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  3. Know a good disassembler?

Know a good disassembler?

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  • E enhzflep

    Like Richard said, Olly Debugger is a great piece of work. You could also look at WDasm32[EDIT: W32Dasm] or IDA Pro. IDA has a plug-in module that will decompile code back into C source. It's a 2grand plugin that still seems like it should cost more. There's also a number of programs available for things coded in languages other than C. You can find VB Decompiler in both Pro & Lite versions, also there's "Delphi and C++ Decompiler" You should also be able to find links around for a copy of Sourcer, though I don't recall them having a trial copy.

    modified on Sunday, July 13, 2008 4:27 PM

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    jacobjordan
    wrote on last edited by
    #11

    I have tried the Delphi & C++ decompiler, and it's a joke. I have also tried the lite version of the VB decompiler, and i wasn't impressed with that either.

    if (your.Life == lifestyles.Programming) {     your.Cool = true; } else {     your.Cool = false; }

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    • J jacobjordan

      I've heard of IDA before. I just fould IDA Pro on Cnet, it says there it is $470.00. Are we talking about the same software?

      if (your.Life == Lifestyles.Programming) {     your = Cool; } else {     your = !Cool; }

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      enhzflep
      wrote on last edited by
      #12

      Dunno to be entirely honest. I find dial-up + CNET = me.frustrated, so I don't visit there. That price probably sounds about right for IDA. In case you didn't know, it's now developed by Hex-Rays, the maker of the $2000 plugin I mentioned before. If you visit IDA's homepage here: http://www.hex-rays.com/idapro/[^], you can download a free version that's still pretty bloody impressive. What's the target app compiled with? I may well have a better solution for you.

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      • Richard Andrew x64R Richard Andrew x64

        http://www.ollydbg.de/[^] ;)

        “Cannot find REALITY.SYS...Universe Halted.” ~ God on phone with Microsoft Customer Support

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        Anton Afanasyev
        wrote on last edited by
        #13

        Hehe, Olly was always awesome :)

        "impossible" is just an opinion.

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        • J jacobjordan

          I am looking for a free disassembler, preferably not a command line one. I couldn't find one on Cnet, and i was wondering if any of you know of one.

          if (your.Life == Lifestyles.Programming) {     your = Cool; } else {     your = !Cool; }

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          DownUnderDev
          wrote on last edited by
          #14

          http://www.hex-rays.com/idapro/[^] IDA Pro is gold, it even gives you the option of replacing code inside functions or even adding functions, which opens the door to a whole lot of nasty hacking fun. search for the 4.3 version that was still freeware

          "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." -Albert Einstein

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          • J jacobjordan

            I am looking for a free disassembler, preferably not a command line one. I couldn't find one on Cnet, and i was wondering if any of you know of one.

            if (your.Life == Lifestyles.Programming) {     your = Cool; } else {     your = !Cool; }

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            James Brown
            wrote on last edited by
            #15

            IDA is the best. It's worth paying the price if you find yourself frequently needing to disassemble...


            http://www.catch22.net

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            • J James Brown

              IDA is the best. It's worth paying the price if you find yourself frequently needing to disassemble...


              http://www.catch22.net

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              Gary R Wheeler
              wrote on last edited by
              #16

              James Brown wrote:

              if you find yourself frequently needing to disassemble

              In 25+ years of professional software development across a wide variety of markets and a broad range of machines and operating systems, not once have I found a reason for using a disassembler. Unless you're a thief.

              Software Zen: delete this;
              Fold With Us![^]

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              • E enhzflep

                Dunno to be entirely honest. I find dial-up + CNET = me.frustrated, so I don't visit there. That price probably sounds about right for IDA. In case you didn't know, it's now developed by Hex-Rays, the maker of the $2000 plugin I mentioned before. If you visit IDA's homepage here: http://www.hex-rays.com/idapro/[^], you can download a free version that's still pretty bloody impressive. What's the target app compiled with? I may well have a better solution for you.

