#01: string search
by +Malattia
(4 October 1998)
Not assigned
Courtesy of fravia's pages of reverse engineering
[mirc32.exe][opera.exe]
When we say "string" we mean a sequence of alphanumeric values (that is
printable characters like numbers, uppercase and lowercase letters and chars
such as "è", "&" or ";") terminated by a "zero" byte. Of course, all the
messages we can see in a program window are strings, but also the window's
name, the name of the compiler used to build the executable file, the errors
you can cause and the names of the files opened are all strings. In some
programs you won't be able to read everything in clear (for instance, Visual
Basic executables, or some kind of encrypted files such as Calypso's
mailboxes. If you want, you can give a look at my tute on Calypso reverse
engineering if you want to find more info).
Of course, not all the information you can obtain from a file are useful:
sometimes you will happen to find nonsense strings like "D4ZIOq};eV[" or
"f43g7b" other times you will find words with some sense but that don't seem
interesting at all. So, it's important to learn HOW to search for strings
inside a file, depending on what kind of information you're looking for.
The first thing to do is think what exactly you want to do: if you are
searching for a particular string you can just use the search function of an
hexeditor or a fileviewer; if, on the other side, you want to look around
inside a file and see if you can learn something useful, you can use either a
fileviewer (more useful than a hexed in this case) or a "string ripper", a
program which automatically recognizes sequences of characters which can be
considered a string and prints them with their offset. Here is a short
description of the main tools you can use to make a string search:
--the tools-(begins)----------------------------------------------------------
************
HEX EDITORS:
************
You can select the one you like most (they are really a lot!). If you're not
satisfied by the ones you find on the Internet, of course, you can write a
custom one. I use "ready made" ones, such as Hiew (hiewXXX.zip, where XXX is
the version number, ie. hiew524.zip, ~66k), Fileview (fileview.zip, ~104kb),
or Cygnus (cygnu102.zip, ~324k, REALLY FAST!!!).
***********
FILEVIEWERS
***********
Just one name: LIST by V. Buerg. This is ABSOLUTELY the best txt/bin file
viewer ever made in my opinion. I've got version 9.0h (list90h.zip, ~99k) and
it's amazingly powerful: it can handle huge files (up to 16mb if I remember
well) so you can even use it on a disassembled listing; it has a very fast
search function (no comparison with slow windoze programs, of course!) and it
just needs a dos box to run. You can use it to see both txt and binary files
and it has a lot of options.
**************
STRING RIPPERS
**************
Come on, it's not hard, you can do it yourselves!
Anyway, if you want to find one, you can download strings.exe (or .zip, I
don't remember exactly) from +Fravia's site (hope the file is still online),
or BinTxtScan.zip (there is a version with the source files too), a good
string ripper which runs under w95 and lets you do searching and selection of
particular strings inside the list of the ones it found. Of course, you can
do any search you want by saving the strings you found on a file and then
opening it with list :)
**************
ONE LAST THING
**************
Don't ask me the addresses of these files. Search them on the net and, if you
don't find them, learn how to search them on +Fravia's site.
--the tools---(ends)----------------------------------------------------------
Ok, now that you have your tools let's learn how to use them. To do this we
will study some examples, some of them are more cracking related while others
are "pure reverse engineering" ones.
**********STRING SEARCH TO CRACK A PROGRAM**********
[mirc32.exe]
Unfortunately, all these months spent cracking programs taught me just one
thing: most of the programmers are lazy and, sometimes, quite stupid. This is
a bad new, of course, because I'm a programmer too :)
But, after all, this is also a good new because, statistically, we can say
that about 90% of the programs around there has really easy (such as name &
serial or "cinderella") protections. This means that you just have to find
the "right place", patch one or two byes and voila', the work is done. In
this case string search can be quite useful, because the individuation of
that right piece of code becomes nuts. How can you do it, operatively? Well,
there are several ways: here are some.
FIRST STEP:
Run the program, try to insert a dummy name/regnum and write down the message
that appears: this is the string you have to search. Otherwise, if you have a
cinderella protection, put your clock forward some years, run the program and
write down the message that appears.
