The redress software is a tool for analyzing stripped Go binaries compiled with the Go compiler. It extracts data from the binary and uses it to reconstruct symbols and performs analysis. It essentially tries to “re-dress” a “stripped” binary. It can be downloaded from its GitHub page.
It has two operation modes. The first is a standalone mode where the binary is executed on its own. The second mode is used when the binary is executed from within radare2 via r2pipe. The binary is aware of its environment and behaves accordingly.
For the examples shown the malware pplauncher (f94ca9b1b01a7b06f19afaac3fbe0a43075c775a) will be used. A sample of the binary can be downloaded here. The malware was first reported by Malwarebytes.
Running it standalone
To run redress, just execute it on the command line. Below are some of the possible flags that can be given. It is possible to use multiple flags to extract different data. If no flags are given, no data is extracted. The idea is to print more information than what is asked by the user.
$ redress -h
Usage of redress:
-compiler
Print information
-filepath
Include file path for packages
-interface
Print interfaces
-method
Print type's methods
-pkg
List packages
-src
Print source tree
-std
Include standard library packages
-struct
Print structs
-type
Print all type information
-unknown
Include unknown packages
-vendor
Include vendor package
-version
Print redress version
Packages
The different Go packages used in the binary can be extracted with the -pkg flag. Redress tries to only print the packages that are part of the project and skips standard library and 3rd party library packages.
$ redress -pkg pplauncher
Packages:
main
Sometimes though, redress fails to classify a package. In this case, the unclassified packages can be printed by also provide the -unknown flag:
$ redress -pkg -unknown pplauncher
Packages:
main
Unknown Libraries:
To also include the standard library, use the -std flag. For 3rd party packages, use the flag -vendor.
$ redress -pkg -vendor -std pplauncher
Packages:
main
Vendors:
vendor/golang_org/x/net/route
vendor/golang_org/x/net/route.(*wireFormat).(vendor/golang_org/x/net/route
Standard Libraries:
bufio
bytes
compress/flate
compress/gzip
context
encoding/binary
errors
fmt
go
hash
hash/crc32
internal/cpu
internal/poll
internal/singleflight
internal/testlog
io
io/ioutil
math
math/rand
net
os
os/exec
os/signal
path/filepath
reflect
runtime
runtime/debug
sort
strconv
strings
sync
sync/atomic
syscall
time
unicode
unicode/utf8
The folder location for the package can also be included by using the -filepath flag.
$ redress -pkg -std -filepath pplauncher
Packages:
main | /Users/ronald/git/go-workspace/src/keybase.io/safetycrew/pplauncher
Standard Libraries:
bufio | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/bufio
bytes | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/runtime
compress/flate | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/compress/flate
compress/gzip | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/compress/gzip
context | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/context
encoding/binary | .
errors | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/errors
fmt | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/fmt
go | .
hash | .
hash/crc32 | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/hash/crc32
internal/cpu | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/internal/cpu
internal/poll | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/runtime
internal/singleflight | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/internal/singleflight
internal/testlog | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/internal/testlog
io | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/io
io/ioutil | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/io/ioutil
math | .
math/rand | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/math/rand
net | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/net
os | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/runtime
os/exec | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/os/exec
os/signal | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/runtime
path/filepath | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/path/filepath
reflect | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/runtime
runtime | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/runtime
runtime/debug | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/runtime
sort | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/sort
strconv | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/strconv
strings | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/runtime
sync | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/runtime
sync/atomic | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/sync/atomic
syscall | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/runtime
time | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/runtime
unicode | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/unicode
unicode/utf8 | /usr/local/Cellar/go/1.10/libexec/src/unicode/utf8
Compiler information
Information about the Go compiler used to build the binary can be shown by using the -compiler flag. It prints the release version and the time stamp when the release tag was created in the git tree.
$ redress -compiler pplauncher
Compiler version: go1.10 (2018-02-16T16:05:53Z)
Extracting types
Redress has multiple flags that can be used to extract different type data. Interfaces can be extracted with the -interface flag. By default, standard library interfaces are filtered out. These can be included by also providing the -std flag.