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                Avi Cohen Stuart
                wrote on last edited by
                #17

                I've been using IDA Pro some time now (at least 4 years) and I'm even more happier with the HexRay decompiler. It is worth every cent of it.

                modified on Monday, July 14, 2008 10:24 AM

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                • G Gary R Wheeler

                  James Brown wrote:

                  if you find yourself frequently needing to disassemble

                  In 25+ years of professional software development across a wide variety of markets and a broad range of machines and operating systems, not once have I found a reason for using a disassembler. Unless you're a thief.

                  Software Zen: delete this;
                  Fold With Us![^]

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                  Kythen
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #18

                  There can be some very good reasons for using a disassembler, and not just for thievery. Personally, I've used the copy of IDA Pro I purchased to reverse engineer and understand some legacy Motorola 68k hardware, debug a flaky RS-485 card driver, and decipher what a number of vague error messages meant when returned by various win32 api calls. Also, think about what you would need if you were writing your own debugger or disassembler. I would think having a reference disassembler would be a very good idea. Disassemblers are tools that can certainly be misused, but one really shouldn't assume that will always be the case.

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                  • J jacobjordan

                    I am looking for a free disassembler, preferably not a command line one. I couldn't find one on Cnet, and i was wondering if any of you know of one.

                    if (your.Life == Lifestyles.Programming) {     your = Cool; } else {     your = !Cool; }

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                    Fisa
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #19

                    The Reflector is the best .net disassembler. It shows you the code in C#, VB, C++.net and Delphi.net, and it has utilities (separate exe) to open resource files. You can download it at http://www.aisto.com/roeder/dotnet/[^]

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                    • G Gary R Wheeler

                      James Brown wrote:

                      if you find yourself frequently needing to disassemble

                      In 25+ years of professional software development across a wide variety of markets and a broad range of machines and operating systems, not once have I found a reason for using a disassembler. Unless you're a thief.

                      Software Zen: delete this;
                      Fold With Us![^]

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                      J Offline
                      James Brown
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #20

                      So what are you accusing me of exactly? Your claims of experience do not impress, there are many valid (legal) reasons for needing to use a disassembler. You simply need to broaden your horizons to find them


                      http://www.catch22.net

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                      • J jacobjordan

                        Disassembler, not decompiler. No, not for .NET. I don't think there is such a thing as a .NET disassembler. A disassembler translates normal programs into Assembly language, a Decompiler will translate it into source code, which is really only possible with .NET programs. I am looking for a disassembler that will disassemble normal programs.

                        if (your.Life == Lifestyles.Programming) {     your = Cool; } else {     your = !Cool; }

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                        Lost User
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #21

                        There is, actually, it's called "ildasm", it disassembles MSIL bytecode to MSIL instructions

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                        • G Gary R Wheeler

                          James Brown wrote:

                          if you find yourself frequently needing to disassemble

                          In 25+ years of professional software development across a wide variety of markets and a broad range of machines and operating systems, not once have I found a reason for using a disassembler. Unless you're a thief.

                          Software Zen: delete this;
                          Fold With Us![^]

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                          G7TNZ
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #22

                          The previous post just goes to show that however experienced one is there is always room to be able to learn. :) Part of our business is to rejuvenate legacy code owned by the client, where often they have lost the source and with it crucial parts of the business logic. Our ability to do this is based on our employees, some of whose first experience of computers was over 35 years ago, who are valued for their ability to disassemble and comprehend the original code which has often started life in the 60's.

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                          • J jacobjordan

                            I am looking for a free disassembler, preferably not a command line one. I couldn't find one on Cnet, and i was wondering if any of you know of one.

                            if (your.Life == Lifestyles.Programming) {     your = Cool; } else {     your = !Cool; }

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                            Kythen
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #23

                            What type of program are you trying to disassemble, and what are you trying to accomplish by disassemblng it? IDA Pro is by far the best disassembler overall, but the free demo version is limited to x86 PE (Win32 .exe and .dll) files. If you can explain what you're trying to do, I can probably give you some better suggestions for tools.

