[libheap] is a GDB python library for examining the Glibc heap implementation on Linux. It has been tested against Glibc 2.11 and 2.12 on 32bit/64bit systems.
Although [libheap] does not require a glibc compiled with gdb debugging support and symbols, it functions best if you do use one. There are numerous guides to building Glibc manually, the best I have seen is:
On Fedora, they have already done this for you so just simply type:
debuginfo-install glibc
This will automatically install and setup a debug Glibc for you.
If you are using a modern Fedora, their GDB is bleeding edge enough to already have the latest python support added. Otherwise you will likely have to build GDB from svn instead using the steps documented by Tom Tromey:
$ sudo yum install python-devel git texinfo
$ mkdir -p ~/archer/build ~/archer/install
$ cd ~/archer
$ git clone git://sourceware.org/git/archer.git
$ cd archer
$ git checkout --track -b python origin/archer-tromey-python
$ cd ../build
$ ../archer/configure --prefix=$(cd ../install && pwd)
$ make all install
Once this is complete you should have a compiled version of GDB that can be run from archer/install/bin/gdb.
The final and easiest step is to install the heap library. All that is required is to move it to somewhere within your Python path (sys.path):
$ mv libheap.py /usr/lib/python2.6
Loading [libheap] is the same as any other Python library:
$ gdb
(gdb) python from libheap import *
A number of different functions exist to print the overall state of the heap as shown below:
(gdb) heap -h
============================== Heap Dump Help ==================================
Options:
-a 0x1234 Specify an arena address
-b Print compact bin listing (only free chunks)
-c Print compact arena listing (all chunks)
-f [#] Print all fast bins, or only a single fast bin
-l Print a flat listing of all chunks in an arena
-s [#] Print all small bins, or only a single small bin
(gdb) heap
================================== Heap Dump ===================================
Arena(s) found:
arena @ 0xf2f3a0
(gdb) heap -b
================================== Heap Dump ===================================
fast bin 0 @ 0x804b000
free chunk @ 0x804b000 - size 0x10
unsorted bin @ 0xf2f3d8
free_chunk @ 0x804b010 - size 0x88
(gdb) heap -f
=================================== Fastbins ===================================
[ fb 0 ] 0xf2f3a8 -> [ 0x0804b000 ] (16)
[ fb 1 ] 0xf2f3ac -> [ 0x00000000 ]
[ fb 2 ] 0xf2f3b0 -> [ 0x00000000 ]
[ fb 3 ] 0xf2f3b4 -> [ 0x00000000 ]
[ fb 4 ] 0xf2f3b8 -> [ 0x00000000 ]
[ fb 5 ] 0xf2f3bc -> [ 0x00000000 ]
[ fb 6 ] 0xf2f3c0 -> [ 0x00000000 ]
[ fb 7 ] 0xf2f3c4 -> [ 0x00000000 ]
[ fb 8 ] 0xf2f3c8 -> [ 0x00000000 ]
[ fb 9 ] 0xf2f3cc -> [ 0x00000000 ]
(gdb) heap -s 1
=================================== Smallbins ==================================
[ sb 01 ] 0xf2f3d8 -> [ 0x0804b010 | 0x0804b010 ]
[ 0x00f2f3d0 | 0x00f2f3d0 ] (136)
(gdb) heap -l
================================== Heap Dump ===================================
ADDR SIZE STATUS
sbrk_base 0x602c00
chunk 0x602c00 0x110 (inuse)
chunk 0x602d10 0x110 (F) FD 75dea366deb8 BK 602f30
chunk 0x602e20 0x110 (inuse)
chunk 0x602f30 0x110 (F) FD 602d10 BK 75dea366deb8
chunk 0x603040 0x110 (inuse)
chunk 0x603150 0x20eb0 (top)
sbrk_end 0x624008
(gdb) heap -c
================================== Heap Dump ===================================
|A||11||A||11||A||T|
There are a number of ways to examine a malloc chunk using [libheap]. The library has a pretty printer for struct malloc_chunk so we can print any arbitrary address as if it was a valid chunk:
(gdb) p *(mchunkptr) 0x608790
struct malloc_chunk {
prev_size = 0x0
size = 0x21a81
fd = 0x0
