binary-re:tool-setup

Tool Setup

Purpose

Ensure required reverse engineering tools are available and properly configured for cross-architecture analysis.

When to Use

• Before first analysis session
• When tool commands fail
• Setting up new analysis environment
• Updating to newer tool versions

Required Tools

Tool	Purpose	Priority
radare2	Static analysis, disassembly	Required
rabin2	Fast binary triage	Required (part of r2)
qemu-user	Cross-arch emulation	Required
gdb-multiarch	Cross-arch debugging	Required
Ghidra	Decompilation	Recommended
GEF	GDB enhancements	Recommended
Frida	Dynamic instrumentation	Optional
Unicorn	Snippet emulation	Optional
Angr	Symbolic execution	Optional

Installation by Platform

Ubuntu/Debian

# Core tools
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
  radare2 \
  qemu-user \
  qemu-user-static \
  gdb-multiarch \
  binutils-multiarch \
  jq                    # Required for JSON parsing in skill commands

# ARM sysroots (for QEMU)
sudo apt install -y \
  libc6-armhf-cross \
  libc6-arm64-cross \
  libc6-dev-armhf-cross \
  libc6-dev-arm64-cross

# Additional utilities
sudo apt install -y \
  file \
  binutils \
  elfutils \
  patchelf

Windows (WSL2)

Windows users should use WSL2 with Ubuntu for full compatibility:

# PowerShell (Administrator) - Install WSL2 with Ubuntu
wsl --install -d Ubuntu

# Restart computer when prompted, then open Ubuntu terminal

Inside WSL2 Ubuntu:

# Install all required tools
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y \
  radare2 \
  qemu-user \
  qemu-user-static \
  gdb-multiarch \
  binutils-multiarch \
  jq \
  file \
  patchelf

# Fix file permissions for Windows-mounted drives
sudo tee -a /etc/wsl.conf > /dev/null << 'EOF'
[automount]
options = "metadata,umask=22,fmask=11"
EOF

# Restart WSL to apply changes
# (In PowerShell: wsl --shutdown)

WSL2 Tips:

• Copy binaries into ~ rather than using /mnt/c/... paths (fewer permission issues)
• Use wsl --shutdown in PowerShell to restart WSL after config changes
• Docker Desktop integrates with WSL2 for container-based analysis

macOS (Homebrew)

# Core tools
brew install radare2 jq

# NOTE: Homebrew QEMU may lack qemu-user targets
# Verify: qemu-arm --version || echo "qemu-user missing"
# If missing, use Docker for cross-arch execution (see below)

# GDB requires special handling on macOS
brew install gdb
# Note: Code signing required for debugging

# ARM cross tools (optional, for static analysis only)
brew install arm-linux-gnueabihf-binutils

macOS Docker Setup for Dynamic Analysis

Since Homebrew doesn't provide qemu-user, use Docker for cross-architecture execution:

# Install Docker runtime (Colima is lightweight alternative to Docker Desktop)
brew install colima docker

# Start Colima
colima start

# Register multi-architecture emulation handlers
docker run --rm --privileged --platform linux/arm64 \
  tonistiigi/binfmt --install arm

# Verify ARM32 emulation works
docker run --rm --platform linux/arm/v7 arm32v7/debian:bullseye-slim uname -m
# Should output: armv7l

# Verify ARM64 emulation works
docker run --rm --platform linux/arm64 arm64v8/debian:bullseye-slim uname -m
# Should output: aarch64

# Verify x86-32 emulation works
docker run --rm --platform linux/i386 i386/debian:bullseye-slim uname -m
# Should output: i686

IMPORTANT: On Colima, always mount from ~/ not /tmp/:

# ✅ Works
docker run -v ~/samples:/work ...

# ❌ May fail silently
docker run -v /tmp/samples:/work ...

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S radare2 qemu-user gdb
yay -S arm-linux-gnueabihf-glibc  # From AUR

Tool-Specific Setup

radare2

# Verify installation
r2 -v
rabin2 -v

# Install r2ghidra plugin (decompilation)
r2pm init
r2pm update
r2pm -ci r2ghidra  # -ci = clean install

# Verify r2ghidra is working (CRITICAL CHECK)
r2 -qc 'pdg?' - 2>/dev/null | grep -q Usage && echo "r2ghidra OK" || echo "r2ghidra MISSING"

# Alternative verification
r2 -c 'Ld' /bin/ls | grep -i ghidra

Common r2ghidra issues:

Symptom	Cause	Fix
pdg unknown command	Plugin not loaded	r2pm -ci r2ghidra
Plugin loads but crashes	Version mismatch	Update both r2 and plugin
Decompilation hangs	Large function	Use pdf instead, or Ghidra headless

Configuration (~/.radare2rc):

# Disable colors for scripting
e scr.color=false

# Increase analysis limits
e anal.timeout=120
e anal.maxsize=67108864

# JSON output by default for scripts
e cfg.json.num=true

Ghidra (Headless)

# Download from https://ghidra-sre.org/
# Extract to /opt/ghidra

# Verify headless script
/opt/ghidra/support/analyzeHeadless --help

# Add to PATH
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/ghidra/support' >> ~/.bashrc

Memory configuration (for large binaries): Edit /opt/ghidra/support/analyzeHeadless:

MAXMEM=4G  # Increase from default

GEF (GDB Enhanced Features)

# Install GEF
bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://gef.blah.cat/sh)"

# Verify
gdb -q -ex "gef help" -ex "quit"

# For ARM Cortex-M support, also install gef-extras
git clone https://github.com/hugsy/gef-extras.git ~/.gef-extras
echo 'source ~/.gef-extras/scripts/checksec.py' >> ~/.gdbinit

