IDA Pro jumping to offset from base - reverse-engineering

I use CheatEngine as a debugger (and get a lot of crap for it). When I find addresses, I always write them down based on the offset from where the start of the instructions are (e.g. program.exe+402C0). It would be nice to be able to use the goto function with this method of referencing a location; is there a way to do this?

According to IDA Pro's documentation:
If the entered [goto] string can not be recognized as a hexadecimal or location name, IDA will try to interpreet it as an expression using the current script interpreter. The default interpreter is IDC.
So what you can do is define a global variable in the IDC interpreter (using the bar at the bottom of your IDA view) that identifies the base address of your module as such:
extern ModuleBaseAddress;
ModuleBaseAddress = 0x400000; // Example base address
Then whenever you want to go to the base address + offset you would simply open the Jump window (using the g-key) and type in:
ModuleBaseAddress + 0x1000 // 0x1000 is your offset

Related

IDA Not Recognizing Instructions as Code?

I made a new segment in the ELF (ARM) game library I am working on (Page Aligned, .text segment (Pure Code)). The entirety of the segment includes only NOPs (0000A0E1). However, IDA recognizes the NOPs as:
DCD 0xE1A00000
If I press C to make it into code, it shows one NOP per line I press it on. When I try to create a function, it tells me that the function has undefined instruction/data at the specified address, and won't let me do it. In addition, each line of the DCD 0xE1A00000s is referenced in the .plt segment because they're referencing an offset out of the segment. This happens even after I turn it into code.
Is there a way to declare the entire segment as code, and/or put a segment property that does this, possibly fixing the function problem?

How to use Eiffel functions?

So I'm just starting to learn Eiffel. One of the first exercises in the book I'm using says to make a function that does base^exp without using ^. I've copied my code below.
class
APPLICATION
inherit
ARGUMENTS
create
make
feature {NONE} -- Initialization
make
-- Run application.
do
create power(2;3)
printf("2 to the power of 3 is " + answer)
end
power(base : REAL; exp : INTEGER) : REAL
-- computers base raised to the bower of exp without using ^
local
remain : INTEGER
do
remain := exp
if remain = 0 then
result := 1
else
from
until
remain = 0
loop
result := result * result
remain := remain -1
end
end
end
end
How do I use this? Do I need it on the same level as feature{NONE}'s make? I know how I'm calling it is wrong, and I can't find anything in the chapter I just read, or online on how to pass parameters into it or how to use it's results.
There are several issues with the original code:
create is used to create an object, but you are not going to create anything, but to get a result of a computation of the function power by calling it. Therefore the keyword create is not needed.
You are using an entity answer to report the result of evaluation on a screen. However it is not declared anywhere. I believe the proper place would be a local variable declaration section.
The entity answer is not initialized to the result of the function power. This is usually done by an assignment instruction.
Feature arguments are separated by a comma, not by a semicolon.
From the original code it's unclear what is the type of the variable answer. Assuming it matches the type of the function power, before adding it to a string, it needs to be converted to a string. This is done by calling the feature out.
The standard feature for printing a string to a console is print, not printf.
Combining the critical points above, we get
make
-- Run application.
local
answer: REAL
do
answer := power(2, 3)
print ("2 to the power of 3 is " + answer.out)
end
After that the code can be compiled. Now less critical points:
It is a good style to put features to a dedicated feature clauses, so I would add a line like feature -- Basic operations before the feature power.
The implementation of the feature power has at least two problems. I'm not going to detail them here, but would give two hints instead:
by default numeric Result is initialized to 0, this needs to be taken into account for operations that use it without first assigning any other value
even though an argument base is passed to the function power it remains unused in the original version of the code

How to select a specific .m function when two exist?

