Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Welcome to Software Development on Codidact!

Will you help us build our independent community of developers helping developers? We're small and trying to grow. We welcome questions about all aspects of software development, from design to code to QA and more. Got questions? Got answers? Got code you'd like someone to review? Please join us.

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A Ghidra decompiler: c_str() used in phantom string?

I loaded a binary into Ghidra for analysis. The decompiler says undefined8 main(void) { basic_ostream *pbVar1; char *pcVar2; [--snip--] pbVar1 = std::operator<<(pbVar1,"PXZ ");...

1 answer  ·  posted 6mo ago by nteodosio‭  ·  edited 6mo ago by Alexei‭

Question c++ ghidra
#3: Post edited by user avatar Alexei‭ · 2023-11-30T16:45:53Z (6 months ago)
removed tag scheduled for removal
#2: Post edited by user avatar Alexei‭ · 2023-11-12T18:57:30Z (6 months ago)
highlighted the problem the question is about
  • I loaded a binary into Ghidra for analysis.
  • The decompiler says
  • ```
  • undefined8 main(void)
  • {
  • basic_ostream *pbVar1;
  • char *pcVar2;
  • [--snip--]
  • pbVar1 = std::operator<<(pbVar1,"PXZ ");
  • pcVar2 = (char *)std::__cxx11::basic_string<>::c_str();
  • pbVar1 = std::operator<<(pbVar1,pcVar2);
  • pbVar1 = std::operator<<(pbVar1,"<<");
  • std::basic_ostream<>::operator<<((basic_ostream<> *)pbVar1,std::endl<>);
  • }
  • ```
  • I'm clueless about the meaning of the `pcVar2 =` line. I would expect `c_str` to be the method of some given string, [e.g.](https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/string/basic_string/c_str) `std::string const s("Emplary"); const char* p = s.c_str();`, but what is that string in the present case?
  • I can confirm that something is getting inserted as the binary prints "PXZ AX1<<", but it's hard to figure whence exactly this middle part is coming.
  • I loaded a binary into Ghidra for analysis.
  • The decompiler says
  • ```
  • undefined8 main(void)
  • {
  • basic_ostream *pbVar1;
  • char *pcVar2;
  • [--snip--]
  • pbVar1 = std::operator<<(pbVar1,"PXZ ");
  • pcVar2 = (char *)std::__cxx11::basic_string<>::c_str();
  • pbVar1 = std::operator<<(pbVar1,pcVar2);
  • pbVar1 = std::operator<<(pbVar1,"<<");
  • std::basic_ostream<>::operator<<((basic_ostream<> *)pbVar1,std::endl<>);
  • }
  • ```
  • **I'm clueless about the meaning of the `pcVar2 =` line**. I would expect `c_str` to be the method of some given string, [e.g.](https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/string/basic_string/c_str) `std::string const s("Emplary"); const char* p = s.c_str();`, but what is that string in the present case?
  • I can confirm that something is getting inserted as the binary prints "PXZ AX1<<", but it's hard to figure whence exactly this middle part is coming.
#1: Initial revision by user avatar nteodosio‭ · 2023-11-12T16:12:58Z (6 months ago)
Ghidra decompiler: c_str() used in phantom string?
I loaded a binary into Ghidra for analysis.

The decompiler says
```
undefined8 main(void)
{
  basic_ostream *pbVar1;
  char *pcVar2;
  [--snip--]
  pbVar1 = std::operator<<(pbVar1,"PXZ ");
  pcVar2 = (char *)std::__cxx11::basic_string<>::c_str();
  pbVar1 = std::operator<<(pbVar1,pcVar2);
  pbVar1 = std::operator<<(pbVar1,"<<");
  std::basic_ostream<>::operator<<((basic_ostream<> *)pbVar1,std::endl<>);
}
```

I'm clueless about the meaning of the `pcVar2 =` line. I would expect `c_str` to be the method of some given string, [e.g.](https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/string/basic_string/c_str) `std::string const s("Emplary"); const char* p = s.c_str();`, but what is that string in the present case?

I can confirm that something is getting inserted as the binary prints "PXZ AX1<<", but it's hard to figure whence exactly this middle part is coming.