SECOND STEP:
Disassemble the file with Wdasm, use its "String Data References" command to
see the list of all the strings in the program and find the right one. An
alternative is to search directly the string inside the dead listing using
wdasm find command.
or
Disassemble the file with Wdasm, save it and do a string search with LIST.
It's the method I usually use and it's really fast.
or
Disassemble the file with any other program you like (even one which doesn't
write the references in the text). Then search the string in the file you
want to crack with a program which tells you the offsets of the found string
(ie. a string ripper or LIST in hex mode). Finally, do some operations on the
offset value you found (we'll see them later) and search that value.
THIRD STEP:
Since the message you wrote down is originated by an error, trace back the
code to see if there's a jump that lets you avoid it: if you find it try to
follow the "other way": most of the times you will find messages such as
"Thank you for your registration" or similar ones. That's ok: you have
confirm that you have found the right jump. Otherwise, well, go and give a
look at the code around there, I'm sure you'll find the right place :)
EXAMPLE:
The same, old, pluricracked (and keygenerated :)) mIRC... the version I'm
going to disassemble is v5.4 32 bit.
If you try and insert a random serial (and it's wrong... otherwise you're
really lucky!) the message that appears is "Sorry, your registration name and
number don't match!". Now you can search that in the different ways explained
before: if you search it directly you'll end at address 43d33c. If,
otherwise, you search for it in the executable, you'll find it at offset
B1602. How can you use this? Since this is just an offset from the beginning
of the file, you have to add it to another value, which is a new "starting
point" from which the offset is calculated. If you disassemble mirc32.exe you
can read these information before the beginning of the dead listing code:
Disassembly of File: mirc32.exe
Code Offset = 00000800, Code Size = 000ABC00
Data Offset = 000AC400, Data Size = 00011600
Number of Objects = 0007 (dec), Imagebase = 00400000h
Object01: CODE RVA: 00010000 Offset: 00000800 Size: 000ABC00 Flags: ...
Object02: DATA RVA: 000C0000 Offset: 000AC400 Size: 00011600 Flags: ...
Object03: .idata RVA: 000F0000 Offset: 000BDA00 Size: 00001A00 Flags: ...
Object04: .edata RVA: 00100000 Offset: 000BF400 Size: 00000200 Flags: ...
Object05: .reloc RVA: 00110000 Offset: 000BF600 Size: 00010800 Flags: ...
Object06: .rsrc RVA: 00130000 Offset: 000CFE00 Size: 00017000 Flags: ...
Object07: .debug RVA: 00150000 Offset: 000E6E00 Size: 000158A5 Flags: ...
The values we're interested in are the ones related to the DATA object. In
fact, as you can see, it starts at offset AC400 and has a 11600h bytes size,
which includes our B1602 offset.
That "RVA" value is very important, because it tells us at which point of the
source the data object starts: since the value is C0000, we know that the
beginning address of the data object is at 004C0000 (value 00400000 is taken
from "Imagebase" value).
Now, since we know that DATA offset in the file is AC400, we just have to
calculate the difference between the offset of our string and the offset of
DATA (that is, B1602-AC400=5202), and then add it to the DATA beginning
address (that is, 004C0000+00005202=004C5202). The value we've found is the
one we have to search in the dead listing and, in fact:
* Possible StringData Ref from Data Obj ->"mIRC Registration!"
|
:0043D337 6898524C00 push 004C5298
* Possible StringData Ref from Data Obj ->"Sorry, your registration name "
->"and number don't match!"
|
:0043D33C 6802524C00 push 004C5202
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
:0043D341 8B4508 mov eax, dword ptr [ebp+08]
:0043D344 50 push eax
* Reference To: USER32.MessageBoxA, Ord:0000h
|
:0043D345 E819E70700 Call 004BBA63
So, remember, the formula you have to use to calculate the right address is:
Imagebase+
RVA+
Offset_of_the_string-
Offset_of_the_object=
---------------------
Address of the string
Of course, you have to check that you're calculating it on the right object:
this is done by checking its offset and dimension in the file.
