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

Chapter 9

  1. SLEIGH is a processor specification language that formally describes the translation from the bit encoding of machine instructions, for a particular processor, to human-readable assembly language and into PCode.

    On the other hand, PCode is an intermediate representation (IR) that can be translated into the assembly instructions of a specific processor. Being more precise, it is a register transfer language (RTL). PCode is used to describe data flow at the register-transfer level of an architecture.

  2. No, it isn't.

    PCode is useful because it can be translated into a large set of different assembly languages. In practice, if you develop a tool for Pcode, you automatically support a lot of architectures. Furthermore, PCode offers more granularity than assembly language (one assembly instruction is translated into one or more PCode instructions) so you can control side-effects better. This property is very useful when developing some kinds of tools.