mvn install:install-file -Dfile=<path-to-file> -DpomFile=<path-to-pomfile>

To include the project, one has to include it as a dependency in the project’s pom.xml file. Note that it first needs to be installed in the local Maven repository on the machine where the compilation takes place. The XML snippet below can be used to add the most recent version as a dependency.

<dependency>
  <groupId>malshareapi</groupId>
  <artifactId>MalShareApi</artifactId>
  <version>1.2-stable</version>
  <type>jar</type>
</dependency>

Generic library

Building it as a JAR that includes the dependencies can be done using the command that is given below. One can use this file as a local dependency in any kind of Java project.

mvn clean compile assembly:single

Rationale

The MalShareApi object requires the API key in the constructor. The public functions of the class expose the API endpoints, as well as other convenient functions. The returned JSON data is converted into Java classes, which provides easy access to the service’s data in an automated way.

Release notes

Below, links are given to the blogs that contain the version specific release notes. The most recent release is the first link in the list.

• Version 1.2-stable [22nd of August 2021]
• Version 1.1-stable [11th of May 2021]
• Version 1.0-stable [8th of August 2020]

To contact me, you can e-mail me at [info][at][maxkersten][dot][nl], send me a PM on Reddit, or DM me on Twitter @Libranalysis.