Writing Data
Radare can manipulate a loaded binary file in many ways. You can resize the file, move and copy/paste bytes, insert new bytes (shifting data to the end of the block or file), or simply overwrite bytes. New data may be given as a wide-string, assembler instructions, or the data may be read in from another file.
Resize the file using the r command. It accepts a numeric argument. A positive value sets a new size for the file. A negative one will truncate the file to the current seek position minus N bytes.
r 1024 ; resize the file to 1024 bytes
r -10 @ 33 ; strip 10 bytes at offset 33
Write bytes using the w command. It accepts multiple input formats like inline assembly, endian-friendly dwords, files, hexpair files, wide strings:
[0x00404888]> w?
Usage: w[x] [str] [<file] [<<EOF] [@addr]
| w[1248][+-][n] increment/decrement byte,word..
| w foobar write string 'foobar'
| w0 [len] write 'len' bytes with value 0x00
| w6[de] base64/hex write base64 [d]ecoded or [e]ncoded string
| wa[?] push ebp write opcode, separated by ';' (use '"' around the command)
| waf f.asm assemble file and write bytes
| waF f.asm assemble file and write bytes and show 'wx' op with hexpair bytes of assembled code
| wao[?] op modify opcode (change conditional of jump. nop, etc)
| wA[?] r 0 alter/modify opcode at current seek (see wA?)
| wb 011001 write bits in bit big endian (see pb)
| wB[-]0xVALUE set or unset bits with given value
| wc list all write changes
| wc[?][jir+-*?] write cache undo/commit/reset/list (io.cache)
| wd [off] [n] duplicate N bytes from offset at current seek (memcpy) (see y?)
| we[?] [nNsxX] [arg] extend write operations (insert instead of replace)
| wf[fs] -|file write contents of file at current offset
| wh r2 whereis/which shell command
| wm f0ff set binary mask hexpair to be used as cyclic write mask
| wo[?] hex write in block with operation. 'wo?' fmi
| wp[?] -|file apply radare patch file. See wp? fmi
| wr 10 write 10 random bytes
| ws pstring write 1 byte for length and then the string
| wt[f][?] file [sz] write to file (from current seek, blocksize or sz bytes)
| wts host:port [sz] send data to remote host:port via tcp://
| ww foobar write wide string 'f\x00o\x00o\x00b\x00a\x00r\x00'
| wx[?][fs] 9090 write two intel nops (from wxfile or wxseek)
| wv[?] eip+34 write 32-64 bit value honoring cfg.bigendian
| wz string write zero terminated string (like w + \x00)
Some examples:
[0x00000000]> wx 123456 @ 0x8048300
[0x00000000]> wv 0x8048123 @ 0x8049100
[0x00000000]> wa jmp 0x8048320
Write Over
The wo command (write over) has many subcommands, each combines the existing data with the new data using
an operator. The command is applied to the current block. Supported operators include XOR, ADD, SUB...
[0x4A13B8C0]> wo?
|Usage: wo[asmdxoArl24] [hexpairs] @ addr[:bsize]
|Example:
| wox 0x90 ; xor cur block with 0x90
| wox 90 ; xor cur block with 0x90
| wox 0x0203 ; xor cur block with 0203
| woa 02 03 ; add [0203][0203][...] to curblk
| woe 02 03 ; create sequence from 2 to 255 with step 3
|Supported operations:
| wow == write looped value (alias for 'wb')
| woa += addition
| wos -= subtraction
| wom *= multiply
| wod /= divide
| wox ^= xor
| woo |= or
| woA &= and
| woR random bytes (alias for 'wr $b')
| wor >>= shift right
| wol <<= shift left
| wo2 2= 2 byte endian swap
| wo4 4= 4 byte endian swap
It is possible to implement cipher-algorithms using radare core primitives and wo. A sample session performing xor(90) + add(01, 02):
[0x7fcd6a891630]> px
- offset - 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
0x7fcd6a891630 4889 e7e8 6839 0000 4989 c48b 05ef 1622
0x7fcd6a891640 005a 488d 24c4 29c2 5248 89d6 4989 e548
0x7fcd6a891650 83e4 f048 8b3d 061a 2200 498d 4cd5 1049
0x7fcd6a891660 8d55 0831 ede8 06e2 0000 488d 15cf e600
[0x7fcd6a891630]> wox 90
[0x7fcd6a891630]> px
- offset - 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
0x7fcd6a891630 d819 7778 d919 541b 90ca d81d c2d8 1946
0x7fcd6a891640 1374 60d8 b290 d91d 1dc5 98a1 9090 d81d
0x7fcd6a891650 90dc 197c 9f8f 1490 d81d 95d9 9f8f 1490
0x7fcd6a891660 13d7 9491 9f8f 1490 13ff 9491 9f8f 1490
[0x7fcd6a891630]> woa 01 02
[0x7fcd6a891630]> px
- offset - 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
0x7fcd6a891630 d91b 787a 91cc d91f 1476 61da 1ec7 99a3
0x7fcd6a891640 91de 1a7e d91f 96db 14d9 9593 1401 9593
0x7fcd6a891650 c4da 1a6d e89a d959 9192 9159 1cb1 d959
0x7fcd6a891660 9192 79cb 81da 1652 81da 1456 a252 7c77
Rapatches
Human friendly text format to apply patches to binary files.
Patch format
Those patches must be written in files and the syntax looks like the following:
^# -> comments
. -> execute command
! -> execute command
OFFSET { code block }
OFFSET "string"
OFFSET 01020304
OFFSET : assembly
+ {code}|"str"|0210|: asm
Rapatch Example
This script will run the ?e .. command in r2 and then write the string 'Hello' at 0x200 offset
# rapatch example
:?e hello world
0x200 "Hello"
Applying rapatches
$ r2 -P rapatch.txt target-program.txt
Or for scripted patching like patch(1):
$ r2 -w -q -P rapatch.txt target-program.txt