Questions tagged [decompilation]
Process of translating assembly code extracted from a binary file in a structured programming language, such as C.
347
questions
59
votes
7answers
113k views
Possibilities for reverse engineering an ipa file to its source
I browsed a lot, but can't find any resources for reverse engineering an ipa file (iPhone application). Is there any method to reverse engineer an ipa file to its source? I've tried to rename it to ...
50
votes
7answers
109k views
What is a good Java decompiler and deobfuscator?
I am using JD-GUI to decompile Java JAR files, but the problem is that it leaves many errors, such as duplicate variables which I have to fix myself and check to see if the program still works (if I ...
41
votes
3answers
21k views
Unpacking binaries in a generic way
I find that more and more often binaries are being packed with exe protectors such as upx, aspack etc. I tried to follow a few tutorials on how to unpack them but the examples are often quite easy ...
41
votes
1answer
86k views
Decompiling iPhone App
I've been searching this site and more, but I haven't had much luck. I want to decompile an app to see how part of it works, and I've tried multiple programs. I've tried Hopper, IDA, and some other ...
38
votes
7answers
69k views
Is there any way to decompile a .NET assembly or program?
Are there any tools available to take an already compiled .dll or .exe file that you know was compiled from C# or Visual Basic and obtain the original source code from it?
35
votes
3answers
27k views
How do I figure out what is burned on an Arduino ROM?
I have an Arduino Uno Rev3. I would like to extract and find out what code is burned on the ROM of the micro-controller board.
How do I extract the code from the board?
How do I figure out the ...
33
votes
5answers
23k views
Open source GUI tool for decomposing a PDF
I've been looking for an open-source GUI tool to extract PDF's in an automated way on Windows systems. I've used Didier Steven's tools with great interest for a while, but cannot make sense of how to ...
28
votes
6answers
12k views
Decompiling Android application
The Android java code is compiled into Dalvik byte code, which is quite readable. I wonder, is it possible in theory and in practice to write a decompilation software for Dalvik byte code?
28
votes
2answers
9k views
Why are machine code decompilers less capable than for example those for the CLR and JVM?
Java and .NET decompilers can (usually) produce an almost perfect source code, often very close to the original.
Why can't the same be done for the native code? I tried a few but they either don't ...
21
votes
6answers
61k views
Decompiling .pyc files
Does anybody have a suggestion for (non commercial) software to decompile "byte-code" Python (.pyc) files?
Everything I've found seems to break...
18
votes
1answer
6k views
What is the state of art in LLVM IR decompilation?
LLVM IR is a fairly high-level, typed bitcode which can be directly executed by LLVM and compiled to JIT on the fly. It would not surprise me if a new executable format or programming language was ...
16
votes
4answers
13k views
Checking if an .exe is actually a .jar wrapped in an .exe
Let's say I have a .jar file and wrap it into a .exe using any number of free utilities out there, like JSmooth.
Would it be possible to tell, given just the .exe, if it was generated using one such ...
16
votes
4answers
3k views
How to recover variables from an assembly code?
Assuming we have an assembly code, what are the known techniques that could be used to recover the variables used in the original high-level code ?
Edit: By recovering variables, I do not mean ...
12
votes
3answers
29k views
Reverse engineering a Visual Basic p-code binary
p-code is the intermediate code that was used in Visual Basic (before .NET). I would like to know where I can find resources/tools related to analysis of these virtual machine codes.
12
votes
3answers
57k views
How to decompile Linux .so library files from a MS-Windows OS?
I would like to decompile the Linux .so files.
Any tool to decompile .so files in MS-Windows based operating system ?
Any tools/methods to decompile .so files ?
12
votes
4answers
19k views
Recovering .NET sources into full blown project
I wonder if total decompilation of arbitrary non packed project .NET is possible? If no, what is the conditions that should be met to make it possible? If yes, is there tools that can automate this? I'...
11
votes
3answers
7k views
Reverse engineer an old DOS QBasic executable
I recently decided to try my hand at reverse engineer an old DOS text based game that was coded in QBasic.
