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binary-reconnaissance

Initial reconnaissance on binaries including checksec, file analysis, strings, and symbols. First step for any new target.

personAuthor: jakexiaohubgithub

Binary Reconnaissance

First-look analysis of any new binary target. Run these checks before deeper analysis.

Checklist

  1. File type: file target
  2. Security mitigations: checksec target
  3. Symbols: nm target or readelf -s target
  4. Strings: strings target | grep -i flag\|win\|shell
  5. Disassembly: objdump -M intel -d target > target.asm

Checksec Interpretation

| Protection | Enabled | Disabled | Bypass | |------------|---------|----------|--------| | NX | Can't execute shellcode on stack | Shellcode works | ROP, ret2libc | | Canary | Stack smash detected | No protection | Leak canary, brute force | | PIE | Addresses randomized | Fixed addresses | Leak code address | | RELRO | GOT protected | GOT writable | Can't use GOT overwrite |

Quick Wins to Look For

  • Functions named win, get_flag, shell, backdoor
  • Strings containing flag, /bin/sh, cat flag
  • system() or execve() in PLT
  • No canary + no PIE = likely simple overflow

Output

Produce context/binary-info.md using the template.