> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://666isildur.gitbook.io/ethical-hacking/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://666isildur.gitbook.io/ethical-hacking/binary-exploitation-exploit-development/useful-tools-and-techniques-for-binary-exploitation.md).

# Useful tools and techniques for Binary Exploitation

### File command

The file command is useful to check what kind of file you have.

![](https://3889206050-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-M6DIEHtstePxj4NCmCC%2F-M6tPOOBb78h0fQS2aim%2F-M6un8VjcMEpmt8O9Yv9%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=2e8a614c-0c67-4dd3-b0b6-f3146e13b856)

### Hexdump

We can hexdump a file to get its actual values.

![](https://3889206050-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-M6DIEHtstePxj4NCmCC%2F-M6tPOOBb78h0fQS2aim%2F-M6uo4GzCg-XAyblVXgY%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=c1a95168-1c2f-4829-b85c-aed3fdb9e223)

By using hexdump we can also get some information about the binary like the outlined parts of the image above. 

### mas ASCII

We can use the man pages to get a fast ASCII table when we need to check some values.

![](https://3889206050-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-M6DIEHtstePxj4NCmCC%2F-M6tPOOBb78h0fQS2aim%2F-M6uoaf25tjXuNfi_WtI%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=44bd385b-2245-4ad9-b07f-a23f9c001c0f)

### Strings

Scan a file and print all printable character sequences with at least a certain length.

![](https://3889206050-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-M6DIEHtstePxj4NCmCC%2F-M6tPOOBb78h0fQS2aim%2F-M6upByQyeDUTWcVUH9Y%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=0ab7a92d-7399-4f7d-bc73-18dee0a7c8b9)

As shown above, the key for this license check binary could be found just using strings.

### Objdump

We can use objdump to read the disassembly, instead o gdb using `objdump -M intel -d <program>`.

![](https://3889206050-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-M6DIEHtstePxj4NCmCC%2F-M6tPOOBb78h0fQS2aim%2F-M6upzPEaDkFcjvItRys%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=dcfd71d0-14d2-4dfa-9e8d-dc767674965a)

### STRACE

Strace can be used to trace system calls and signals.

![](https://3889206050-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-M6DIEHtstePxj4NCmCC%2F-M6tPOOBb78h0fQS2aim%2F-M6utQ38jxCvyRUevtkM%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=fdf2942d-4020-496d-aecd-0dd13717334c)