Qiling Framework - Advanced Binary Emulation Framework

https://www.qiling.io

by Fnoord • 6 years ago

58 12 6 years ago

saagarjha3• 6 years ago

Sounds like a nice project, but the descriptions are a bit strange. First, it talks a bit about securing IoT, but then it goes on to say it supports emulating Windows, macOS, Linux, and FreeBSD? Second, on the comparisons page it lists a number of projects but seems to miss some of the most obvious competitors and instead compares itself to things that are related to binary emulation but not really relevant? For example, angr (disclaimer: I have worked with multiple people that contribute to and use the project heavily) does binary emulation as well (using Unicorn, no less; Nguyen Anh Quynh knows this because he gets contributions to the project, especially for the Python bindings, to keep angr working), has a number of loader backends, and has a bunch of fancy hooking and tracing features very similar to the ones mentioned here (among other things), all available through a Python API just like Qiling.

nickysielicki2• 6 years ago

How does this compare to angr?

zznop2• 6 years ago

Angr is a static analysis and symbolic execution framework. It contains many components. It's built around Valgrind's VEX IR and provides an API that allows for lifting binaries from various architectures to a common IL. Angr also provides libraries to aid in CFG recovery, concolic testing, and other program analysis techniques. Angr does not do software emulation and is used mostly for static analysis.

Qiling is almost entirely dynamic. Qiling provides an API that allows you to instrument and emulate binaries. It's an extra layer on top of Unicorn (a library that can emulate CPU instructions using QEMU). Qiling contains ELF/PE/etc loaders and kernel syscall emulation. Think of it as qemu-user but with a Python API allowing you to install hooks, set breakpoints, read/write to memory, etc...

nickysielicki2• 6 years ago

I've had no trouble using angr on real binaries, including self-modifying binaries.

[Qiling] is an extra layer on top of Unicorn (a library that can emulate CPU instructions using QEMU).

This is what is mostly confusing me -- angr has support for unicorn, so how is it different from angr's support of Unicorn?

troughway2• 6 years ago

I would like to see a tool that combines "version control" and executable tracing, where you can take a snapshot of stack/heap and registers and allows you to move through each snapshot and see what changed, essentially allowing you to replay the execution instruction by instruction (with "proper" I/O result code/data simulation).

I know George Hotz was working on something like this before he got into the Comma AI thing and it really caught my eye, but I don't think there is anything out there that is "production ready" like say, IDA Pro or Ghidra or whatever.

Anyone know if such a tool exists? I imagine it would make mapping out vtables and such trivial.

saagarjha3• 6 years ago

Perhaps you're thinking of QIRA (https://qira.me)?

troughway2• 6 years ago

Yes - is there one for Windows by any chance?

Edit: This is the tool by George Hotz that I was referring to. I doubt it's really production ready given he likes to start and stop projects.

cxr• 6 years ago

https://rr-project.org

Qiling Framework - Advanced Binary Emulation Framework

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