Skip to content

Add support for Rust architecture hook plugins - #8659

Open
zznop wants to merge 9 commits into
devfrom
test_rust_arch_hooks
Open

Add support for Rust architecture hook plugins#8659
zznop wants to merge 9 commits into
devfrom
test_rust_arch_hooks

Conversation

@zznop

@zznop zznop commented Oct 13, 2026 •
edited
Loading

Copy link
Copy Markdown
Member

Adds ArchitectureHook and register_architecture_hook to the Rust API so plugins can override selected behavior of existing architectures. Default methods delegate to the previous implementation, supporting stacked hooks without recursive calls.

  • Fixes shared Rust API limitations needed for transparent forwarding:
  • Preserves address mutation and normalization, including the ARM Thumb bit.
  • Expands flag-write operations to include floating-point and comparison operations, with a shared Raw representation for other operations.
  • Forwards flag-LLIL queries through CoreArchitecture and honors architecture-level intrinsic-class overrides.
  • Preserves decoded instruction length when lifting returns false.
  • Retains native instruction-token metadata and floating-point payload bits, using field storage consistent with C++.
  • Explicitly forwards function-context destruction through stacked hooks.

The attached demonstration plugin annotates ARM instructions that enable or disable interrupts in the attached binary.

ra4m1_hello_world.ino.elf.zip
lib.rs.zip

@zznop zznop added this to the Langara milestone Oct 13, 2026
@zznop
zznop requested a review from emesare October 13, 2026 17:54
@zznop zznop self-assigned this Oct 13, 2026
@zznop zznop added Component: Architecture Issue needs changes to an architecture plugin Component: Rust API Issue needs changes to the Rust API labels Oct 13, 2026
@zznop
zznop force-pushed the test_rust_arch_hooks branch from d06250a to ef08cf3 Compare October 20, 2026 19:35
@zznop

zznop commented Oct 20, 2026

Copy link
Copy Markdown
Member Author

This PR also addresses the 1st and 5th issue in the list here: https://github.com/Vector35/binaryninja/issues/1479

emesare
emesare requested changes Oct 21, 2026
View reviewed changes

@emesare emesare left a comment

Copy link
Copy Markdown
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Looks much better thanks

can we see about adding an example plugin for modifying the cpuid instr to return a particular cpu

binaryninja-api/examples/x86_extension/src/x86_extension.cpp

Line 31 in 8d7c38a

il.AddInstruction(il.Register(4, REG_EAX)); // Reference the register so we know it is read

If not I can see about adding it myself shortly after, i just think a plugin example to go along with this would be beneficial.

Comment thread rust/src/low_level_il/lifting.rs Outdated
Comment thread rust/tests/architecture_flag_write.rs Outdated
Comment thread rust/tests/architecture_hook.rs Outdated
zznop added 8 commits October 22, 2026 08:53
@zznop
Add support for Rust architecture hook plugins
f8792e1 
Introduce ArchitectureHook and register_architecture_hook with default
forwarding to the previous implementation. Preserve address normalization
and architecture-specific flag IL and intrinsic classes when delegating.
@zznop
Fix flag-write forwarding and intrinsic-class overrides in Rust hooks
375bc4d 
Forward flag-write operations unsupported by LowLevelILFlagWriteOp to
the previous architecture with their raw arguments intact, preserving
native floating-point flag semantics.

Route intrinsic-class queries through ArchitectureHook::intrinsic_class
while retaining existing custom-architecture behavior.
@zznop
Preserve address mutation throughout the Rust architecture API
1668004 
Change associated_arch_by_addr to accept &mut u64 and preserve updates
through the shared C callback. Update RISC-V and MSP430 implementations.
@zznop
Honor architecture-level intrinsic class overrides in Rust
c5093c6 
Dispatch the shared intrinsic-class callback through Architecture::intrinsic_class.
Default to Intrinsic::class() for known IDs and GeneralIntrinsicClass otherwise,
preserving existing intrinsic implementations.
@zznop
Expand Rust flag-write operations and unify callback dispatch
cda4a46 
Add floating-point and comparison variants to LowLevelILFlagWriteOp,
updating decoding, operation/size mapping, and operand conversion together.
Add a shared Raw variant to preserve unrepresented operations and complete
operand lists.
@zznop
Preserve function-context destruction through stacked Rust hooks
31a3f6b 
Install an explicit freeFunctionArchContext callback that forwards to the
stored previous implementation. This avoids relying on the core fallback
chain, which is lost when another hook copies the callback table.
@zznop
Preserve decoded length when Rust LLIL lifting fails
2120f19 
Forward the native length and success result together through
CoreArchitecture::instruction_llil, preserving length updates when lifting
returns false.
@zznop
Preserve instruction-token metadata through Rust architecture hooks
3aed237 
Store native token fields directly and serialize them without reconstructing
metadata from the typed kind. Preserve widths, operands, values, type names,
and floating-point payload bits, matching C++ behavior.

Keep typed constructors and expose kind() as a convenience view. Add raw C
token comparisons before and after stacked empty hooks, covering native x86,
synthetic metadata, and contextual disassembly.
@zznop
zznop force-pushed the test_rust_arch_hooks branch from ef08cf3 to 9057d22 Compare October 22, 2026 14:47
@zznop

zznop commented Oct 22, 2026

Copy link
Copy Markdown
Member Author

Looks much better thanks

can we see about adding an example plugin for modifying the cpuid instr to return a particular cpu

binaryninja-api/examples/x86_extension/src/x86_extension.cpp

Line 31 in 8d7c38a

il.AddInstruction(il.Register(4, REG_EAX)); // Reference the register so we know it is read

If not I can see about adding it myself shortly after, i just think a plugin example to go along with this would be beneficial.

Pushed one of the example arch hooks that I was testing with that adds an annotation to thumb instructions setting the PRIMASK register: https://github.com/Vector35/binaryninja-api/blob/test_rust_arch_hooks/rust/examples/primask_write_hook.rs

@zznop
zznop requested a review from emesare October 22, 2026 14:52
emesare
emesare requested changes Oct 22, 2026
View reviewed changes
Comment thread rust/plugin_examples/primask_write_hook/src/lib.rs
@zznop
zznop force-pushed the test_rust_arch_hooks branch from 9057d22 to 59574fc Compare October 23, 2026 14:23
@zznop
zznop requested a review from emesare October 23, 2026 14:28

This branch has not been deployed

No deployments
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Reviewers

@emesare emesare emesare approved these changes

Assignees

@zznop zznop

Labels

Component: Architecture Issue needs changes to an architecture plugin Component: Rust API Issue needs changes to the Rust API

Projects

None yet

Milestone

Langara

Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

2 participants

@zznop @emesare