Vector35 / Vector35/binaryninja-api

Loading BNDB without reanalyzing in headless missing strings

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Component: Core Component: Database Effort: Trivial Impact: Medium UI: Strings
Dominant language
C++
Stars
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

On latest dev loading a BNDB in headless without reanalyzing will cause there to be no strings, I cannot repro this using the UI and the suppress reanalysis setting.

Seems to be a regression of https://github.com/Vector35/binaryninja-api/issues/2942 however that ticket never mentions headless.

>>> view = binaryninja.load("/bin/cat")
>>> len(view.strings)
195
>>> view.create_database("/Users/emesare/Documents/cat.bndb")
True
>>> view2 = binaryninja.load("/Users/emesare/Documents/cat.bndb", update_analysis=False)
>>> len(view2.strings)
0
>>> view.file.existing_views
['Mach-O', 'Raw']
>>> view.file.view
'Hex:Raw'
>>> view2.file.existing_views
['Mach-O', 'Raw']
>>> view2.file.view
'Hex:Raw'
>>> mach_view = view2.get_view_of_type('Mach-O')
>>> len(mach_view.strings)
0
>>> raw_view = view2.get_view_of_type('Raw')
>>> raw_view
<BinaryView: '/Users/emesare/Documents/cat.bndb', len 0x1d0d0>
>>> raw_view.strings
[]
>>> mach_view.strings
[]

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Reproduce the issue with binaryninja.load, create_database, update_analysis=False, and get_view_of_type, then compare the strings results for the loaded BNDB and its Mach-O and Raw views. Trace the headless BNDB loading path and verify that strings are available without reanalysis, matching the original view and the UI behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp, python
Domain
reverse-engineering
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
42/100

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