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Ghidra, NSA's reverse-engineering tool

nsa.gov

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Re: Ghidra, NSA's reverse-engineering tool

#11

Post by nyrulez »

I am going to sound pessimistic here, but isn't there a real danger of having this technology available to bad actors and is there any value to keeping such things confidential if it plays a role in national security?

If someone was releasing malicious software to hijack the power grid as an example, wouldn't they be first able to use this to try to improve the robustness and invisibility of their attack ?

Or is the functionality here common place enough that it doesn't tilt the axis of power in an unfavorable way?

Re: Ghidra, NSA's reverse-engineering tool

#13

Post by mparlane »

nyrulez wrote: post #11

I am going to sound pessimistic here, but isn't there a real danger of having this technology available to bad actors and is there any value to keeping such things confidential if it plays a role in national security? If someone was releasing malicious software to hijack the power grid as an example, wouldn't they be first able to use this to try to improve the robustness and invisibility of their attack ? Or is the…

Bad actors have been using IDA this entire time. So no, not really.

Re: Ghidra, NSA's reverse-engineering tool

#14

Post by aboutruby »

WrtCdEvrydy wrote: post #10
twodayslate wrote: post #2

Download: https://ghidra-sre.org/ GitHub: https://github.com/NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra

Download from the NSA without open source software... anyone else virtualizing three layers deep to get to this?

I don't think they would burn some 0-days for this, one container should be enough.

Re: Ghidra, NSA's reverse-engineering tool

#15

Post by saagarjha »

nyrulez wrote: post #11

I am going to sound pessimistic here, but isn't there a real danger of having this technology available to bad actors and is there any value to keeping such things confidential if it plays a role in national security? If someone was releasing malicious software to hijack the power grid as an example, wouldn't they be first able to use this to try to improve the robustness and invisibility of their attack ? Or is the…

This is just another reverse engineering tool, similar to IDA. Bad actors have had access to stuff like this for a while.

Re: Ghidra, NSA's reverse-engineering tool

#17

Post by nyrulez »

mparlane wrote: post #13
nyrulez wrote: post #11

I am going to sound pessimistic here, but isn't there a real danger of having this technology available to bad actors and is there any value to keeping such things confidential if it plays a role in national security? If someone was releasing malicious software to hijack the power grid as an example, wouldn't they be first able to use this to try to improve the robustness and invisibility of their attack ? Or is the…

Bad actors have been using IDA this entire time. So no, not really.

You mean there is nothing new here? Then why is this news?

I am not wondering about the concept of reverse engineering but the specific (and hopefully novel) feature set that this may enable.

Re: Ghidra, NSA's reverse-engineering tool

#19

Post by saagarjha »

nyrulez wrote: post #17
mparlane wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bad actors have been using IDA this entire time. So no, not really.

You mean there is nothing new here? Then why is this news? I am not wondering about the concept of reverse engineering but the specific (and hopefully novel) feature set that this may enable.

It's a competitor to IDA's monopoly, basically. It might be better in certain aspects.

Re: Ghidra, NSA's reverse-engineering tool

#20

Post by MarcysVonEylau »

nyrulez wrote: post #11

I am going to sound pessimistic here, but isn't there a real danger of having this technology available to bad actors and is there any value to keeping such things confidential if it plays a role in national security? If someone was releasing malicious software to hijack the power grid as an example, wouldn't they be first able to use this to try to improve the robustness and invisibility of their attack ? Or is the…

What can stop a bad guy with a toolkit? A good guy with a toolkit!
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