C++ API

A step-by-step example illustrating a basic (yet powerful) usage of the QBDI C++ API.

Load the target code

In this tutorial, we aim at figuring out how many iterations a Fibonacci function is doing. To do so, we will rely on QBDI to instrument the function. For convenience sake, its source code is compiled along with the one we are about to write.

int fibonacci(int n) {
    if(n <= 2)
        return 1;
    return fibonacci(n-1) + fibonacci(n-2);
}

However, it’s not always the case. Sometimes, we need to look into a function we don’t have the source code of – that is, it has been already compiled. As a result, we have to find a way to load the code we want to inspect into our process’ memory space. For instance, if the function of interest is embedded in a dynamic library, we can link our code with this library when compiling or import it at runtime by calling either dlopen or LoadLibraryA.

Note that if you want to instrument a whole binary, QBDIPreload should be preferred (see QBDIPreload in C++).

Initialise the virtual machine

First off, we need to initialise the virtual machine (QBDI::VM) itself.

#include "QBDI.h"

QBDI::VM vm;

Retrieve the VM context

Prior to initialising the virtual stack (see next section), we need to get a pointer to the virtual machine state (QBDI::GPRState), which can be obtained by calling QBDI::VM::getGPRState(). This object represents the current VM’s context.

QBDI::GPRState *state = vm.getGPRState();
assert(state != NULL);

Allocate a virtual stack

The virtual machine does not work with the regular stack that your process uses – instead, QBDI needs its own stack. Therefore, we have to ask for a virtual stack using QBDI::allocateVirtualStack(). This function is responsible for allocating an aligned memory space, set the stack pointer register accordingly and return the top address of this brand-new memory region.

uint8_t* fakestack;
bool res = QBDI::allocateVirtualStack(state, STACK_SIZE, &fakestack);
assert(res == true);

Our first callback function

Now that the virtual machine has been set up, we can start playing with QBDI core features.

To have a trace of our execution, we will need a callback that will retrieve the current address and the disassembly of the instruction and print it.

As the callback will be called on an instruction, the callback must follow the QBDI::InstCallback type. Inside the callback, we can get an QBDI::InstAnalysis of the current instruction with QBDI::VM::getInstAnalysis(). To have the address and the disassembly, the QBDI::InstAnalysis need to have the type QBDI::AnalysisType::ANALYSIS_INSTRUCTION (for the address) and QBDI::AnalysisType::ANALYSIS_DISASSEMBLY (for the disassembly). These two QBDI::AnalysisType are the default parameter of QBDI::VM::getInstAnalysis() and can be omitted.

QBDI::VMAction showInstruction(QBDI::VM* vm, QBDI::GPRState *gprState, QBDI::FPRState *fprState, void *data) {
    // Obtain an analysis of the instruction from the VM
    const QBDI::InstAnalysis* instAnalysis = vm->getInstAnalysis();

    // Printing disassembly
    std::cout << std::setbase(16) << instAnalysis->address << ": "
              << instAnalysis->disassembly << std::endl << std::setbase(10);

    return QBDI::VMAction::CONTINUE;
}

An QBDI::InstCallback must always return an action (QBDI::VMAction) to the VM to specify if the execution should continue or stop. In most cases QBDI::VMAction::CONTINUE should be returned to continue the execution.

Register a callback

The callback must be registered in the VM. The function QBDI::VM::addCodeCB() allows registering a callback for every instruction. The callback can be called before the instruction (QBDI::InstPosition::PREINST) or after the instruction (QBDI::InstPosition::POSTINST).

uint32_t cid = vm.addCodeCB(QBDI::PREINST, showInstruction, nullptr);
assert(cid != QBDI::INVALID_EVENTID);

The function returns a callback ID or the special ID QBDI::VMError::INVALID_EVENTID if the registration fails. The callback ID can be kept if you want to unregister the callback later.

Count the iterations

With the current implementation of Fibonacci, the function will iterate by recursively calling itself. Consequently, we can determine the number of iterations the function is doing by counting the number of calls. QBDI::VM::addMnemonicCB() can be used to register a callback which is solely called when encountering specific instructions. All QBDI callbacks allow users to pass a custom parameter data of type void *.

