Learn to find software bugs faster and discover how other developers have solved similar problems. For intermediate to advanced iOS/macOS developers already familiar with either Swift or Objective-C who want to take their debugging skills to the next level, this book includes topics such as: LLDB and its subcommands and options; low-level components used to extract information from a program; LLDB's Python module; and DTrace and how to write D scripts.

Advanced Apple Debugging & Reverse Engineering, Second Edition ISBN: Learn the powerful secrets of Apple's software debugger, LLDB, that can get more information out of any program than you ever thought possible. In Advanced Apple Debugging and Reverse Engineering, you'll come to realize debugging is an enjoyable process to help you better understand software. Not only will you learn to find bugs faster, but you'll also learn how other developers have solved problems similar to yours. You'll also learn how to create custom, powerful debugging scripts that will help you quickly find the secrets behind any bit of code that piques your interest. This book is for intermediate to advanced iOS/macOS developers who are already familiar with either Swift or Objective-C and want to take their debugging skills to the next level. Topics Covered in Advanced Apple Debugging & Reverse Engineering: LLDB Max Achievement: Master LLDB and learn about its extensive list of subcommands and options. 1's and 0's: Learn the low-level components available to help extract useful information from a program, from assembly calling conventions to exploring the process of dynamically-loaded frameworks. The Power of Python: Use LLDB's Python module to create powerful custom debugging commands to introspect and augment existing programs. Nothing is Secret: Learn how to use DTrace, a dynamic tracing framework, and how to write D scripts to query anything you were ever curious about on your macOS machine. Case Studies: Quickly find and solve the real-world issues that iOS and macOS developers typically face in their day-to-day development workflow. After reading this book, you'll have the tools and knowledge to answer even the most obscure question about your code - or someone else's.

If you want to master the art and science of reverse engineering code with IDA Pro for security R&D or software debugging, this is the book for you. Highly organized and sophisticated criminal entities are constantly developing more complex, obfuscated, and armored viruses, worms, Trojans, and botnets. IDA Pro's interactive interface and programmable development language provide you with complete control over code disassembly and debugging. This is the only book which focuses exclusively on the world's most powerful and popular took for reverse engineering code. - Reverse Engineer REAL Hostile Code To follow along with this chapter, you must download a file called !DANGER!INFECTEDMALWARE!DANGER!... 'nuff said - Portable Executable (PE) and Executable and Linking Formats (ELF) Understand the physical layout of PE and ELF files, and analyze the components that are essential to reverse engineering - Break Hostile Code Armor and Write your own Exploits Understand execution flow, trace functions, recover hard coded passwords, find vulnerable functions, backtrace execution, and craft a buffer overflow - Master Debugging Debug in IDA Pro, use a debugger while reverse engineering, perform heap and stack access modification, and use other debuggers - Stop Anti-Reversing Anti-reversing, like reverse engineering or coding in assembly, is an art form. The trick of course is to try to stop the person reversing the application. Find out how! - Track a Protocol through a Binary and Recover its Message Structure Trace execution flow from a read event, determine the structure of a protocol, determine if the protocol has any undocumented messages, and use IDA Pro to determine the functions that process a particular message - Develop IDA Scripts and Plug-ins Learn the basics of IDA scripting and syntax, and write IDC scripts and plug-ins to automate even the most complex tasks

An in-depth look into Mac OS X and iOS kernels Powering Macs, iPhones, iPads and more, OS X and iOS are becoming ubiquitous. When it comes to documentation, however, much of them are shrouded in mystery. Cocoa and Carbon, the application frameworks, are neatly described, but system programmers find the rest lacking. This indispensable guide illuminates the darkest corners of those systems, starting with an architectural overview, then drilling all the way to the core. Provides you with a top down view of OS X and iOS Walks you through the phases of system startup—both Mac (EFi) and mobile (iBoot) Explains how processes, threads, virtual memory, and filesystems are maintained Covers the security architecture Reviews the internal Apis used by the system—BSD and Mach Dissects the kernel, XNU, into its sub components: Mach, the BSD Layer, and I/o kit, and explains each in detail Explains the inner workings of device drivers From architecture to implementation, this book is essential reading if you want to get serious about the internal workings of Mac OS X and iOS.

Implement reverse engineering techniques to analyze software, exploit software targets, and defend against security threats like malware and viruses. Key FeaturesAnalyze and improvise software and hardware with real-world examplesLearn advanced debugging and patching techniques with tools such as IDA Pro, x86dbg, and Radare2.Explore modern security techniques to identify, exploit, and avoid cyber threatsBook Description If you want to analyze software in order to exploit its weaknesses and strengthen its defenses, then you should explore reverse engineering. Reverse Engineering is a hackerfriendly tool used to expose security flaws and questionable privacy practices.In this book, you will learn how to analyse software even without having access to its source code or design documents. You will start off by learning the low-level language used to communicate with the computer and then move on to covering reverse engineering techniques. Next, you will explore analysis techniques using real-world tools such as IDA Pro and x86dbg. As you progress through the chapters, you will walk through use cases encountered in reverse engineering, such as encryption and compression, used to obfuscate code, and how to to identify and overcome anti-debugging and anti-analysis tricks. Lastly, you will learn how to analyse other types of files that contain code. By the end of this book, you will have the confidence to perform reverse engineering. What you will learnLearn core reverse engineeringIdentify and extract malware componentsExplore the tools used for reverse engineeringRun programs under non-native operating systemsUnderstand binary obfuscation techniquesIdentify and analyze anti-debugging and anti-analysis tricksWho this book is for If you are a security engineer or analyst or a system programmer and want to use reverse engineering to improve your software and hardware, this is the book for you. You will also find this book useful if you are a developer who wants to explore and learn reverse engineering. Having some programming/shell scripting knowledge is an added advantage.

