reverse-engineering-tools

name reverse-engineering-tools description Guide for reverse engineering protected games and anti-cheat components across user mode, kernel mode, and hypervisor-aware environments. Use this skill when analyzing drivers, IOCTL protocols, callback registration, injected-code artifacts, integrity checks, protected binaries, or debugging security-sensitive game components. Reverse Engineering Tools & Techniques Overview This skill covers reverse engineering workflows for game security research, including protected game clients, anti-cheat user-mode modules, kernel drivers, memory artifacts, and debugging environments that must survive anti-analysis checks. Treat performance, stealth, coverage, and compatibility claims as target/version-specific. Record the binary hash, tool version, configuration, environment, and observed evidence; use research-rigor for consequential conclusions. README Coverage Cheat > Debugging Cheat > RE Tools Cheat > Mixed boolean-arithmetic Cheat > Dynamic Binary Instrumentation Cheat > Fix VMP Cheat > Fix Themida Cheat > Fix OLLVM Cheat > Virtual Environments Cheat > Decompiler Cheat > IDA themes Cheat > IDA Plugins Cheat > IDA Signature Database Cheat > Binary Ninja Plugins Cheat > Ghidra Plugins Cheat > Radare Plugins Cheat > Windbg Plugins Cheat > X64DBG Plugins Cheat > Cheat Engine Plugins Cheat > ROP Finder Cheat > ROP Generation Anti Cheat > Anti Debugging Anti Cheat > Anti Disassembly Anti Cheat > Dump Fix Anti Cheat > Sample Unpacker Anti Cheat > Obfuscation Engine Anti Cheat > Winows User Dump Analysis Anti Cheat > Winows Kernel Dump Analysis Debugging Tools Windows Debuggers Cheat Engine : Memory scanner and debugger for games x64dbg : Open-source x86/x64 debugger WinDbg : Microsoft's kernel/user-mode debugger ReClass.NET : Memory structure reconstruction HyperDbg : Hypervisor-based debugger Specialized Debuggers CE Mono Helper : Unity/Mono game debugging dnSpy : .NET assembly debugger/decompiler ILSpy : .NET decompiler frida : Dynamic instrumentation toolkit Platform-Specific edb-debugger : Linux debugger PINCE : Linux game hacking tool H5GG : iOS cheat engine Hardware Breakpoint Tools : HWBP implementations Disassembly & Decompilation Multi-Platform IDA Pro : Industry standard disassembler Ghidra : NSA's reverse engineering framework Binary Ninja : Modern RE platform Cutter : Radare2 GUI Specialized Tools IL2CPP Dumper : Unity IL2CPP analysis dnSpy : .NET/Unity decompilation jadx : Android DEX decompiler Recaf : Java bytecode editor Memory Analysis Memory Scanners - Cheat Engine: Pattern scanning, value searching - ReClass.NET: Structure reconstruction - Process Hacker: System analysis Dump Tools - KsDumper: Kernel-space process dumping - PE-bear: PE file analysis - ImHex: Hex editor for RE Dynamic Binary Instrumentation (DBI) Frameworks Frida : Cross-platform DBI DynamoRIO : Runtime code manipulation Pin : Intel's DBI framework TinyInst : Lightweight instrumentation QBDI : QuarkslaB DBI Use Cases API hooking and tracing Code coverage analysis Fuzzing harness creation Behavioral analysis Driver IOCTL and callback tracing Exception-Driven Lightweight DBI (Trap-and-Emulate) Concept: - Replace branch instructions with fault-generating sentinel opcodes - Catch the resulting exception → emulate the original branch → log → resume - Full cycle: patch → fault → capture → emulate → record → restore → continue Sentinel Selection: - HLT (0xF4) for ret → triggers STATUS_PRIVILEGED_INSTRUCTION - SALC (0xD6) for jmp/jcc/call → triggers STATUS_ILLEGAL_INSTRUCTION - Avoids INT3 (0xCC) which anti-debug/integrity checks commonly scan for - Different sentinels can multiplex branch types Exception Capture: - Hooking KiUserExceptionDispatcher can avoid some higher-level VEH/SEH dispatch overhead, but latency, stability, and detectability must be measured on the target Windows build - Assembly stub tail-calls into RtlDispatchException - Handler dispatches by exception code to custom emulation logic Branch Emulation Engine: - Disassemble original (pre-patch) instruction at fault RIP - jcc: 16-condition lookup table (ZF, SF, CF, OF, PF combinations) - Direct call: push return address, update RIP - Indirect branch: resolve effective address (register, memory, SIB, RIP-relative) - ret: pop return address from stack, handle ret imm16 (extra pop) - loop/jrcxz: decrement RCX, conditional branch Instrumentation Strategies: - Bounded Bulk Patching: scan a window from seed address, patch all branches → Simple but detectable by integrity checks - Branch Chasing: patch only current branch, re-instrument at target on fault → Smaller patch footprint, with coverage, race, and detectability tradeoffs - CFG-Guided Patching: recursive-descent static CFG + chasing for unreached edges → Best coverage/safety balance Integrity Check Evasion: - PAGE_GUARD + Trap Flag (single-step) instead of direct code patching - Trigger guard page exception → set TF → single-step through original instruction - Avoids directly modifying `.text`, but guard state, exception rate, debug state, and timing can still be detected Control Flow Tracing (CFT) Applications - Runtime call graph generation with register context at each edge - Divergence testing: compare traces across different inputs/environments → Quickly locates input validation, anti-debug, anti-tamper trigger points - Deobfuscation: resolve indirect branches observed under covered executions; completeness requires additional path exploration or proof - Hot path analysis, branch coverage measurement - Exception-per-branch designs can be orders of magnitude slower; benchmark the exact target and account for timing checks and session timeouts - Portable to other architectures: ARM (UDF), RISC-V (illegal instruction) User-Mode Hypervisor-Assisted Tracing Concept: - Use Windows Hypervisor Platform (WHP) API to run guest code in user mode - No kernel driver required — standard user-mode process hosts the hypervisor - Map host memory pages into guest address space - Configure page-level traps (read/write/execute permissions per page) - Guest execution triggers VM exits on configured events Trap-Driven Execution: - Page fault traps: set per-page R/W/X permissions via EPT-equivalent API → Execute fault = code coverage, Write fault = memory write monitoring → Read fault = data access tracking - CPUID interception: guest executes CPUID → VM exit → host decides response → Useful for fingerprinting guest environment queries - Syscall interception: guest executes syscall → VM exit → host emulates → Controlled experiments without real kernel interaction Workflow: 1. Prepare initial CPU state (registers, segments, control registers) 2. Map target code + data pages with desired permissions 3. Enter guest execution loop 4. On VM exit: inspect reason, handle trap, optionally modify state 5. Resume or terminate guest Advantages: - Pure user-mode: no driver signing, no PatchGuard concerns - Controlled: host controls modeled guest memory and CPU state; external timing, concurrency, devices, and unmodeled OS behavior can introduce nondeterminism - Composable: combine with disassemblers/emulators for hybrid analysis - Debuggable: host process can be debugged normally Limitations: - Requires hardware virtualization support (VT-x/AMD-V) - Windows-specific (WHP API is Windows 10+) - The lightweight workflow described here is suited to snippets/functions; booting a full OS is possible only with substantially more platform and device modeling - Nested virtualization considerations when host is already a VM Anti-Analysis Bypass Techniques Anti-debug detection bypass VM/Sandbox evasion Timing attack mitigation PatchGuard circumvention Tools TitanHide : Anti-debug hiding HyperHide : Hypervisor-based hiding ScyllaHide : Anti-anti-debug plugin Game-Specific Analysis Unity Games Locate GameAssembly.dll (IL2CPP) or managed DLLs Use IL2CPP Dumper for structure recovery Apply dnSpy for Mono games Hook via Unity-specific frameworks Unreal Engine Games Identify UE version from signatures Use SDK