Maybe this kind of approach could seem to you just tricky and with no
advantages, but there are cases in which it is quite useful. For instance,
suppose you have the same string repeated more times inside the file, but you
want to find the references to just ONE of those strings. In this case you
can use the "offset technique" to be sure that the string that is referred in
the code is the one you're interested in. Also, you will be able to find the
places in which your string is used, even if your disassembler doesn't show
the string references like Wdasm and IDA do.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A LITTLE TIP
In some programs, you'll find strings in a different format: instead of being
saved in the "standard" mode, the characters are alternated with zeroes
(ASCII zeroes, of course). So, if you have the string representing number
666, instead of the hex sequence
36 36 36
you'll have the sequence
36 00 36 00 36 00
If you're searching for some particular strings in a binary file you will
have some problems if they are zero-alternated, but there's a way to make it
easy: with LIST, call the "find" command with backslash and write, for
instance,
6?6?6 (yes, when in hex mode you can search both the hex and the ascii)
That's incredible... it works! :)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
**********FIND "SECRETS" USING STRING SEARCH**********
[netscape.exe][opera.exe][winamp.exe]
Since all the operations that the program lets you do must be written
somewhere in the executable file (or in some dlls or linked files), string
search can be used to find lots of secrets and undocumented functions inside
programs. For instance, since we know that the guys from Netscape use to put
some "secret" information in their program, let's see what we can find inside
it...
First of all, let's decide what kind of information we want to find: if we
know that (like in this case) we want to find all the "about:" commands we
can just make a search of that string, otherwise if we don't know what to
search yet we can just rip all the strings in the exe file and then browse
the output. However, note that this operation can be quite time expensive and
you are suggested to do this only if you have some spare time and don't
really know what to search (it can be compared to code tracing from the
beginning of a program to find the protection inside it! Hey kids, don't do
it at home!).
[NETSCAPE.EXE]
Ok, let's start from an "I know what to find" example: if we use LIST and
browse netscape.exe (my version is still 4.03, but it shouldn't be so
different from the other ones) to find all the "about:" commands we can use,
we find these occurences:
about:pics (just gives me an error)
about:blank (shows a blank page)
about:authors (shows a screen with "about:auhors removed")
about:license (shows the license)
about:memory-cache (shows the memory cache)
about:image-cache (shows a list of the cached images)
about:global (shows global history entries)
about:cache (shows disk cache statistics)
about:security (another error)
about:document (gives some info about the current document)
Woa! Did you know there were so many about: commands? But... I remember
there was that nice about:mozilla trick in the old versions, isn't it there
anymore? If you try it on your Netscape it works, so there must be another
file containing this kind of info... Ok, open a DOS prompt, run LIST and
search for "about:" string in the first dll you find in the directory: you
won't find anything, but LIST keeps in memory the string you searched so you
just have to press ESC one time to go back to the file manager view, then
select another dll and press F3 (find next), and so on...
In the file RESDLL.DLL you find these others "abouts":
about:plugins (shows the installed plugins)
about:fonts (shows installed font displayers)
Hey, still didn't find about:mozilla... but now I think that YOU can find
it easily! Note that, just after these two last "abouts", you can see (and
change) the various items that are shown when you open the menus in Netscape
(but it's the subject of another essay, go and check it on +Fravia's site).
[OPERA.EXE]
Well, I think you've understood how this technique works: if you want to do
some exercise, another good program which holds some nice secrets is Opera
web browser. This is a very good program and I wanted to see if it had any
nice secrets like netscape (I had some spare time), so I opened it and just
browsed the strings inside it... If you open Opera.exe with BinTextScan
you'll find some interesting strings like SHOW EXIT DIALOG (that lets you
hide the dialog window which asks if you want save the windows at the exit)
or SHOW SPLASH SCREEN (which lets you hide the splash screen that appears
when you run the program). While the first of the two commands is described
in detail in the help file, the second one is (AFAIK) still undocumented.
"Anyway", I thought, "it should work like the previous command"... I tried
and it really works the same way: to disable these two functions, just
follow the help file and add the lines
SHOW SPLASH SCREEN=0
SHOW EXIT DIALOG=0
to your c:\windows\opera.ini file in the [USER PREFS] section.
