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

Understanding the Ghidra extension skeleton

In the ghidra_9.1.2\Extensions\Ghidra Ghidra extensions folder, there is also a skeleton folder, which includes five skeleton source code located in ghidra_9.1.2\Extensions\Ghidra\Skeleton\src\main\java\skeleton, which enables us to write any kind of Ghidra extension.

Next, we will discuss the different types of plugin extensions by overviewing its skeletons. Those skeletons are available from Eclipse and we will create an extension later using a skeleton in the Developing a Ghidra extension section.

Analyzers

Analyzers allow us to extend the Ghidra code analysis functionality. The skeleton to develop analyzers is available in the SkeletonAnalyzer.java file, which extends from ghidra.app.services.AbstractAnalyzer.

The analyzer skeleton consists of the following elements:

  • A constructor, which indicates the analyzer's name, its description, and the analyzer's type. In addition, you can call to setSupportOneTimeAnalysis...