I found some info online about old DOS games disassembly but mostly for Wacom compiled C/C++ ...
11
votes
2answers
1k views
Is there a collaborative reversing forum for people that deal with firmware?
The question pretty much says it. Beyond knowing people that are interested in the same things, is there a collaborative reversing dumping ground for documenting specifically disassembly of closed ...
11
votes
1answer
2k views
Delphi Pascal Try..Except..Finally block
I'm having trouble reverse-engineering a specific Delphi Pascal .exe (old vsn., pre-1995 so probably v.3). From the system calls I understand this is probably a try..except..finally block, but I am at ...
10
votes
3answers
19k views
How to decompile an Objective-C static library (for iOS)?
I'm trying to use IDA Pro v6.5 (freeware) (demo) to decompile an objective-c library compiled for ARM7-7S. I tried Hopper v2.8.8 (freeware) with no success.
I had no problem until I tried to display ...
10
votes
1answer
4k views
Are the EU laws preventing reverse engineering of software products?
Would it be legal to decompile and/or reverse engineer a commercial java JAR file to view the inner workings of a library in order to write original code for use with the library in the EU or UK?
10
votes
4answers
15k views
AirPlay Mirroring decryption (FairPlay)
I've been spending a good chunk of time looking at some 3rd party applications that were successful in "reproducing" (although I believe not necessarily by understanding the algorithm completely but ...
9
votes
9answers
5k views
Is it “theoretically” possible/impossible to reverse any binary?
I know that reverse engineering from binary to source code (e.g. C++) is generally considered hard or impossible but has any computer scientist actually proven "mathematically" that it's impossible or ...
9
votes
3answers
18k views
Get jar back from wrapped(into exe) jar
Is there any way to get a jar file from a jar wrapped using a exe wrapper.
I have an exe file and I know that it was wrapper using exe wrapper (launch4j to be precise).
How do I unwrap this jar to get ...
9
votes
1answer
1k views
Becoming A Better Reverse Engineer
I have been looking on the net and all I see when it comes to reverse engineering are a bunch of silly crackme tutorials. I want to be better at taking code from assembly to c or c++. I am getting the ...
9
votes
1answer
498 views
How to convert this one-liner asm to C
I want to convert this to C:
SHR CL,1
rECX is the name of the (32bit unsigned int)register variable. It should be simple, but I can't figure out the proper pointer magic :/
9
votes
3answers
3k views
Can you decompile Actionscript 3 on a Mac?
Reverse engineering SWFs with ActionScript 3 on a Mac typically requires a Windows VM and a lot of copying and pasting. There are some good decompilers for Windows such as as3extractor but I haven't ...
9
votes
5answers
9k views
Decompilation techniques for DOS .COM files
I've found a binary copy of a DOS freeware game I was fond of back in the day (Firefighter, downloadable as FIRE.COM) but the source code is not available. I'd like to re-implement it in C or Python ...
9
votes
2answers
3k views
How to load symbols from a symbol server in Ghidra?
I've been trying to learn Ghidra by attempting to reverse the comctl32.dll system library, which has many of its functions documented. I started the de-compilation analysis in it, and after a while it ...
8
votes
3answers
15k views
Reverse engineer Android native code
I am looking for an reverse engineering tool or a way to decompile the existing android native code to an human understandable format rather than Assembly language. Can anyone please suggest me as i ...
8
votes
2answers
9k views
How to extract functions from one executable to include/link in another
I'm wondering what are the options (aside from attempting disassembly/decompilation and reassembly/recompilation) one has when it comes to extracting a series of functions from one binary, compiled ...
8
votes
2answers
344 views
Decompiling return-oriented programs
How are return-oriented programs decompiled/reverse engineered ?
Any pointers to any papers or reports would be appreciated.
8
votes
3answers
463 views
How to differentiate from different hex files of different families of microcontrollers?
Is there any way to differentiate different microcontroller's hex files? I have a hex file and now I have forgotten of which micro-controller it belongs. Is there any available tool to tell this? or ...