$ redress -interface pplauncher
type error interface {
Error() string
}
type interface {} interface{}
type route.Addr interface {
Family() int
}
type route.Message interface {
Sys() []route.Sys
}
type route.Sys interface {
SysType() int
}
type route.binaryByteOrder interface {
PutUint16([]uint8, uint16)
PutUint32([]uint8, uint32)
Uint16([]uint8) uint16
Uint32([]uint8) uint32
Uint64([]uint8) uint64
}
Structures can be extracted with the -struct flag (redress -struct pplauncher). Same as for interfaces, standard library structures are filtered out but can be included by also providing the -std flag.
type main.asset struct{
bytes []uint8
info os.FileInfo
}
type main.bindataFileInfo struct{
name string
size int64
mode uint32
modTime time.Time
}
type main.bintree struct{
Func func() (*main.asset, error)
Children map[string]*main.bintree
}
Methods for the structure can be shown with the command redress -struct -method pplauncher.
type main.asset struct{
bytes []uint8
info os.FileInfo
}
type main.bindataFileInfo struct{
name string
size int64
mode uint32
modTime time.Time
}
func (main.bindataFileInfo) IsDir() bool
func (main.bindataFileInfo) ModTime() time.Time
func (main.bindataFileInfo) Mode() uint32
func (main.bindataFileInfo) Name() string
func (main.bindataFileInfo) Size() int64
func (main.bindataFileInfo) Sys() interface {}
type main.bintree struct{
Func func() (*main.asset, error)
Children map[string]*main.bintree
}
It is also possible to print all types in the binary by using the -type flag. The -method flag can also be used to include defined methods.
Estimating source code layout
One feature of redress is to reconstruct the source code tree layout. This can be done by using the -src flag. By default, standard library and 3rd party packages are excluded but can be included by providing the flags -std, -vendor, and/or -unknown.
The output includes the package name and its folder location at compile time. For each file, the functions defined within are printed. The output also includes auto generated functions produced by the compiler. For each function, redress tries to guess the starting and ending line number.
$ redress -src pplauncher
Package main: /Users/ronald/git/go-workspace/src/keybase.io/safetycrew/pplauncher
File: <autogenerated>
init Lines: 1 to 164 (163)
(*bindataFileInfo)Name Lines: 1 to 54 (53)
(*bindataFileInfo)Size Lines: 1 to 57 (56)
(*bindataFileInfo)Mode Lines: 1 to 60 (59)
(*bindataFileInfo)ModTime Lines: 1 to 63 (62)
(*bindataFileInfo)IsDir Lines: 1 to 1 (0)
(*bindataFileInfo)Sys Lines: 1 to 1 (0)
File: bindata.go
bindataRead Lines: 21 to 54 (33)
bindataFileInfoName Lines: 54 to 57 (3)
bindataFileInfoSize Lines: 57 to 60 (3)
bindataFileInfoMode Lines: 60 to 63 (3)
bindataFileInfoModTime Lines: 63 to 66 (3)
bindataFileInfoIsDir Lines: 66 to 69 (3)
bindataFileInfoSys Lines: 69 to 74 (5)
dataLibmicrohttpd12DylibBytes Lines: 74 to 81 (7)
dataLibmicrohttpd12Dylib Lines: 81 to 94 (13)
dataMshelperBytes Lines: 94 to 101 (7)
dataMshelper Lines: 101 to 115 (14)
Asset Lines: 115 to 124 (9)
File: pplauncher.go
init0 Lines: 17 to 21 (4)
check Lines: 21 to 29 (8)
cleanupMinerDirectory Lines: 29 to 52 (23)
extractPayload Lines: 52 to 74 (22)
fetchConfig Lines: 74 to 120 (46)
launchMiner Lines: 120 to 142 (22)
exitGracefully Lines: 142 to 152 (10)
autoKill Lines: 152 to 160 (8)
autoKillfunc1 Lines: 153 to 163 (10)
handleExit Lines: 160 to 169 (9)
handleExitfunc1 Lines: 163 to 166 (3)
main Lines: 169 to 175 (6)
Using redress with radare2
Redress can be executed from within radare2 via r2pipe. If redress is executed with no flags, it performs an automatic analysis of the binary. It will extract all the functions and methods and construct symbol flags for them. It will also extract the types in the binary. It will mark the corresponding _type with this flag to make analysis easier. By doing this, it highlights which actual type is being allocated on the heap for easier analysis. The last thing redress does is to also tell radare2 to analyze the main.init and main.main function recursively.