QBDI::VMAction countIteration(QBDI::VMInstanceRef vm, QBDI::GPRState *gprState, QBDI::FPRState *fprState, void *data) {
    (*((unsigned*) data))++;

    return QBDI::CONTINUE;
}

unsigned iterationCount = 0;
vm.addMnemonicCB("CALL*", QBDI::PREINST, countIteration, &iterationCount);

Set instrumented ranges

QBDI needs a range of addresses where the code should be instrumented. If the execution goes out of this scope, QBDI will try to restore an uninstrumented execution.

In our example, we need to include the method in the instrumented range. The method QBDI::VM::addInstrumentedModuleFromAddr() can be used to add a whole module (binary or library) in the range of instrumentation with a single address of this module.

res = vm.addInstrumentedModuleFromAddr(reinterpret_cast<QBDI::rword>(fibonacci));
assert(res == true);

Run the instrumentation

We can finally run the instrumentation using the QBDI::VM::call() function. It aligns the stack, sets the argument(s) (if needed) and a fake return address and calls the target function through QBDI. The execution stops when the instrumented code returns to the fake address.

rword retval;
res = vm.call(&retval, reinterpret_cast<QBDI::rword>(fibonacci), {25});
assert(res == true);

QBDI::VM::call() returns if the function has completely run in the context of QBDI. The first argument has been filled with the value of the return register (e.g. RAX for X86_64).

It may turn out that the function does not expect the calling convention QBDI::VM::call() uses. In this precise case, you must set up the proper context and the stack yourself and call QBDI::VM::run() afterwards.

Terminate the execution properly

At last, before exiting, we need to free up the virtual stack we have allocated calling QBDI::alignedFree().

QBDI::alignedFree(fakestack);

Full example

Merging everything we have learnt throughout this tutorial, we are now able to write our C++ source code file:

#include <assert.h>
#include <cstdint>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <cstring>
#include <iomanip>
#include <iostream>

#include "QBDI.h"

int fibonacci(int n) {
  if (n <= 2)
    return 1;
  return fibonacci(n - 1) + fibonacci(n - 2);
}

QBDI::VMAction showInstruction(QBDI::VM *vm, QBDI::GPRState *gprState,
                               QBDI::FPRState *fprState, void *data) {
  // Obtain an analysis of the instruction from the VM
  const QBDI::InstAnalysis *instAnalysis = vm->getInstAnalysis();

  // Printing disassembly
  std::cout << std::setbase(16) << instAnalysis->address << ": "
            << instAnalysis->disassembly << std::endl
            << std::setbase(10);

  return QBDI::VMAction::CONTINUE;
}

QBDI::VMAction countIteration(QBDI::VM *vm, QBDI::GPRState *gprState,
                              QBDI::FPRState *fprState, void *data) {
  (*((unsigned *)data))++;

  return QBDI::CONTINUE;
}

static const size_t STACK_SIZE = 0x100000; // 1MB

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
  int n = 0;
  bool res;
  uint32_t cid;

  unsigned iterationCount = 0;
  uint8_t *fakestack;
  QBDI::GPRState *state;
  QBDI::rword retvalue;

  // Argument to the fibonnaci call
  if (argc >= 2) {
    n = atoi(argv[1]);
  }
  if (n < 1) {
    n = 1;
  }

  // Constructing a new QBDI vm
  QBDI::VM vm{};

  // Get a pointer to the GPR state of the VM
  state = vm.getGPRState();
  assert(state != nullptr);

  // Setup initial GPR state,
  res = QBDI::allocateVirtualStack(state, STACK_SIZE, &fakestack);
  assert(res == true);

  // Registering showInstruction() callback to print a trace of the execution
  cid = vm.addCodeCB(QBDI::PREINST, showInstruction, nullptr);
  assert(cid != QBDI::INVALID_EVENTID);

  // Registering countIteration() callback
  vm.addMnemonicCB("CALL*", QBDI::PREINST, countIteration, &iterationCount);

  // Setup Instrumentation Range
  res = vm.addInstrumentedModuleFromAddr(
      reinterpret_cast<QBDI::rword>(fibonacci));
  assert(res == true);

  // Running DBI execution
  std::cout << "Running fibonacci(" << n << ") ..." << std::endl;
  res = vm.call(&retvalue, reinterpret_cast<QBDI::rword>(fibonacci),
                {static_cast<QBDI::rword>(n)});
  assert(res == true);

  std::cout << "fibonnaci(" << n << ") returns " << retvalue << " after "
            << iterationCount << " recursions" << std::endl;

  QBDI::alignedFree(fakestack);

  return 0;
}