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                            • G Gary R Wheeler

                              James Brown wrote:

                              if you find yourself frequently needing to disassemble

                              In 25+ years of professional software development across a wide variety of markets and a broad range of machines and operating systems, not once have I found a reason for using a disassembler. Unless you're a thief.

                              Software Zen: delete this;
                              Fold With Us![^]

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                              enhzflep
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #24

                              :zzz: As a teenager 15 years ago, I taught myself asm with the aid of TurboDebugger & Sourcer. The internet was simply not available - yet alone heard of by me at the time. There was also precious little in the way of information around on specific tasks involving graphics - what the hell did all of those int 0x10 functions do anyway? What? Ask the guys at school. :scoffs: Easy, dissasemble the video bios and have a look at which IO ports were used to change the video mode to 0x13, or even more interesting, to mode X giving 240x200@256 cols & 4 planes. It wasn't until much later when I finished school and went to uni that I found myself like a kid in a candy store amongst the books in the computing library. Fast forward to today - how on earth do you think that Anti-Virus writers & vulnerability researchers at [insert company here] keep your precious little system choked full of 25 years of 'real' programming code safe? How do you think most SQL injection attacks are discovered and protected against? What about buffer overflow errors? You don't seriously think that people just sit there and try to overflow the buffer, without an insight into it's length :rolleyes: or the point at which data in the buffer begins to be (maliciously) executed. Of course, the AV writers must all be thieves. - Don't make me laugh. :laugh: Do yourself a favour Gary, and go and do some reading.

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                              • J jacobjordan

                                I am looking for a free disassembler, preferably not a command line one. I couldn't find one on Cnet, and i was wondering if any of you know of one.

                                if (your.Life == Lifestyles.Programming) {     your = Cool; } else {     your = !Cool; }

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                                ScottM1
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #25

                                Try IDA Pro Freeware

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                                • J jacobjordan

                                  I am looking for a free disassembler, preferably not a command line one. I couldn't find one on Cnet, and i was wondering if any of you know of one.

                                  if (your.Life == Lifestyles.Programming) {     your = Cool; } else {     your = !Cool; }

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                                  wavesailor
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #26

                                  The Borland crowd has an awesome one that I used for a number of years: news://newsgroups.borland.com/borland.public.tasm -jj

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                                  • G Gary R Wheeler

                                    James Brown wrote:

                                    if you find yourself frequently needing to disassemble

                                    In 25+ years of professional software development across a wide variety of markets and a broad range of machines and operating systems, not once have I found a reason for using a disassembler. Unless you're a thief.

                                    Software Zen: delete this;
                                    Fold With Us![^]

                                    J Offline
                                    J Offline
                                    JakeSays
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #27

                                    Garry, I would say you are an unimaginative person, and more than likely not a very good engineer. In MY 25+ year career I have used disassemblers/decompilers many times to create imaginative and highly successful solutions to some extremely complex problems. Furthermore, I have yet to steel anything (except market share.) You bonehead. Jake

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                                    • J JakeSays

                                      Garry, I would say you are an unimaginative person, and more than likely not a very good engineer. In MY 25+ year career I have used disassemblers/decompilers many times to create imaginative and highly successful solutions to some extremely complex problems. Furthermore, I have yet to steel anything (except market share.) You bonehead. Jake

                                      G Offline
                                      G Offline
                                      Gary R Wheeler
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #28

                                      First of all, it's spelled with one 'r': G-a-r-y.

                                      laughingandliving wrote:

                                      I would say you are an unimaginative person

                                      You're going to base that on a single post in an online forum?

                                      laughingandliving wrote:

                                      more than likely not a very good engineer

                                      Hmm. Then my employer's been making a mistake for the last 18 years, giving me a better-than-average raise.

                                      laughingandliving wrote:

                                      I have yet to steel anything (except market share.)

                                      It's spelled steal, in this usage.

                                      laughingandliving wrote:

                                      You bonehead.

                                      I do have a normal human skull. Given my age (not quite 47) the sutures between the component pieces have joined together into a solid piece (excluding my jaw, obviously).

                                      Software Zen: delete this;
                                      Fold With Us![^]

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