The First In-Depth, Real-World, Insider’s Guide to Powerful Windows Debugging For Windows developers, few tasks are more challenging than debugging–-or more crucial. Reliable and realistic information about Windows debugging has always been scarce. Now, with over 15 years of experience two of Microsoft’s system-level developers present a thorough and practical guide to Windows debugging ever written. Mario Hewardt and Daniel Pravat cover debugging throughout the entire application lifecycle and show how to make the most of the tools currently available–-including Microsoft’s powerful native debuggers and third-party solutions. To help you find real solutions fast, this book is organized around real-world debugging scenarios. Hewardt and Pravat use detailed code examples to illuminate the complex debugging challenges professional developers actually face. From core Windows operating system concepts to security, Windows® VistaTM and 64-bit debugging, they address emerging topics head-on–and nothing is ever oversimplified or glossed over!

Beginning with a basic primer on reverse engineering-including computer internals, operating systems, and assembly language-and then discussing the various applications of reverse engineering, this book provides readers with practical, in-depth techniques for software reverse engineering. The book is broken into two parts, the first deals with security-related reverse engineering and the second explores the more practical aspects of reverse engineering. In addition, the author explains how to reverse engineer a third-party software library to improve interfacing and how to reverse engineer a competitor's software to build a better product. * The first popular book to show how software reverse engineering can help defend against security threats, speed up development, and unlock the secrets of competitive products * Helps developers plug security holes by demonstrating how hackers exploit reverse engineering techniques to crack copy-protection schemes and identify software targets for viruses and other malware * Offers a primer on advanced reverse-engineering, delving into "disassembly"-code-level reverse engineering-and explaining how to decipher assembly language

When it comes to network security, many users and administrators are running scared, and justifiably so. The sophistication of attacks against computer systems increases with each new Internet worm.What's the worst an attacker can do to you? You'd better find out, right? That's what Security Warrior teaches you. Based on the principle that the only way to defend yourself is to understand your attacker in depth, Security Warrior reveals how your systems can be attacked. Covering everything from reverse engineering to SQL attacks, and including topics like social engineering, antiforensics, and common attacks against UNIX and Windows systems, this book teaches you to know your enemy and how to be prepared to do battle.Security Warrior places particular emphasis on reverse engineering. RE is a fundamental skill for the administrator, who must be aware of all kinds of malware that can be installed on his machines -- trojaned binaries, "spyware" that looks innocuous but that sends private data back to its creator, and more. This is the only book to discuss reverse engineering for Linux or Windows CE. It's also the only book that shows you how SQL injection works, enabling you to inspect your database and web applications for vulnerability.Security Warrior is the most comprehensive and up-to-date book covering the art of computer war: attacks against computer systems and their defenses. It's often scary, and never comforting. If you're on the front lines, defending your site against attackers, you need this book. On your shelf--and in your hands.

Detect potentials bugs in your code or program and develop your own tools using the Ghidra reverse engineering framework developed by the NSA project Key Features Make the most of Ghidra on different platforms such as Linux, Windows, and macOS Leverage a variety of plug-ins and extensions to perform disassembly, assembly, decompilation, and scripting Discover how you can meet your cybersecurity needs by creating custom patches and tools Book DescriptionGhidra, 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.What you will learn Get to grips with using Ghidra's features, plug-ins, and extensions Understand how you can contribute to Ghidra Focus on reverse engineering malware and perform binary auditing Automate reverse engineering tasks with Ghidra plug-ins Become well-versed with developing your own Ghidra extensions, scripts, and features Automate the task of looking for vulnerabilities in executable binaries using Ghidra scripting Find out how to use Ghidra in the headless mode Who this book is for This SRE book is for developers, software engineers, or any IT professional with some understanding of cybersecurity essentials. Prior knowledge of Java or Python, along with experience in programming or developing applications, is required before getting started with this book.

Every software developer and IT professional understands the crucial importance of effective debugging. Often, debugging consumes most of a developer’s workday, and mastering the required techniques and skills can take a lifetime. In Effective Debugging, Diomidis Spinellis helps experienced programmers accelerate their journey to mastery, by systematically categorizing, explaining, and illustrating the most useful debugging methods, strategies, techniques, and tools. Drawing on more than thirty-five years of experience, Spinellis expands your arsenal of debugging techniques, helping you choose the best approaches for each challenge. He presents vendor-neutral, example-rich advice on general principles, high-level strategies, concrete techniques, high-efficiency tools, creative tricks, and the behavioral traits associated with effective debugging. Spinellis’s 66 expert techniques address every facet of debugging and are illustrated with step-by-step instructions and actual code. He addresses the full spectrum of problems that can arise in modern software systems, especially problems caused by complex interactions among components and services running on hosts scattered around the planet. Whether you’re debugging isolated runtime errors or catastrophic enterprise system failures, this guide will help you get the job done—more quickly, and with less pain. Key features include High-level strategies and methods for addressing diverse software failures Specific techniques to apply when programming, compiling, and running code Better ways to make the most of your debugger General-purpose skills and tools worth investing in Advanced ideas and techniques for escaping dead-ends and the maze of complexity Advice for making programs easier to debug Specialized approaches for debugging multithreaded, asynchronous, and embedded code Bug avoidance through improved software design, construction, and management