8
votes
1answer
3k views
Understanding __PAIR__ macro from IDA PRO Pseudo Decompiler to look better
When I decompile using IDA PRO I get code which could look like both of these
Understanding the __PAIR__ macro.
Macro itself.
// The following definition is not quite correct because it always ...
7
votes
5answers
874 views
Is it possible to hide the details of which compiler was used?
The compiler adds system information to the output/object file that is created on compilation.
Is there any compiler option that can prevent this information from being added?
Can the compiler ...
7
votes
2answers
14k views
What's the difference between a disassembler, debugger and decompiler?
I have heard of disassemblers like IDA and debuggers like OllyDbg but honestly, when you give both of them a binary file it gives me the assembly code. I know that the decompiler gives the source code ...
7
votes
3answers
9k views
7
votes
2answers
6k views
GUI for transforming Java Bytecode based on decompiled source?
Okay. So I've just come up with the most amazing program for java developers and reverse-engineerers and I was wondering if something like the following program already exists:
What I'm thinking of ...
7
votes
1answer
1k views
How do you optimise AST's or convert them to a real language
I have been interested in automatic vulnerability assessment and decompilation of code for a while now. And as a result I have been building parsers in Python that reads a bin, disassembles it ...
7
votes
2answers
3k views
How to deal with Static Memory Allocation while modifying an executable?
I'm not new to StackExchange, but I'm quite new to reverse engineering, so please be patient with me! :P
At present I'm dealing with an executable that I would like to modify a little bit, for ...
7
votes
2answers
880 views
IL for decompiler to human-readable format
After writing my own disassembler, I am now looking to making its assembly listing more human readable, e.g. from an (artificial) example
push ebp
mov ebp, esp
sub esp, 10h
mov eax, ...
7
votes
1answer
794 views
Decompile “Internal Call”
I have a .NET method which is marked as an "Internal Call", meaning that it is implemented within the CLR itself. Is there any way to locate the code for and/or decompile such a method?
6
votes
3answers
70k views
How to obtain x86-64 pseudocode in IDA Pro?
Does anyone know about obtaining pseudocode for x86-64 in IDA Pro? I already tried the Hex-Rays plugin to obtain pseudocode, but when I try it, the following error pops up: "only 32bit code is ...
6
votes
4answers
18k views
Is there any tool for decompiling raw binary files to C code for the Motorola 68000 processor series?
I have the ROM dump (.bin files) targeted for the MC68008 processor. Need to convert them into a high level source code. I have already found tools for disassmbling them into assembly code. The next ...
6
votes
1answer
525 views
How to tell if a particular .NET assembly was written in C# or F#?
The motivation for this question is that I used JetBrains dotPeek to decompile an .exe written in F#, but the output project directory produced C# code.
Why does decompiling an F# assembly produce C# ...
6
votes
2answers
1k views
What is difference between Digital Forensic and Reverse Engineering
I am not able to understand exact difference in Digital Forensic and Reverse Engineering. Will Digital Forensic has anything to do with decompilation, assembly code reading or debugging?
6
votes
2answers
1k views
Understanding x86 C main function preamble created by Visual C++
I was debugging a simple x86-64 program in Visual Studio 2010 and I noticed that the main function preamble is different from the GNU GCC compiled version of the same C program.
To illustrate what I ...
6
votes
1answer
1k views
concat22 in ghidra decompiler
Some portion of code I am analyzing gets decompiled as below in ghidra:
if (((*puVar8 == CONCAT22(DAT_0040a37a,DAT_0040a378)) &&
(*(uint *)((int)puVar9 + 6) ==
(CONCAT22(...
6
votes
1answer
689 views
Is there something like DVWA (Damn Vulnerable Web Application) for reverse engineering?
I am learning reverse engineering, and would like a way to try out methods I'm learning.
In web security, the way to try out and learn methods is a thing called DVWA. It is an insecure web app made ...
6
votes
1answer
2k views
Can I define custom enum-type to be used in Ghidra as a data type?
I'm trying to learn Ghidra. Say, if it generated the following code for loading functions from an array of function names from gpfnCommCtrlAPI:
I was able to retype gpfnCommCtrlAPI into char*[14] ...