bk = 0x0
fd_nextsize = 0x0
bk_nextsize = 0x0
To get more granular access to a chunk, [libheap] exposes a python class representation of a malloc chunk:
(gdb) python print malloc_chunk(0x608790)
struct malloc_chunk {
prev_size = 0x0
size = 0x21a81
fd = 0x0
bk = 0x0
fd_nextsize = 0x0
bk_nextsize = 0x0
By default an address is treated as a free chunk and reads all of the fields of struct malloc_chunk, however this can be changed by passing in the optional boolean flag named inuse. If we only want to read the header of an allocated chunk we can also pass in an optional boolean flag named read_data. By default the class will attempt to read whatever size is specified within the chunk. Obviously this can be problematic within exploits where you are overwriting the size field with a bogus value so there is an optional size flag to the class that allows you to specify the real size of a chunk. Putting this all together, let's see some examples of accessing and changing the individual fields of a chunk:
(gdb) python chunk = malloc_chunk(0x608790, inuse=True, read_data=False)
(gdb) python print chunk
struct malloc_chunk {
prev_size = 0x0
size = 0x21a81
(gdb) python chunk.size = 1
(gdb) python chunk.write()
(gdb) python print chunk
struct malloc_chunk {
prev_size = 0x0
size = 0x1
(gdb) python print malloc_chunk(0x608790, inuse=True, size=8)
struct malloc_chunk {
prev_size = 0x0
size = 0x1
data = (0,)
raw = "\x00\x00\x00\x00"
Finally, if we are working on an exploit and want to prototype malloc chunks and see how they would appear within this heap implementation we can pass the class a string of raw memory and see how it would be interpreted:
(gdb) python print malloc_chunk(mem='\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x02\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00', inuse=True)
struct malloc_chunk {
prev_size = 0x1
size = 0x2
There are also included pretty printers for struct malloc_par and struct malloc_state. These can be viewed by attempting to print out the global variables:
(gdb) p mp_
$1 = struct malloc_par {
(gdb) p main_arena
$2 = struct malloc_state {
Python classes also exist for these two important structures so you can examine arbitrary memory using them:
(gdb) python print malloc_state(0x6503d0b37e60)
struct malloc_state {
mutex = 0x0
flags = 0x1
fastbinsY = {...}
top = 0x608790
last_remainder = 0x0
bins = {...}
binmap = {...}
next = 0x6503d0b37e60
system_mem = 0x21890
max_system_mem = 0x21890
(gdb) python print malloc_par(0x6cb800)
struct malloc_par {
trim_threshold = 0x9e000
top_pad = 0x20000
mmap_threshold = 0x4f000
n_mmaps = 0x0
n_mmaps_max = 0x10000
max_n_mmaps = 0x1
no_dyn_threshold = 0x0
pagesize = 0x1000
mmapped_mem = 0x0
max_mmapped_mem = 0x4f000
max_total_mem = 0x0
sbrk_base = 0x809c000
If you are looking to extend the library or use any of its functionality there are a number of Glibc functions reimplemented in Python. A short list of the most useful ones is shown below:
chunk2mem(p)
mem2chunk(mem)
request2size(req)
prev_inuse(p)
chunk_is_mmapped(p)
chunk_non_main_arena(p)
chunksize(p)
next_chunk(p)
prev_chunk(p)
chunk_at_offset(p, s)
inuse(p)
set_inuse(p)
clear_inuse(p)
inuse_bit_at_offset(p, s)
set_inuse_bit_at_offset(p, s)
clear_inuse_bit_at_offset(p, s)
bin_at(m, i)
next_bin(b)
first(b)
last(b)
in_smallbin_range(sz)
smallbin_index(sz)
largebin_index_32(sz)
largebin_index_64(sz)
largebin_index(sz)
bin_index(sz)
fastbin(ar_ptr, idx)
fastbin_index(sz)
have_fastchunks(M)
clear_fastchunks(M)
set_fastchunks(M)
contiguous(M)
noncontiguous(M)
set_noncontiguous(M)
set_contiguous(M)
mutex_lock(ar_ptr [, inferior])
mutex_unlock(ar_ptr [, inferior])
top(ar_ptr)
heap_for_ptr(ptr)