Table of Contents for
The IDA Pro Book, 2nd Edition

Version ebook / Retour

Cover image for bash Cookbook, 2nd Edition The IDA Pro Book, 2nd Edition by Chris Eagle Published by No Starch Press, 2011
  1. Cover
  2. The IDA Pro Book
  3. PRAISE FOR THE FIRST EDITION OF THE IDA PRO BOOK
  4. Acknowledgments
  5. Introduction
  6. I. Introduction to IDA
  7. 1. Introduction to Disassembly
  8. The What of Disassembly
  9. The Why of Disassembly
  10. The How of Disassembly
  11. Summary
  12. 2. Reversing and Disassembly Tools
  13. Summary Tools
  14. Deep Inspection Tools
  15. Summary
  16. 3. IDA Pro Background
  17. Obtaining IDA Pro
  18. IDA Support Resources
  19. Your IDA Installation
  20. Thoughts on IDA’s User Interface
  21. Summary
  22. II. Basic IDA Usage
  23. 4. Getting Started with IDA
  24. IDA Database Files
  25. Introduction to the IDA Desktop
  26. Desktop Behavior During Initial Analysis
  27. IDA Desktop Tips and Tricks
  28. Reporting Bugs
  29. Summary
  30. 5. IDA Data Displays
  31. Secondary IDA Displays
  32. Tertiary IDA Displays
  33. Summary
  34. 6. Disassembly Navigation
  35. Stack Frames
  36. Searching the Database
  37. Summary
  38. 7. Disassembly Manipulation
  39. Commenting in IDA
  40. Basic Code Transformations
  41. Basic Data Transformations
  42. Summary
  43. 8. Datatypes and Data Structures
  44. Creating IDA Structures
  45. Using Structure Templates
  46. Importing New Structures
  47. Using Standard Structures
  48. IDA TIL Files
  49. C++ Reversing Primer
  50. Summary
  51. 9. Cross-References and Graphing
  52. IDA Graphing
  53. Summary
  54. 10. The Many Faces of IDA
  55. Using IDA’s Batch Mode
  56. Summary
  57. III. Advanced IDA Usage
  58. 11. Customizing IDA
  59. Additional IDA Configuration Options
  60. Summary
  61. 12. Library Recognition Using FLIRT Signatures
  62. Applying FLIRT Signatures
  63. Creating FLIRT Signature Files
  64. Summary
  65. 13. Extending IDA’s Knowledge
  66. Augmenting Predefined Comments with loadint
  67. Summary
  68. 14. Patching Binaries and Other IDA Limitations
  69. IDA Output Files and Patch Generation
  70. Summary
  71. IV. Extending IDA’s Capabilities
  72. 15. IDA Scripting
  73. The IDC Language
  74. Associating IDC Scripts with Hotkeys
  75. Useful IDC Functions
  76. IDC Scripting Examples
  77. IDAPython
  78. IDAPython Scripting Examples
  79. Summary
  80. 16. The IDA Software Development Kit
  81. The IDA Application Programming Interface
  82. Summary
  83. 17. The IDA Plug-in Architecture
  84. Building Your Plug-ins
  85. Installing Plug-ins
  86. Configuring Plug-ins
  87. Extending IDC
  88. Plug-in User Interface Options
  89. Scripted Plug-ins
  90. Summary
  91. 18. Binary Files and IDA Loader Modules
  92. Manually Loading a Windows PE File
  93. IDA Loader Modules
  94. Writing an IDA Loader Using the SDK
  95. Alternative Loader Strategies
  96. Writing a Scripted Loader
  97. Summary
  98. 19. IDA Processor Modules
  99. The Python Interpreter
  100. Writing a Processor Module Using the SDK
  101. Building Processor Modules
  102. Customizing Existing Processors
  103. Processor Module Architecture
  104. Scripting a Processor Module
  105. Summary
  106. V. Real-World Applications
  107. 20. Compiler Personalities
  108. RTTI Implementations
  109. Locating main
  110. Debug vs. Release Binaries
  111. Alternative Calling Conventions
  112. Summary
  113. 21. Obfuscated Code Analysis
  114. Anti–Dynamic Analysis Techniques
  115. Static De-obfuscation of Binaries Using IDA
  116. Virtual Machine-Based Obfuscation
  117. Summary
  118. 22. Vulnerability Analysis
  119. After-the-Fact Vulnerability Discovery with IDA
  120. IDA and the Exploit-Development Process
  121. Analyzing Shellcode
  122. Summary
  123. 23. Real-World IDA Plug-ins
  124. IDAPython
  125. collabREate
  126. ida-x86emu
  127. Class Informer
  128. MyNav
  129. IdaPdf
  130. Summary
  131. VI. The IDA Debugger
  132. 24. The IDA Debugger
  133. Basic Debugger Displays
  134. Process Control
  135. Automating Debugger Tasks
  136. Summary
  137. 25. Disassembler/Debugger Integration
  138. IDA Databases and the IDA Debugger
  139. Debugging Obfuscated Code
  140. IdaStealth
  141. Dealing with Exceptions
  142. Summary
  143. 26. Additional Debugger Features
  144. Debugging with Bochs
  145. Appcall
  146. Summary
  147. A. Using IDA Freeware 5.0
  148. Using IDA Freeware
  149. B. IDC/SDK Cross-Reference
  150. Index
  151. About the Author