Frida

# Install Frida tools
pip install frida-tools

# Verify
frida --version

# Install frida-server for device debugging (optional)
# Download from https://github.com/frida/frida/releases

Unicorn (Python bindings)

pip install unicorn

# Verify
python -c "from unicorn import *; print('OK')"

Angr

# Create virtual environment (recommended)
python -m venv ~/angr-venv
source ~/angr-venv/bin/activate

# Install angr
pip install angr

# Verify
python -c "import angr; print('OK')"

YARA

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install yara

# Or from source for latest
git clone https://github.com/VirusTotal/yara.git
cd yara
./bootstrap.sh
./configure
make && sudo make install

# Python bindings
pip install yara-python

Sysroot Setup

Standard Debian/Ubuntu Sysroots

Already installed via libc6-*-cross packages:

# Verify paths
ls /usr/arm-linux-gnueabihf/lib/
ls /usr/aarch64-linux-gnu/lib/

Custom Sysroot from Device

# Pull from device via SSH
mkdir -p ~/sysroots/device
ssh user@device "tar czf - /lib /usr/lib" | tar xzf - -C ~/sysroots/device

# Or minimal extraction
ssh user@device "tar czf - /lib/ld-* /lib/libc.* /lib/libpthread.* /lib/libdl.*" \
  | tar xzf - -C ~/sysroots/device

Musl Sysroot

# From Alpine Linux
docker run -it --rm -v ~/sysroots:/out alpine:latest sh -c \
  "apk add musl musl-dev && cp -a /lib /usr /out/alpine-musl"

Verification Script

Run this to verify all tools are working:

#!/bin/bash
set -e

echo "=== Binary RE Tool Verification ==="

# radare2
echo -n "radare2: "
r2 -v | head -1

# rabin2
echo -n "rabin2: "
rabin2 -v | head -1

# QEMU
echo -n "qemu-arm: "
qemu-arm --version | head -1

echo -n "qemu-aarch64: "
qemu-aarch64 --version | head -1

# GDB
echo -n "gdb-multiarch: "
gdb-multiarch --version | head -1

# Ghidra (optional)
if command -v analyzeHeadless &> /dev/null; then
  echo -n "Ghidra: "
  analyzeHeadless 2>&1 | head -1 || echo "available"
else
  echo "Ghidra: not installed (optional)"
fi

# Frida (optional)
if command -v frida &> /dev/null; then
  echo -n "Frida: "
  frida --version
else
  echo "Frida: not installed (optional)"
fi

# Sysroots
echo ""
echo "=== Sysroots ==="
[ -d /usr/arm-linux-gnueabihf ] && echo "ARM hard-float: OK" || echo "ARM hard-float: MISSING"
[ -d /usr/aarch64-linux-gnu ] && echo "ARM64: OK" || echo "ARM64: MISSING"

echo ""
echo "=== Verification Complete ==="

Troubleshooting

Common Issues Quick Reference

Symptom	Cause	Fix
exec format error in Docker	binfmt not registered	docker run --privileged tonistiigi/binfmt --install arm
ld-linux.so.3 not found	Linker path mismatch	ln -sf /lib/ld-linux-armhf.so.3 /lib/ld-linux.so.3
libXXX.so not found	Missing dependency	apt install in container (check rabin2 -l)
r2 pdg unknown command	r2ghidra not installed	r2pm -ci r2ghidra
Empty xrefs from axtj	Shallow analysis	Use aa; aac or manual af @addr
Empty Docker mount	Colima /tmp issue	Use ~/path instead of /tmp/path
strace fails in container	ptrace not implemented	Use LD_DEBUG=files,libs

r2 "Cannot open file"

# Check permissions
ls -la binary

# Try with explicit format
r2 -b 32 binary

QEMU "Invalid ELF image"

# Verify architecture matches
file binary

# Check QEMU variant
qemu-arm --help | grep -i "target"

Docker "exec format error"

# Register binfmt handlers (one-time setup)
docker run --rm --privileged --platform linux/arm64 \
  tonistiigi/binfmt --install arm

# Verify registration
cat /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc/qemu-arm

GDB "Cannot execute binary"

# Use QEMU as gdbserver
qemu-arm -g 1234 ./binary &
gdb-multiarch -ex "target remote :1234" ./binary

Ghidra "Out of memory"

# Increase heap in analyzeHeadless script
# Or pass explicitly:
analyzeHeadless ... -max-cpu 4 -analysisTimeoutPerFile 600

Missing ARM libraries in QEMU

# Set LD_LIBRARY_PATH in QEMU environment
qemu-arm -E LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/lib:/usr/lib -L /sysroot ./binary

# Or use patchelf to modify binary's rpath
patchelf --set-rpath /lib:/usr/lib ./binary

Docker container can't find libraries

# Inside container, install common dependencies
apt-get update && apt-get install -y libcap2 libacl1

# Check what the binary needs
# (Run rabin2 -l on host before entering container)

Version Recommendations

Tool	Minimum	Recommended
radare2	5.8.0	Latest
QEMU	7.0	8.0+
GDB	12.0	14.0+
Ghidra	10.3	11.0+
Frida	16.0	Latest

Environment Variables

Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc:

# Ghidra
export GHIDRA_HOME=/opt/ghidra
export PATH=$PATH:$GHIDRA_HOME/support

# Default sysroot for QEMU
export QEMU_LD_PREFIX=/usr/arm-linux-gnueabihf

# Angr virtual environment
alias angr-activate='source ~/angr-venv/bin/activate'