hex-patch 1.7.2

HexPatch is a binary patcher and editor with terminal user interface (TUI), it's capable of disassembling instructions and assembling patches. It supports a variety of architectures and file formats. Also, it can edit remote files via SSH.
Documentation

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HexPatch is a binary patcher and editor with terminal user interface (TUI), it's capable of disassembling instructions and assembling patches. It supports a variety of architectures and file formats. Also, it can edit remote files via SSH.

Installation

You will need the Rust toolchain, you can get it here.

cargo install hex-patch

SSH connection

In order to connect via SSH, you can use the following command:

hex-patch --ssh <user>@<host>[:<port>] [--password <password>] [additional arguments]

If you don't specify a password, the client must be set up with keypair authentication and you must have a key in your ~/.ssh directory.

Keys are searched in the following order:

  • id_rsa
  • id_ed25519
  • id_ecdsa
  • id_dsa

The first key found will be used.

Supported file formats and architectures

The following file formats are supported by default:

  • Coff
  • CoffBig
  • Elf32
  • Elf64
  • MachO32
  • MachO64
  • Pe32
  • Pe64
  • Xcoff32
  • Xcoff64

Other file formats can be added with plugins.

The following architectures are supported:

  • Aarch64
  • Aarch64_Ilp32
  • Arm
  • I386
  • X86_64
  • X86_64_X32
  • Mips
  • Mips64
  • PowerPc
  • PowerPc64
  • Riscv32
  • Riscv64
  • S390x
  • Sparc64

Settings

Read the settings documentation for more information.

Plugins

HexPatch supports plugins written in Lua. Plugins must be placed in the plugins directory in hex-patch's configuration directory. A different plugins directory can be specified with the --plugins flag.

You can find more information about the Plugin Lua API here.

Features

  • Help menu Help menu

  • Log Log

  • Text view Text view

  • Jump to address Jump to address Jump to a virtual address with v0x or to a file offset with 0x. You can also jump to symbols and sections.

  • Open file Open file

  • Run command Run command

  • Find text Find text

  • Find symbol Find symbol

  • Insert Text Insert text

  • Patch Patch

Known issues

  • Some key combinations may not work as expected, notably SHIFT + ENTER on VSCode terminal. Please refer to this issue for more information. Unfortunately, this behavior is out of my control.
  • If you try to write an invalid relative jump instruction with more than one register (e.g. jmp [rip+rax]) in X86 architectures the program will crash. This problem depends on the keystone-engine crate, and it's out of my control.

Special thanks

Thanks to Lorenzo Colombini for the instruction highlighting.