IDA Support Resources

As an IDA user, you may wonder where you can turn for help when you have IDA-related questions. If we do our job well enough, this book will suffice in most situations. When you find yourself needing additional help, though, here are some popular resources:

Official help documentation

IDA ships with a menu-activated help system, but it is primarily an overview of the IDA user interface and the scripting subsystem. No help is available for the IDA SDK, nor is much help available when you have questions like “How do I do x?”

Hex-Rays’ support page and forums

Hex-Rays hosts a support page[25] that offers links to various IDA-related resources, including online forums available to licensed users. Users will find that Ilfak and other core Hex-Rays programmers are frequent contributors to the forums. The forums are also a good starting point for unofficial support of the SDK, since many experienced IDA users are more than willing to offer assistance based on their personal experiences.

Questions concerning use of the SDK are often answered with “Read the include files.” The SDK is officially unsupported with a purchase of IDA; however, Hex-Rays does offer a yearly support plan for an annual fee of USD10,000 (yep, that’s right: $10K). An excellent resource to familiarize yourself with the SDK is “IDA Plug-in Writing in C/C++” by Steve Micallef.[26]

OpenRCE.org

A vibrant reverse engineering community exists at http://www.openrce.org/, which contains numerous articles related to novel uses of IDA along with active user forums. Similar to the forums at Hex-Rays, OpenRCE.org attracts a large number of experienced IDA users who are often more than willing to share their advice on how to resolve almost any problem you may encounter with IDA.

RCE Forums

The Reverse Code Engineering (RCE) forums at http://www.woodmann.com/ contain countless posts related to the use of IDA Pro. The focus of the forums is much broader than the use of IDA Pro, however, with wide coverage of many tools and techniques useful to the binary reverse engineer.

The IDA Palace

Though it has had problems finding a permanent residence, the IDA Palace[27] is a website dedicated to hosting information on IDA-related resources. Visitors can expect to find links to various papers related to IDA usage along with scripts and plug-ins for extending IDA’s capabilities.

Ilfak’s blog

Finally, Ilfak’s blog[28] often contains postings detailing the use of IDA to solve various problems ranging from general disassembly to debugging and malware analysis. Additionally, postings by other Hex-Rays team members often detail some of the latest IDA features, as well as features that are under development.


[25] See http://www.hex-rays.com/idapro/idasupport.htm.

[26] See http://www.binarypool.com/idapluginwriting/idapw.pdf.

[27] See http://old.idapalace.net/.

[28] See http://www.hexblog.com/.