generators (Dumper-7) Analyze Blueprint bytecode Hook UObject/UFunction systems Native Games Standard PE analysis Import/export reconstruction Pattern scanning for signatures Runtime memory analysis Workflow Best Practices Initial Analysis 1. Identify protections (packer, obfuscator, anti-cheat) 2. Determine game engine and version 3. Collect symbol information if available 4. Map out key modules, callbacks, and trust boundaries Deep Analysis 1. Locate target functionality 2. Trace execution flow 3. Document structures, memory artifacts, and relationships 4. Correlate IOCTLs, callbacks, and runtime checks Obfuscation Taxonomy Mixed Boolean-Arithmetic (MBA) - Linear MBA: e.g., x + y = (x ^ y) + 2*(x & y) - Polynomial MBA: higher-degree expressions over boolean/arithmetic mix - Tools: SSPAM, MBA-Blast, SiMBA for simplification - Common in: VMProtect, Themida, custom LLVM passes Control Flow Flattening (CFF) - OLLVM-style: many protected basic blocks routed through a dispatcher loop - Recovery: symbolic execution, pattern matching, deobfuscation passes - Tools: D-810 (IDA), de-ollvm scripts, SATURN - Variants: nested dispatchers, encrypted state variables Opaque Predicates - Invariant conditions injected to confuse static analysis - Number-theoretic (x² mod 4 ∈ {0,1}), pointer-aliasing based - Detection: abstract interpretation, SMT solvers (Z3) Virtualization-Based Obfuscation VMProtect / Themida / Code Virtualizer: - Custom bytecode VM with randomized opcode set per build - Handler table dispatch loop: fetch → decode → execute - Devirtualization approaches: - Trace-based: record handler execution, lift to IR - Pattern-based: identify handler semantics by structure - Symbolic: concolic execution through VM dispatch - Tools: VMPAttack, NoVmp, Oreans UnVirtualizer, vtil Binary Lifting - Lift machine code to compiler IR (LLVM IR, VEX, ESIL) - Enables compiler-level optimization passes for deobfuscation - Tools: McSema, remill, RetDec, Binary Ninja MLIL/HLIL Disassembler Plugin Ecosystem IDA Pro Plugins Categories found in README (> IDA Plugins, 150+ entries): - Decompiler enhancers: HexRaysPyTools, HRDevHelper - Type recovery: ClassInformer, auto_struct - Signature: FLIRT, Lumina, IDA Signature Database - Scripting: IDAPython, IDC, LazyIDA - Visualization: IDAGraph, Lighthouse (coverage) - Anti-obfuscation: D-810 (MBA), de-ollvm, Patfinder - Game-specific: SDK loaders, structure importers Binary Ninja Plugins - Sidekick, snippets, type libraries - HLIL-based analysis scripts - Custom architectures and loaders - Headless analysis for batch processing Ghidra Plugins - GhidraScript (Java/Python), Ghidra extensions - Ghidraaas (Ghidra-as-a-Service) - Type importers, signature matchers - Firmware analysis (SVD loader, embedded) Radare2 / iaito Plugins - r2pipe scripting (Python, JS, Rust) - iaito: official radare2 Qt GUI - r2ghidra: Ghidra decompiler integration - r2dec: lightweight decompiler WinDbg Plugins - SwishDbgExt, WinDbgX - Time Travel Debugging (TTD) extensions - !analyze extensions, custom formatters - Kernel debugging helpers x64dbg Plugins - ScyllaHide (anti-anti-debug) - TitanEngine, x64dbgpy - Trace plugins, pattern scanners - Conditional breakpoint scripts Cheat Engine Plugins - Mono/IL2CPP helpers - Auto-assembler templates - Structure dissectors - Pointer scanner extensions MCP-Based RE Tools The README's MCP server section and RE tool ecosystem now include AI-assisted reverse engineering through Model Context Protocol: - IDA MCP: AI agent controls IDA Pro (rename, annotate, navigate) - Ghidra MCP: AI agent queries Ghidra decompilation and PCODE - Binary Ninja MCP: AI agent interacts with Binary Ninja API - radare2 MCP: AI agent drives r2 sessions via r2pipe - x64dbg MCP: AI agent controls live debugging sessions Workflow: LLM ↔ MCP server ↔ RE tool, enabling natural-language queries like "find all functions calling CreateRemoteThread" or "rename this function based on its decompiled logic" Binary Diffing Tools for comparing binary versions (patch