Loading...
Loading...
Reverse engineer Go-compiled malware using Ghidra with specialized scripts for function recovery, string extraction, and type reconstruction in stripped Go binaries.
npx skill4agent add mukul975/anthropic-cybersecurity-skills analyzing-golang-malware-with-ghidrapclntabmoduledata#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Analyze Go binary metadata for malware analysis."""
import struct
import sys
import re
def find_go_build_info(data):
"""Extract Go build information from binary."""
# Go buildinfo magic: \xff Go buildinf:
magic = b'\xff Go buildinf:'
offset = data.find(magic)
if offset == -1:
return None
print(f"[+] Go build info at offset 0x{offset:x}")
# Extract Go version string nearby
go_version = re.search(rb'go\d+\.\d+(?:\.\d+)?', data[offset:offset+256])
if go_version:
print(f" Go Version: {go_version.group().decode()}")
return offset
def find_pclntab(data):
"""Locate the pclntab (PC Line Table) structure."""
# pclntab magic bytes vary by Go version
magics = {
b'\xfb\xff\xff\xff\x00\x00': "Go 1.2-1.15",
b'\xfa\xff\xff\xff\x00\x00': "Go 1.16-1.17",
b'\xf1\xff\xff\xff\x00\x00': "Go 1.18-1.19",
b'\xf0\xff\xff\xff\x00\x00': "Go 1.20+",
}
for magic, version in magics.items():
offset = data.find(magic)
if offset != -1:
print(f"[+] pclntab found at 0x{offset:x} ({version})")
return offset, version
return None, None
def extract_function_names(data, pclntab_offset):
"""Extract function names from pclntab."""
if pclntab_offset is None:
return []
functions = []
# Function name strings follow specific patterns
func_pattern = re.compile(
rb'(?:main|runtime|fmt|net|os|crypto|encoding|io|sync|'
rb'syscall|reflect|strings|bytes|path|time|math|sort|'
rb'github\.com|golang\.org)[/\.][\w/.]+',
)
for match in func_pattern.finditer(data):
name = match.group().decode('utf-8', errors='replace')
if len(name) > 4 and len(name) < 200:
functions.append(name)
return sorted(set(functions))
def extract_go_strings(data):
"""Extract Go-style strings (pointer+length pairs)."""
# Go strings are not null-terminated; extract readable sequences
strings = []
ascii_pattern = re.compile(rb'[\x20-\x7e]{10,}')
for match in ascii_pattern.finditer(data):
s = match.group().decode('ascii')
# Filter for interesting malware strings
interesting = [
'http', 'https', 'tcp', 'udp', 'dns',
'cmd', 'shell', 'exec', 'upload', 'download',
'encrypt', 'decrypt', 'key', 'token', 'password',
'c2', 'beacon', 'agent', 'implant', 'bot',
'mutex', 'persist', 'registry', 'scheduled',
]
if any(kw in s.lower() for kw in interesting):
strings.append(s)
return strings
def extract_dependencies(data):
"""Extract Go module dependencies from binary."""
deps = []
# Module paths follow pattern: github.com/user/repo
dep_pattern = re.compile(
rb'((?:github\.com|gitlab\.com|golang\.org|gopkg\.in|'
rb'go\.etcd\.io|google\.golang\.org)/[^\x00\s]{5,80})'
)
for match in dep_pattern.finditer(data):
dep = match.group().decode('utf-8', errors='replace')
deps.append(dep)
unique_deps = sorted(set(deps))
return unique_deps
def analyze_go_binary(filepath):
"""Full analysis of Go malware binary."""
with open(filepath, 'rb') as f:
data = f.read()
print(f"[+] Analyzing Go binary: {filepath}")
print(f" File size: {len(data):,} bytes")
print("=" * 60)
# Build info
find_go_build_info(data)
# pclntab
pclntab_offset, go_version = find_pclntab(data)
# Functions
functions = extract_function_names(data, pclntab_offset)
print(f"\n[+] Recovered {len(functions)} function names")
# Categorize functions
categories = {
"network": [], "crypto": [], "os_exec": [],
"file_io": [], "main": [], "third_party": [],
}
for f in functions:
if 'net/' in f or 'http' in f.lower():
categories["network"].append(f)
elif 'crypto' in f:
categories["crypto"].append(f)
elif 'os/exec' in f or 'syscall' in f:
categories["os_exec"].append(f)
elif 'os.' in f or 'io/' in f:
categories["file_io"].append(f)
elif f.startswith('main.'):
categories["main"].append(f)
elif 'github.com' in f or 'golang.org' in f:
categories["third_party"].append(f)
for cat, funcs in categories.items():
if funcs:
print(f"\n [{cat}] ({len(funcs)} functions):")
for fn in funcs[:10]:
print(f" {fn}")
# Dependencies
deps = extract_dependencies(data)
print(f"\n[+] Dependencies ({len(deps)}):")
for dep in deps[:20]:
print(f" {dep}")
# Suspicious strings
sus_strings = extract_go_strings(data)
print(f"\n[+] Suspicious strings ({len(sus_strings)}):")
for s in sus_strings[:20]:
print(f" {s}")
if __name__ == "__main__":
if len(sys.argv) < 2:
print(f"Usage: {sys.argv[0]} <go_binary>")
sys.exit(1)
analyze_go_binary(sys.argv[1])# Ghidra script (run within Ghidra's script manager)
# Save as AnalyzeGoBinary.py in Ghidra scripts directory
# @category MalwareAnalysis
# @description Analyze Go binary structure and recover metadata
def analyze_go_binary_ghidra():
"""Ghidra script for Go binary analysis."""
from ghidra.program.model.mem import MemoryAccessException
program = getCurrentProgram()
memory = program.getMemory()
listing = program.getListing()
print("[+] Go Binary Analysis Script")
print(f" Program: {program.getName()}")
# Find pclntab
pclntab_magics = [
bytes([0xf0, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff]), # Go 1.20+
bytes([0xf1, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff]), # Go 1.18-1.19
bytes([0xfa, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff]), # Go 1.16-1.17
bytes([0xfb, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff]), # Go 1.2-1.15
]
for magic in pclntab_magics:
addr = memory.findBytes(
program.getMinAddress(), magic, None, True, None
)
if addr:
print(f"[+] pclntab found at {addr}")
# Create label
program.getSymbolTable().createLabel(
addr, "go_pclntab", None,
ghidra.program.model.symbol.SourceType.ANALYSIS
)
break
# Fix Go string definitions
# Go strings are ptr+len, not null terminated
print("[+] Fixing Go string references...")
# Search for function names containing package paths
symbol_table = program.getSymbolTable()
func_count = 0
for symbol in symbol_table.getAllSymbols(True):
name = symbol.getName()
if ('.' in name and
any(pkg in name for pkg in
['main.', 'runtime.', 'net.', 'crypto.', 'os.'])):
func_count += 1
print(f"[+] Found {func_count} Go function symbols")
# Execute
analyze_go_binary_ghidra()