https://abe.seclab-bonn.de/2026/posts/ Recent content in Blog Posts on Applied Binary Exploitation Hugo -- gohugo.io en-US Copyright (c) 2018-2026 Fraunhofer FKIE, all rights reserved. Mon, 26 Jan 2026 11:20:27 +0100 https://abe.seclab-bonn.de/2026/posts/community_resources/ Mon, 20 Apr 2026 11:52:17 +0200 https://abe.seclab-bonn.de/2026/posts/community_resources/ Community Resources Dear Students, To help you get more familiar with the topics we will cover in the lecture, we have compiled a list of useful resources. These resources include tutorials and guides on various tools and techniques that will be beneficial for your understanding and practice. Ghidra Ghidra is a software reverse engineering (SRE) suite of tools developed by NSA’s Research Directorate. It helps analyze compiled code on a variety of platforms including Windows, macOS, and Linux. https://abe.seclab-bonn.de/2026/posts/exploitation-flowcharts/ Mon, 30 Mar 2026 11:50:36 +0200 https://abe.seclab-bonn.de/2026/posts/exploitation-flowcharts/ Consult these flowcharts when you are planning your exploitation strategy: Stack Overflow Heap Vulnerabilities Format String Techniques Reference Click on a flowchart to open the svg image directly. Please note that the graphs cannot be exhaustive. However, if you think there is something missing that is helpful for your understanding of the lecture and/or exercises, do not hesitate to suggest your change via abe@seclab-bonn.de. Thanks! :) Stack Overflow https://abe.seclab-bonn.de/2026/posts/exercises-grading-guidelines/ Mon, 09 Mar 2026 14:00:11 +0100 https://abe.seclab-bonn.de/2026/posts/exercises-grading-guidelines/ This document contains the information and requirements you need to know in order to work on our exercise sheets. Structure of the Exercises There are 6 exercise sheets (0…5) in total. Sheet 0 is highly recommended (while technically optional) as we will guide you through the necessary infrastructure to solve the tasks and refresh some knowledge required for this lecture. Also, it will contain some bonus points. Grouping Each sheet will contain some group tasks and one individual task. https://abe.seclab-bonn.de/2026/posts/checksec/ Mon, 26 Jan 2026 11:20:27 +0100 https://abe.seclab-bonn.de/2026/posts/checksec/ checksec / security features of compiled binaries We recently (November 2021) had a look at the default security features that can be enabled when compiling a binary. More concrete we just ran 1 $ gcc test.c -o test without any additional parameters and then used pwntool’s checksec to check the presence of RELRO, Stack Canaries, NX and PIE support. Those were the results across some popular Linux distributions and versions: https://abe.seclab-bonn.de/2026/posts/gdb_macs/ Mon, 26 Jan 2026 11:20:27 +0100 https://abe.seclab-bonn.de/2026/posts/gdb_macs/ When running GDB inside an Intel-based Docker container on Apple Silicon Macs, you may encounter the following error: 1 2 3 4 warning: linux_ptrace_test_ret_to_nx: Cannot PTRACE_GETREGS: Input/output error warning: linux_ptrace_test_ret_to_nx: PC 0x1 is neither near return address 0x7ffffffc7000 nor is the return instruction 0x5555558faf61! Couldn't get CS register: Input/output error. Exception occurred: Error: Couldn't get registers: Input/output error. (<class 'gdb.error'>) This issue arises because GDB relies on ptrace system calls to inspect and control the execution of programs. https://abe.seclab-bonn.de/2026/posts/type_casting/ Mon, 26 Jan 2026 11:20:27 +0100 https://abe.seclab-bonn.de/2026/posts/type_casting/ Type Casting There was an interesting question in the Vulnerability Research lecture regarding the type casting example. More specific the question was about the casting and the output after the casting from foo_t to bar_t (see code below). We’d like to shed some light on this. snippet of the relevant code 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 foo_t f; f.bank_account = 1337; f.balance = 1. https://abe.seclab-bonn.de/2026/posts/wsl_permissions/ Mon, 26 Jan 2026 11:20:27 +0100 https://abe.seclab-bonn.de/2026/posts/wsl_permissions/ As Martin said on the mailing list, if you experience problems with WSL and missing permissions in the Git Repo, try to add the following to your /etc/wsl.conf file: 1 2 [automount] options = "metadata" See also: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46610256/chmod-wsl-bash-doesnt-work/50856772#50856772