[WINAMP.EXE]
The last one (I've seen it just NOW and it deserves to be read!). Open
Winamp 2.0 executable file and just read the first lines... you'll see this
string:
"if (billg!=satan) exit(1); else ShowNiftyWinamp();"
... no comment. :))
**********SECURITY WITH STRING SEARCH**********
[FtpWolf][Back Orifice v1.20]
Maybe you haven't realized it yet, but every string in a program can be, in
some way, useful for you: for instance, you can see the files accessed by the
program, the api calls or the internet sites to which the program itself
connects. This last operation is particularly useful for some kind of
protections (for instance see Ftpwolf crack on my site, or give a look to
Audiograbber v1.31 - FULL version - GOOD protection) but also can help you
find any trojan in your system (suppose you have Back Orifice installed on
your computer... since you know how it is done, you can easily recognize it
by just looking at the hex dump!). Also, you can view if any program passes
information on the Net without letting you know it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SOME EXAMPLES
If you want to see if a program writes something in your registry, you can
search something like "software\" or, since registry strings are quite long,
just use a ripper and browse the string list for the longest ones.
If you want to find if a program connects to the internet, you can search
for standard strings like "www", "http://", "mailto:" and so on.
If you want to see if it contains some ready-made html you can search for
"HTML", "HEAD", "TITLE", "FORM" and so on. For instance, if you search
for "HTML" on Back Orifice v1.20 boserve.exe executable, you'll fall inside
the html code of the webserver (Yes! A trojan with a webserver inside it!)
and you will also be able to read this:
"BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA You WISH you could access below the root!"
... these guys from the Cult of the Dead Cow are funny too :)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
**********STALKING WITH STRING SEARCH**********
I hear you asking me "How can I stalk if I just search inside a file?". Well,
as I told you there are LOTS of infos inside binary files: and, between all
these information, you will happen to find some strings that are typical of
that program which can be put in relation with some other strings inside
other programs. For instance, programmers often use some strings during the
debugging of their programs, such as "Ok, you arrived here!" or just "ok" or
whatever passes in their heads. Some other times they use to refer to files
on their hard disks. Also, compilers use to name themselves inside the code,
and this is particularly useful if the compiler string is not common (not a
well known compiler, very old version and so on).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANOTHER TIP
Compiler name inside the code is also useful if you want to use a different
cracking approach according to the language used (for instance, I usually try
Wdasm first on VC++ programs, while I start with Smartcheck with WB ones). If
you want to save some time, write down somewhere these standard strings and
you'll be able to immediately recognize the compiler/language used by just
searching them. Otherwise, you can write a program to do it automatically or
search the Internet to find some application specialized in binary file
recognition (they exist, and some of them are really good!).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
All the pieces of information mentioned before can be used to stalk the
programmer and know, for instance, if two programs are written by him even if
he's trying to remain anonymous. If you want an example, just open the file
calypso.exe and search for ":\" (this is a VERY USEFUL search pattern!): you
will find strings like this
C:\CalyArch\Mdbase.cpp
which is a reference to a directory on the programmer's harddisk. Now, this
is a very particular name referring just to this program, but suppose that
that guy used some odd name for a parent dir where he stores ALL his programs
(such as \myprogs or \sources or whatever else): in this case you are able to
recognize him by just giving a look at the exe file!
Of course, there are other info that you can search, such as the resource
which contains program info, company name, version and description of the
program... but I don't think that they will be filled by a programmer who
doesn't want to be recognized. Anyway, since this doesn't cost so much time,
you can give a look at it too.
Well, reader, this is all. If you want to contribute with your suggestions to
the development of this tute, to send me another text file explaining your
favorite techniques, or just to tell me what you think about this tutorial,
please drop me a mail at malattia@freenet.hut.fi.
If you want to read my other tutorials and essays, search them on the
Internet or ask them directly to me (note: I'll send them to you IF and ONLY
IF you contribute with some NEW piece of information! Please, NO banal essays
and tutes!)
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