I am working on an IDAPython script that is supposed to fix the disassembly of a firmware, by resolving it's symbol table.
The core of the script is working fine, but I have some issue when it comes to editing the way IDA is displaying stuff in the disassembly panel.
The idea is the following:
I have an original instruction like:
LDR R1,=0xAAAAAAAA
After the execution of my script, the offset 0xAAAAAAAA is resolved into it's current value, let's say 0xBBBBBBBB, and it adds a comment next to the original instruction:
LDR R1,=0xAAAAAAAA ; symbol_address=0xBBBBBBBB, symbol_value='DummyString'
But since I'm only adding a comment, I'm loosing the xRefs to and from the strings.
What i want to achieve is to edit the instruction itself, so IDA can create the xRefs to the Strings. Something like:
LDR R1,=aDummyString
I used this snippet to edit the operand address, which is working:
create_strlit(resolved_addr, 0, STRTYPE_C) # Defined the resolved string's addr as a proper string
new_inst = original_ins.replace(hex(original_addr), hex(resolved_addr)) # Simplified for clarity
set_manual_insn(addr, new_inst) # Edit the instruction with the new resolved addr
But my disassembly view does not make the link between the address and the string itself.
LDR R1,=0xBBBBBBBB
When i hover my cursor on 0xBBBBBBBB, i can see the correct string; When I click on this address, IDA takes me to the string's location. But it has not created any proper xRefs, and the display does not inform me that this is a string location.
I tried theses functions to turn the operand into a string reference, but without success:
op_plain_offset(addr, 1, 0)
op_offset(addr, 1, REF_OFF32) # I also tried REF_OFF8 and REF_OFF16, just in case
But it does not update the disassembly view as I want.
And when i try to do it by hand by doing "right click" -> "Enter the current operand manually", it works fine :/
Any suggestion how to do that ?
Thanks