First, here the way i'm calling the function :
eval([functionName '(''stringArg'')']); % functionName = 'someStringForTheFunctionName'
Now, I have two functionName functions in my path, one that take the stringArg and another one that takes something else. I'm getting some errors because right now the first one it finds is the function that doesn't take the stringArg. Considering the way i'm calling the functionName function, how is it possible to call the correct function?
Edit:
I tried the function which :
which -all someStringForTheFunctionName
The result :
C:\........\x\someStringForTheFunctionName
C:\........\y\someStringForTheFunctionName % Shadowed
The shadowed function is the one i want to call.
Function names must be unique in MATLAB. If they are not, so there are duplicate names, then MATLAB uses the first one it finds on your search path.
Having said that, there are a few options open to you.
Option 1. Use # directories, putting each version in a separate directory. Essentially you are using the ability of MATLAB to apply a function to specific classes. So, you might set up a pair of directories:
#char
#double
Put your copies of myfun.m in the respective directories. Now when MATLAB sees a double input to myfun, it will direct the call to the double version. When MATLAB gets char input, it goes to the char version.
BE CAREFUL. Do not put these # directories explicitly on your search path. DO put them INSIDE a directory that is on your search path.
A problem with this scheme is if you call the function with a SINGLE precision input, MATLAB will probably have a fit, so you would need separate versions for single, uint8, int8, int32, etc. You cannot just have one version for all numeric types.
Option 2. Have only one version of the function, that tests the first argument to see if it is numeric or char, then branches to perform either task as appropriate. Both pieces of code will most simply be in one file then. The simple scheme will have subfunctions or nested functions to do the work.
Option 3. Name the functions differently. Hey, its not the end of the world.
Option 4: As Shaun points out, one can simply change the current directory. MATLAB always looks first in your current directory, so it will find the function in that directory as needed. One problem is this is time consuming. Any time you touch a directory, things slow down, because there is now disk input needed.
The worst part of changing directories is in how you use MATLAB. It is (IMHO) a poor programming style to force the user to always be in a specific directory based on what code inputs they wish to run. Better is a data driven scheme. If you will be reading in or writing out data, then be in THAT directory. Use the MATLAB search path to categorize all of your functions, as functions tend not to change much. This is a far cleaner way to work than requiring the user to migrate to specific directories based on how they will be calling a given function.
Personally, I'd tend to suggest option 2 as the best. It is clean. It has only ONE main function that you need to work with. If you want to keep the functions district, put them as separate nested or sub functions inside the main function body. Inside of course, they will have distinct names, based on how they are driven.
OK, so a messy answer, but it should do it. My test function was 'echo'
funcstr='echo'; % string representation of function
Fs=which('-all',funcstr);
for v=1:length(Fs)
if (strcmp(Fs{v}(end-1:end),'.m')) % Don''t move built-ins, they will be shadowed anyway
movefile(Fs{v},[Fs{v} '_BK']);
end
end
for v=1:length(Fs)
if (strcmp(Fs{v}(end-1:end),'.m'))
movefile([Fs{v} '_BK'],Fs{v});
end
try
eval([funcstr '(''stringArg'')']);
break;
catch
if (strcmp(Fs{v}(end-1:end),'.m'))
movefile(Fs{v},[Fs{v} '_BK']);
end
end
end
for w=1:v
if (strcmp(Fs{v}(end-1:end),'.m'))
movefile([Fs{v} '_BK'],Fs{v});
end
end
You can also create a function handle for the shadowed function. The problem is that the first function is higher on the matlab path, but you can circumvent that by (temporarily) changing the current directory.
Although it is not nice imo to change that current directory (actually I'd rather never change it while executing code), it will solve the problem quite easily; especially if you use it in the configuration part of your function with a persistent function handle:
function outputpars = myMainExecFunction(inputpars)
% configuration
persistent shadowfun;
if isempty(shadowfun)
funpath1 = 'C:\........\x\fun';
funpath2 = 'C:\........\y\fun'; % Shadowed
curcd = cd;
cd(funpath2);
shadowfun = #fun;
cd(curcd); % and go back to the original cd
end
outputpars{1} = shadowfun(inputpars); % will use the shadowed function
oupputpars{2} = fun(inputparts); % will use the function highest on the matlab path
end
This problem was also discussed here as a possible solution to this problem.
I believe it actually is the only way to overload a builtin function outside the source directory of the overloading function (eg. you want to run your own sum.m in a directory other than where your sum.m is located.)
EDIT: Old answer no longer good
The run command won't work because its a function, not a script.
Instead, your best approach would be honestly just figure out which of the functions need to be run, get the current dir, change it to the one your function is in, run it, and then change back to your start dir.
This approach, while not perfect, seems MUCH easier to code, to read, and less prone to breaking. And it requires no changing of names or creating extra files or function handles.