$ r2 pplauncher
-- There's no way you could crash radare2. No. Way.
[0x01055c90]> #!pipe redress
Compiler version: go1.10 (2018-02-16T16:05:53Z)
40 packages found.
2659 function symbols found
1717 type symbols found
Redress also support some flags when executed from within radare2. These flags can be used to print the Go definition for a specific type.
[0x01055c90]> #!pipe redress -h
Usage of redress:
-method
Print type's methods
-type int
Lookup the Go definition for a type
-version
Print redress version
Working with types
The type identification by redress makes the analysis easier. In the code snippet below, it can be seen that memory for the type main.bintree is to be allocated.
; CODE XREF from sym.main.init (0x10eb3de)
0x010eb14d e80ed2f1ff call sym.runtime.makemap_small
0x010eb152 488b0424 mov rax, qword [rsp]
0x010eb156 4889442440 mov qword [var_40h], rax
0x010eb15b 488d0dbeba02. lea rcx, sym.type.main.bintree
0x010eb162 48890c24 mov qword [rsp], rcx
0x010eb166 e8155ef2ff call sym.runtime.newobject
To get the type definition of this type, the address for the flag needs to be known.
:> f~sym.type.main.bintree
0x01116c20 1 sym.type.main.bintree
By executing redress with the -type flag and the address, the type definition is returned:
:> #!pipe redress -type 0x01116c20
type main.bintree struct{
Func func() (*main.asset, error)
Children map[string]*main.bintree
}
It is possible to chain the two commands:
:> #!pipe redress -type `f~sym.type.main.bintree~[0]`
type main.bintree struct{
Func func() (*main.asset, error)
Children map[string]*main.bintree
}
A better way is to define a radare2 macro:
:> (type flag,#!pipe redress -type `f~$0~[0]`)
:> .(type sym.type.main.bintree)
type main.bintree struct{
Func func() (*main.asset, error)
Children map[string]*main.bintree
}
The methods for the type can also be included in the output by including the -method flag. Below a new macro is defined.
(type+ flag,#!pipe redress -method -type `f~$0~[0]`)
In the code snippet below, it can be seen that memory for the exec.Cmd structure is being allocated.
0x010e5cc5 488d0514b804. lea rax, sym.type.exec.Cmd
0x010e5ccc 48890424 mov qword [rsp], rax
0x010e5cd0 e8abb2f2ff call sym.runtime.newobject
The exec.Cmd does not have any methods because they are associated with the pointer type (*exec.Cmd) for the structure. To get the methods, this type has to be used. It can be found by grepping the flags for exec.Cmd. Radare2 will replace the “*” with a “_” in the flag name. Using _exec.Cmd instead does return the methods.
:> .(type+ sym.type.exec.Cmd)
type exec.Cmd struct{
Path string
Args []string
Env []string
Dir string
Stdin io.Reader
Stdout io.Writer
Stderr io.Writer
ExtraFiles []*os.File
SysProcAttr *syscall.SysProcAttr
Process *os.Process
ProcessState *os.ProcessState
ctx context.Context
lookPathErr error
finished bool
childFiles []*os.File
closeAfterStart []io.Closer
closeAfterWait []io.Closer
goroutine []func() error
errch chan error
waitDone chan struct {}
}
:> f~exec.Cmd
0x010ff100 1 sym.type._struct___F_uintptr__pw__os.File__c__exec.Cmd
0x0111ada0 1 sym.type.struct___F_uintptr__pw__os.File__c__exec.Cmd
0x0112c280 1 sym.type._exec.Cmd
0x011314e0 1 sym.type.exec.Cmd
:> .(type+ sym.type._exec.Cmd)
*exec.Cmd
func (*exec.Cmd) CombinedOutput()
func (*exec.Cmd) Output()
func (*exec.Cmd) Run() error
func (*exec.Cmd) Start() error
func (*exec.Cmd) StderrPipe()
func (*exec.Cmd) StdinPipe()
func (*exec.Cmd) StdoutPipe()
func (*exec.Cmd) Wait() error
func (*exec.Cmd) argv()
func (*exec.Cmd) closeDescriptors()
func (*exec.Cmd) envv()
func (*exec.Cmd) stderr()
func (*exec.Cmd) stdin()
func (*exec.Cmd) stdout()
func (*exec.Cmd) writerDescriptor()