In the heart of Versailles, an unexpected discovery sent ripples through the palace. Madame de Maintenon (the IDA Lady), the secret wife of Louis XIV, stumbled upon an unusual letter, containing a hidden plot for a coup. This letter, with its strange symbols, triggered a quest for answers. With unwavering determination, Madame de Maintenon (aka […]
Read MoreThe Functions list is probably the most known and used part of IDA’s default desktop layout. It includes all detected functions in the current database and offers a quick way to find and navigate to any of them. However, the database consists not only of functions but also data items or instructions which are […]
Read MoreLet’s say you found a promising-looking string in the binary, followed the cross reference to the function using it, then decompiled it to see how the string is used, only to see no signs of it in the pseudocode. What’s happening? In such situation it often helps to set up two synchronized disassembly<->pseudocode views and […]
Read MoreAs covered before, the action “Create struct from selection” can be used to quickly create structures from existing data items. However, Disassembly view not the only place where it can be used. For example, let’s imagine you’ve created a structure to represent some context used by the binary being analyzed: 00000000 Context […]
Read MoreHalloween is approaching, and we’ve decided to celebrate it by launching the #MyCreepyCodeContest. Whether you are a seasoned reverser or just an enthusiast, our #MyCreepyCodeContest invites you to dig up and share the most spine-chilling pieces of code you’ve encountered in the wild. Everyone is welcome to participate, regardless of experience. The goal is to…well, to […]
Read MoreThis is a guest entry written by Sergejs Harlamovs from IKARUS Security Software GmbH. His views and opinions are his own and not those of Hex-Rays. Any technical or maintenance issues regarding the code herein should be directed to the author. IdaClu: Finding clues without knowing what to seek IdaClu, as the name suggests, is about […]
Read MoreIn order to faithfully represent the behavior of the code and to conform to the rules of the C language, the decompiler may need to add casts in the pseudocode. A few examples: a variable has been detected to be unsigned but participates in a signed comparison: An argument being passed to a function does not match […]
Read MoreIn order to show the user only the most relevant code and hide the unnecessary clutter, the decompiler performs various optimizations before displaying the pseudocode. Some of these optimizations rely on various assumptions which are usually correct in well-behaved programs. However, in some situations they may be incorrect which may lead to wrong output, so […]
Read MoreWhen working with the decompiler, you probably spend most of the time in the pseudocode view, since most interactive operations (e.g. renaming, retyping and commenting) can be done right there. IDA is usually smart enough to detect important changes during such actions and update the pseudocode as necessary. However, occasionally you may perform actions […]
Read MoreWelcome to a new chapter of Igor’s invaluable insights! At Hex-Rays, we understand the importance of continuous learning in our ever-evolving field. Therefore, we are thrilled to introduce you to Igor’s Tip of the Week – Season 3. Three years ago, we embarked on a mission to empower IDA’s […]
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