analysis, vulnerability research): - BinDiff (Google): graph-based structural comparison - Diaphora: IDA plugin, best open-source binary diff - ghidriff: Ghidra-based diffing, command-line and scriptable - DarunGrim: patch analysis focused differ - turbodiff: lightweight IDA diffing plugin Use cases in game security: - Tracking anti-cheat driver updates between versions - Identifying patched vulnerabilities in game clients - Comparing obfuscated builds to isolate logic changes Anti-Debug Techniques Catalog User-Mode Anti-Debug - IsDebuggerPresent / CheckRemoteDebuggerPresent - NtQueryInformationProcess (ProcessDebugPort, ProcessDebugFlags, ProcessDebugObjectHandle) - NtSetInformationThread (ThreadHideFromDebugger) - PEB.BeingDebugged, PEB.NtGlobalFlag, heap flags - INT 2D, INT 3 scanning, OutputDebugString tricks - Timing checks: rdtsc, QueryPerformanceCounter, GetTickCount64 - TLS callbacks for early detection - Exception-based: unhandled exception filter, VEH chain inspection - Parent process checks (csrss.exe verification) - Self-debugging: NtCreateDebugObject Kernel-Mode Anti-Debug - KdDebuggerEnabled / KdDebuggerNotPresent - Debug register (DR0-DR7) monitoring and clearing - KPROCESS.DebugPort zeroing - NMI callbacks for debugger detection - Hardware breakpoint detection via context inspection Anti-Debug Bypass Tools - ScyllaHide: comprehensive anti-anti-debug (x64dbg/IDA/standalone) - TitanHide: kernel-mode debugger hiding - HyperHide: hypervisor-based anti-debug bypass - SharpOD: OllyDbg anti-anti-debug plugin VMProtect/Themida Analysis Resources Devirtualization tools Control flow recovery Handler analysis techniques Unpacking methodologies ROP/Exploit Development Tools ROPgadget : Gadget finder rp++ : Fast ROP gadget finder angrop : Automated ROP chain generation Data Source Important : This skill provides conceptual guidance and overview information. For detailed information use the following sources: 1. Project Overview & Resource Index Fetch the main README for the full curated list of repositories, tools, and descriptions: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gmh5225/awesome-game-security/refs/heads/main/README.md The main README contains thousands of curated links organized by category. When users ask for specific tools, projects, or implementations, retrieve and reference the appropriate sections from this source. 2. Repository Code Details (Archive) For detailed repository information (file structure, source code, implementation details), the project maintains a local archive. If a repository has been archived, always prefer fetching from the archive over cloning or browsing GitHub directly. Archive URL format: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gmh5225/awesome-game-security/refs/heads/main/archive/{owner}/{repo}.txt Examples: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gmh5225/awesome-game-security/refs/heads/main/archive/ufrisk/pcileech.txt https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gmh5225/awesome-game-security/refs/heads/main/archive/000-aki-000/GameDebugMenu.txt How to use: Identify the GitHub repository the user is asking about (owner and repo name from the URL). Construct the archive URL: replace {owner} with the GitHub username/org and {repo} with the repository name (no .git suffix). Fetch the archive file — it contains a full code snapshot with file trees and source code generated by code2prompt . If the fetch returns a 404, the repository has not been archived yet; fall back to the README or direct GitHub browsing. 3. Repository Descriptions For a concise English summary of what a repository does, the project maintains auto-generated description files. Description URL format: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gmh5225/awesome-game-security/refs/heads/main/description/{owner}/{repo}/description_en.txt Examples: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gmh5225/awesome-game-security/refs/heads/main/description/00christian00/UnityDecompiled/description_en.txt