The Single Byte That Kills Your Exploit: Understanding Endianness
13 days ago
- #endianness
- #exploit-development
- #memory-management
- Endianness defines the order in which multi-byte values are stored in memory, crucial for exploit development.
- Two primary byte orders: Little-Endian (LSB first, common in x86/x64) and Big-Endian (MSB first, used in network protocols and some embedded systems).
- Cross-architecture exploitation requires awareness of the target's endianness to avoid crashes and failed exploits.
- Tools like `readelf`, `file`, `objdump`, and GDB can help detect a target's endianness.
- Debugging tips include verifying payload bytes, pointer size, alignment, and using library packing tools like `pwntools`.
- A checklist for exploit authors includes confirming architecture, endianness, pointer width, and inspecting memory layout.
- Understanding endianness is essential for debugging and crafting successful exploits, especially in cross-architecture scenarios.