Warning for variables with function names in Matlab

Sometimes I accidentally declare variables that have the name of a function.
Here is a constructed example:
max(4:5) % 5
max(1:10)=10*ones(10,1); % oops, should be == instead of =
max(4:5) % [10 10]
At the moment I always find this out the hard way and it especially happens with function names that I don't use frequently.
Is there any way to let matlab give a warning about this? It would be ideal to see this on the right hand side of the screen with the other warnings, but I am open to other suggestions.
Since Matlab allows you to overload built-in functionality, you will not receive any warnings when using existing names.
There are, however, a few tricks to minimize the risk of overloading existing functions:
Use explicitFunctionNames. It is much less likely that there is a function maxIndex instead of max.
Use the "Tab"-key often. Matlab will auto-complete functions on the path (as well as variables that you've declared previously). Thus, if the variable auto-completes, it already exists. In case you don't remember whether it's also a function, hit "F1" to see whether there exists a help page for it.
Use functions rather than scripts, so that "mis-"assigned variables in the workspace won't mess up your code.
I'm pretty sure mlint can also check for that.
Generally I would wrap code into functions as much as possible. That way the range of such an override is limited to the scope of the function - so no lasting problems, besides the accidental assumption of course.
When in doubt, check:
exist max
ans =
5
Looking at help exist, you can see that "max" is a function, and shouldn't be assigned as a variable.
>> help exist
exist Check if variables or functions are defined.
exist('A') returns:
0 if A does not exist
1 if A is a variable in the workspace
2 if A is an M-file on MATLAB's search path. It also returns 2 when
A is the full pathname to a file or when A is the name of an
ordinary file on MATLAB's search path
3 if A is a MEX-file on MATLAB's search path
4 if A is a MDL-file on MATLAB's search path
5 if A is a built-in MATLAB function
6 if A is a P-file on MATLAB's search path
7 if A is a directory
8 if A is a class (exist returns 0 for Java classes if you
start MATLAB with the -nojvm option.)

Accessing the Body of a Function with Lua

I'm going back to the basics here but in Lua, you can define a table like so:
myTable = {}
myTable [1] = 12
Printing the table reference itself brings back a pointer to it. To access its elements you need to specify an index (i.e. exactly like you would an array)
print(myTable ) --prints pointer
print(myTable[1]) --prints 12
Now functions are a different story. You can define and print a function like so:
myFunc = function() local x = 14 end --Defined function
print(myFunc) --Printed pointer to function
Is there a way to access the body of a defined function. I am trying to put together a small code visualizer and would like to 'seed' a given function with special functions/variables to allow a visualizer to 'hook' itself into the code, I would need to be able to redefine the function either from a variable or a string.
There is no way to get access to body source code of given function in plain Lua. Source code is thrown away after compilation to byte-code.
Note BTW that function may be defined in run-time with loadstring-like facility.
Partial solutions are possible — depending on what you actually want to achieve.
You may get source code position from the debug library — if debug library is enabled and debug symbols are not stripped from the bytecode. After that you may load actual source file and extract code from there.
You may decorate functions you're interested in manually with required metadata. Note that functions in Lua are valid table keys, so you may create a function-to-metadata table. You would want to make this table weak-keyed, so it would not prevent functions from being collected by GC.
If you would need a solution for analyzing Lua code, take a look at Metalua.
Check out Lua Introspective Facilities in the debugging library.
The main introspective function in the
debug library is the debug.getinfo
function. Its first parameter may be a
function or a stack level. When you
call debug.getinfo(foo) for some
function foo, you get a table with
some data about that function. The
table may have the following fields:
The field you would want is func I think.
Using the debug library is your only bet. Using that, you can get either the string (if the function is defined in a chunk that was loaded with 'loadstring') or the name of the file in which the function was defined; together with the line-numbers at which the function definition starts and ends. See the documentation.
Here at my current job we have patched Lua so that it even gives you the column numbers for the start and end of the function, so you can get the function source using that. The patch is not very difficult to reproduce, but I don't think I'll be allowed to post it here :-(
You could accomplish this by creating an environment for each function (see setfenv) and using global (versus local) variables. Variables created in the function would then appear in the environment table after the function is executed.
env = {}
myFunc = function() x = 14 end
setfenv(myFunc, env)
myFunc()
print(myFunc) -- prints pointer
print(env.x) -- prints 14
Alternatively, you could make use of the Debug Library:
> myFunc = function() local x = 14 ; debug.debug() end
> myFunc()
> lua_debug> _, x = debug.getlocal(3, 1)
> lua_debug> print(x) -- prints 14
It would probably be more useful to you to retrieve the local variables with a hook function instead of explicitly entering debug mode (i.e. adding the debug.debug() call)
There is also a Debug Interface in the Lua C API.