Ghidra Debugger plugin for RESim
These are a set of plugins for the Ghidra Debugger to allow Ghidra to be used as the disassembler/debugger with the RESim reverse engineering platform. See https://github.com/mfthomps/RESim
NOTE: This is preliminary work. While many of the RESim IDA Pro plugin features are replicated here, it is not complete and not fully tested.
Install Ghidra from its repo
These plugins currently require Ghidra version 10.3, which can be rebuilt
from the Ghidra repo (https://github.com/NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra) per their rebuilding instructions.
The released version of Ghidra (10.1.4) will not work, it is missing some necessary functions.
After rebuilding ghidra, find its installation zip in ghidra/build/dist.
Unzip the install zip into a directory and set an GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR environment variable to that,
and set it in your .bashrc.
Assuming you've performed the installation step, keep the Ghidra repo up to date using the rebuildGhidra.sh script in the RESimGhidraPlugins repo described below.
Install fork of gdb
Use of the Ghidra plugin requires a modified version of gdb, available at \url{https://github.com/mfthomps/binutils-gdb}. The modification causes gdb to display responses from "monitor" commands using the same FD as used for other gdb command results. This is needed for Ghidra to see those results. See the README in the forked gdb repo for information on building gdb.
Get the RESim plugin
The plugin can be installed using the github release at https://github.com/mfthomps/RESimGhidraPlugins/releases/latest Download the RESimGhidraPlugins.tar and expand it into your GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR/Extensions directory.
Alternately, clone the RESimGhidraPlugins repo run the ./buildRESimExtension.sh script to build and install the extension.
Install the RESim plugin into Ghidra
After starting Ghidra from GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR, use the menu: File / Install Extensions and click the Add icon (upper right). Then navigate to and select:
GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR/Extensions/RESimGhidraPlugins
Your must then restart Ghidra.
When the debugger is started, a number of RESim windows should appear. Drag those to tabbed windows per taste. If RESim plugins don't seem to be present, use File / Configure and then click the plugin icon in the upper right. In the resulting dialog scroll down to the plugins having a "RESIM" prefix and make sure they are selected. If the plugins are selected, but do not appear in the windows, use the Window / Debugger menu to select the RESim windows (the ones with the top icon).
Use the RESim / Configure menu options to set the path to your customized gdb; the path to the file system root of the target binary, the host:port of your Simics host, and to set the ARM architecture if needed. See the RESim-UsersGuide.pdf for additional information on using the Ghidra plugin with RESim.
Ghidra Debugger hover plugins
The hover plugins included herein are largely separable from other plugs. They display register and address values when the mouse hovers over operands.
Development
If you are developing the plugin with Eclipse, you can test the plugin within the Ghidra repo environment by creating a link from the repo's Ghidra/Extensions to the RESimGhidraPlugins repo. This lets you test using class files instead of the jar's, and does not require reinstalling the plugin and restarting Ghidra.