Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Editing Binaries: Easier Than It Sounds

posted by janrinok on Monday March 24 2014, @08:51PM   Printer-friendly
from the not-for-the-faint-hearted dept.

Anonymous Coward writes:

"Dan Luu, in his blog, suggests that editing binaries is something that we should consider from time to time. From that blog:

Editing binaries is a trick that comes in handy a few times a year. You don't often need to, but when you do, there's no alternative. When I mention patching binaries, I get one of two reactions: complete shock or no reaction at all. As far as I can tell, this is because most people have one of these two models of the world:

  • There exists source code. Compilers do something to source code to make it runnable. If you change the source code, different things happen.
  • There exists a processor. The processor takes some bits and decodes them to make things happen. If you change the bits, different things happen.

If you have the first view, breaking out a hex editor to modify a program is the action of a deranged lunatic. If you have the second view, editing binaries is the most natural thing in the world. Why wouldn't you just edit the binary?"

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Editing Binaries: Easier Than It Sounds | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 37 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by crutchy on Monday March 24 2014, @08:55PM

    by crutchy (179) on Monday March 24 2014, @08:55PM (#20542) Homepage Journal

    you forgot the 3rd reaction: wtf is a binary?

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Insightful=1, Funny=2, Overrated=1, Total=4
    Extra 'Funny' Modifier   0  
    Total Score:   3  

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 24 2014, @09:01PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 24 2014, @09:01PM (#20548)

    While the summary mentions "a binary," and by that they're usually talking with respect to compiled executable, but another field that hex/binary editing comes in handy is data-recovery.

    If you have a set of data and know the specific format of that data, then you can find errors and manually edit to partially or completely recover the pieces of lost data. I've had to do that a couple times with a not well-known but still industry-standard format, and it worked wonders.

    If you want to get into stuff like NES/SNES ROM hacking, strong hex-editing skills are mandatory.

  • (Score: 2) by mhajicek on Tuesday March 25 2014, @03:22AM

    by mhajicek (51) on Tuesday March 25 2014, @03:22AM (#20732)

    there are 10 kinds of people...

    --
    The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek