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

Debugging the Ghidra code and Ghidra scripts

In this section, we will explore how to debug Ghidra features from Eclipse. We will start by reviewing how to develop scripts and how to debug them, and then we will conclude by showing how to debug any Ghidra component from the source code.

Debugging Ghidra scripts from Eclipse

Let's go ahead and debug a Ghidra script. First, we will need to create a new Ghidra project using the GhidraDev option located in the menu bar of the Eclipse IDE. To do so, click on GhidraDev | New | Ghidra Script Project… and choose a project name of your choice. Let's name it GhidraScripts, which is the default or suggested value:

Figure 3.19 – Creating a Ghidra script project

After clicking on Next >, you will be able to decide on linking your already-developed scripts to the project (in my case, C:\Users\virusito\ghidra_scripts) and the scripts included with your Ghidra installation with checkboxes...