Use Case: Buffer Overflow

This example showcases more advanced capabilities of VulHunt. Suppose we want to find a vulnerability where the first argument of read_argument is passed to strcpy:

program.c

#define BUFFER_SIZE 256

void read_argument(char *input) {
  char buffer[BUFFER_SIZE];

  strcpy(buffer, input);
  printf("You entered: %s\n", buffer);
}

This rule uses VulHunt’s dataflow capabilities to check for this condition:

rule.vh

author = "Binarly"
name = "Tracking dataflow from read_argument to strcpy"
platform = "posix-binary"
architecture = "*:*:*"
conditions = {name_with_prefix = "program"}

scopes = scope:calls{
    to = "strcpy",
    where = caller:named "read_argument",
    using = {parameters = {var:named "input"}},
    with = check
}

function check(project, context)
    local var = context.inputs[2]

    if var and var.annotation == "input" then
        return result:high{
            name = "BoF in program",
            description = "A buffer overflow in read_argument",
            evidence = {
                functions = {
                    [context.caller.address] = {
                        annotate:at{
                            location = context.caller.call_address,
                            message = "The first argument of read_argument is passed to strcpy, leading to a buffer overflow!"
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    end
end

Here, scope:calls searches for calls to strcpy within the function read_argument and associates the annotation input with the first argument of read_argument. When the call site to strcpy within read_argument is found, the check function is executed with a context representing this call site. The check function then verifies whether the annotation of the second argument passed to strcpy is input, confirming the presence of the vulnerability. We then use the result:high method to build a Result object out of a table and return it. The table the following required fields:

name usually contains a vulnerability identifier
description
evidence, which is another table.

The evidence table contains a single field called functions, which is a map (technically it’s also a table in Lua) containing addresses of functions to annotate. To annotate within the read_argument function, we use context.caller.address as a key and a single annotation at context.caller.call_address, meaning at the call to strcpy.

Detecting the patch

Now, let’s assume this vulnerability was patched and we want to verify if the patch was correctly applied:

program.c

#define BUFFER_SIZE 256

void read_argument(char *input) {
  char buffer[BUFFER_SIZE];

  if (strlen(input) > BUFFER_SIZE) {
    printf("Input is too long\n");
    exit(1);
  }

  strcpy(buffer, input);
  printf("You entered: %s\n", buffer);
}

We can check for the patch by adding a condition to the scope definition to filter out functions that call strlen:

rule.vh

...
scopes = scope:calls{
    to = "strcpy",
    where = caller:named "read_argument" and not caller:has_call "strlen",
    using = {parameters = {var:named "input"}},
    with = check
}
...

Alternatively, we can use scope:functions to find the read_argument function and check whether it calls strlen:

rule2.vh

...
scopes = scope:functions{target = "read_argument", with = check}

function check(project, context)
    if context:has_call("strlen") then
        print("Patch correctly applied: read_argument calls strlen")
    end
end

Increasing patch detection accuracy

The rule above is useful to understand the capabilities of the dataflow engine, but to more accurate, we have to make sure the value returned from strlen is actually being checked by the if statement and that the call to strcpy is within this if block. We can achieve this by using the decompiler extension with the following rule:

rule3.vh

author = "Binarly"
name = "Tracking dataflow from read_argument to strcpy"
platform = "posix-binary"
architecture = "*:*:*"
conditions = {name_with_prefix = "program"}
extensions = "decompiler"

scopes = scope:calls{
    to = "strcpy",
    where = caller:named "read_argument",
    using = {parameters = {var:named "input"}},
    with = check
}

function check(project, context)
    local decomp = project:decompile(context.caller.address) -- decompile read_argument

    -- use weggli to find the buffer length check followed by the call to `strcpy`
    local matches = decomp:query{
        query = [[
            $var = strlen($param);
            if ($var < _) {
                strcpy(_, $param);
            }
        ]]
    }

    local addr_check = matches:address_of_match(2) -- `if ($var < _) {`
    local addr_strcpy = matches:address_of_match(3) -- `strcpy(_, $param);`

    if addr_check and addr_strcpy then
        return result:patch{
            name = "Buffer overflow in program",
            description = "The program has a patched stack-based buffer overflow in `read_argument` function",
            evidence = {
                functions = {
                    [context.caller.address] = {
                        annotate:at{
                            location = addr_check,
                            message = "The length of the first argument of read_argument is checked against the buffer size..."
                        }, annotate:at{
                            location = addr_strcpy,
                            message = "...which effectively prevents the buffer overflow in this call to strcpy"
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    end

    local var = context.inputs[2]

    if var and var.annotation == "input" then
        return result:high{
            name = "Buffer overflow in program",
            description = "The program contains a stack-based buffer overflow in `read_argument` function",
            evidence = {
                functions = {
                    [context.caller.address] = {
                        annotate:at{
                            location = context.caller.call_address,
                            message = "The first argument of read_argument is passed to strcpy, leading to a buffer overflow!"
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    end
end

Get Started

VulHunt CLI

VulHunt SDK

VulHunt Rules

Appendices

Use Case: Buffer Overflow

Detecting the patch

Increasing patch detection accuracy

​Detecting the patch

​Increasing patch detection accuracy

Detecting the patch

Increasing patch detection accuracy