Book Image

Ghidra Software Reverse Engineering for Beginners

By : A. P. David
Book Image

Ghidra Software Reverse Engineering for Beginners

By: A. P. David

Overview of this book

Ghidra, an open source software reverse engineering (SRE) framework created by the NSA research directorate, enables users to analyze compiled code on any platform, whether Linux, Windows, or macOS. This book is a starting point for developers interested in leveraging Ghidra to create patches and extend tool capabilities to meet their cybersecurity needs. You'll begin by installing Ghidra and exploring its features, and gradually learn how to automate reverse engineering tasks using Ghidra plug-ins. You’ll then see how to set up an environment to perform malware analysis using Ghidra and how to use it in the headless mode. As you progress, you’ll use Ghidra scripting to automate the task of identifying vulnerabilities in executable binaries. The book also covers advanced topics such as developing Ghidra plug-ins, developing your own GUI, incorporating new process architectures if needed, and contributing to the Ghidra project. By the end of this Ghidra book, you’ll have developed the skills you need to harness the power of Ghidra for analyzing and avoiding potential vulnerabilities in code and networks.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
1
Section 1: Introduction to Ghidra
6
Section 2: Reverse Engineering
12
Section 3: Extending Ghidra

Overviewing the Ghidra processor module skeleton

In this section, we will look at the Ghidra processor module skeleton. This skeleton will be a little bit different because processor modules are not written in Java. Instead, the processor modules are written in SLEIGH, which is the Ghidra processor specification language.

Setting up the processor module development environment

Before you can create a new processor module, you will need to set up an environment:

  1. Install the Java JDK for x86_64, as explained in Chapter 3, Ghidra Debug Mode, in the Installing Java JDK section.
  2. Install the Eclipse IDE for Java developers, as explained in Chapter 3, Ghidra Debug Mode, in the Installing Eclipse IDE section.
  3. Install the GhidraDev plugin for Eclipse, as explained in Chapter 3, Ghidra Debug Mode, in the Installing GhidraDev section.
  4. Additionally, in the same way you installed GhidraDev, since you will need to work with SLEIGH to develop the processor's specifications...