trailofbits / trailofbits/polyfile

Feature request: improved search w/ stream support

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enhancement
Dominant language
Python
Stars
390
Forks
31
Avg merge
7h 52m
Merged PRs (30d)
72

Description

Sometimes in the FAW, we'll find an error message that refers to specific bytes (such as a font or key name) within a set of files. It would be very handy to be able to reliably search for these byte sequences within files using the Polyfile report. While Polyfile has a search function, the current version fails to find many specific byte sequences within files. Presumably this is due to the fact that it doesn't recurse into streams, though there may be another cause.

Let me know if it would be helpful to attach a specific file / search string.

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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

Start by reproducing the Polyfile search failure with a representative file and byte sequence; the issue does not provide a specific file, search string, source file, or test. Compare the current search behavior with the expected ability to find byte sequences inside streams, and consider the work done when those searches reliably return matches.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
search
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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