scientific-method-engine
Bounded instruction-derived x86 evidence reports for segmented 16-bit MZ/FBOV code and
PE32/i386 code. The engine decodes instructions with Capstone, follows bounded paths and emits
bounded-x86-v1 JSON. It never runs the original program.
uv add --group research scientific-method-engine # or: pip install scientific-method-engine
For original MZ/FBOV executables, run reports through
@scientific-method/executable-reader. The
reader derives relocation, fixup and trampoline data from the hash-checked source and pipes a
prepared config to this engine. Running the engine directly trusts whatever relocation data the
config supplies, so use it directly only for synthetic inputs, PE32 sources and checked mappings:
scientific-method-engine trace analysis/query.json
python -m scientific_method_engine trace analysis/query.json
The package also carries the shared Ghidra headless scripts. scientific-method-engine ghidra-scripts prints their directory, for Ghidra's -scriptPath:
& "$env:GHIDRA_HOME/support/analyzeHeadless.bat" $project $name -process GAME.EXE -noanalysis `
-scriptPath (scientific-method-engine ghidra-scripts) -postScript ReportReferences.java 0x1234
Addresses are Ghidra addresses (0x00401000, or 1028:d820 for segmented programs). Report scripts
print to the analyzer log and cap their output. The scripts compile against Ghidra 12.1.
Reading code and data:
| Script | Arguments | Prints |
|---|---|---|
ReportInstructionContext |
one or more instruction addresses | a bounded instruction window around each |
ReportInstructionWindow |
address, instruction count | instructions from the address onward |
ReportDataBytes |
address, byte count (1..256) | the bytes at the address |
ReportFunctionSummary |
one or more addresses | focused decompiler output of each containing function |
ReportDecompileWindow |
address, first line (1-based), line count | a window of one function's decompilation |
ReportDecompileMatches |
address, one or more literal text patterns | decompilation lines around each match |
ReportMemoryBlocks |
nothing, page <start> <count>, or name <exact-name> |
memory block indexes, names, ranges and sizes, never bytes |
ReportFilePatternInMemory |
file offset (hex), optional pattern length (default 8) | where the bytes at that file offset occur in loaded memory |
ReportMemoryBlockForFileOffset |
one or more file offsets (hex) | the memory block and instructions where each offset's bytes are loaded |
Finding references and calls:
| Script | Arguments | Prints |
|---|---|---|
ReportReferences |
one or more addresses | references to each, with the referring instruction and function |
ReportStringReferences |
one or more literal string fragments | strings containing a fragment and their references |
ReportSymbolReferences |
one or more symbol-name fragments | matching symbols and their references |
ReportScalarConstants |
one or more scalar values | instructions using any of them, unsigned or signed |
ReportFunctionScalarConstants |
function address, one or more scalar values | instructions inside one function using any of them, compared unsigned |
ReportCallArguments |
callee address | the three nearest pushed arguments at every direct call |
ReportCallSitesWithScalars |
callee address, one or more scalar values | calls whose argument setup contains a requested value |
ReportConstantFirstArgumentCalls |
callee address, constant | cdecl calls whose first argument is the constant |
ReportFirstArgumentCallSummary |
callee address | the literal first argument of every call, and calls without one |
ReportCallsToRange |
start address, end address (inclusive) | calls and jumps whose target lies in the range |
ReportCallPaths |
start function, target function, maximum depth | direct-call paths between the two |
ReportRandomnessCandidates |
none | references to C runtime and Windows random and timing functions |
Exporting for comparison (each writes one file and refuses to overwrite where noted):
| Script | Arguments | Writes |
|---|---|---|
ExportBoundedFlow |
entry, instruction limit (1..10000), output path under analysis/original/ |
instruction metadata of one bounded flow as JSON |
ExportFunctionInventory |
output TSV path (must not exist) | every function's start and body size |
ExportFunctionFingerprints |
output TSV path | per-function and per-instruction fingerprints with addresses normalized, for matching functions across versions |
Repairing the analysis (these change the Ghidra program, so run them before reports and keep the argument lists with the evidence that justifies them):
| Script | Arguments | Changes |
|---|---|---|
CreateFunctions |
one or more entry addresses | creates functions at indirect-call targets Ghidra missed |
RecoverCitedFunctions |
file of 8-digit hex addresses, optional CSV column | disassembles and creates a function at each address inside executable memory |
ClearNoReturnFunctions |
one or more addresses | clears a wrong no-return flag on each containing function |
RepairReturningCallers |
callee entry, caller entry, verified call addresses | checks each call targets the callee from inside the caller, clears the callee's no-return flag and the calls' flow overrides, disassembles each continuation and recomputes the caller's body |
MergeFallThroughFragment |
parent entry, fragment entry | merges an orphan fragment reached by the parent's fall-through into the parent |
Restoration tools that build report configs can import the parsers directly, for example to derive a PE32 source's executable sections:
from scientific_method_engine.x86.pe import pe32
sections = [s for s in pe32(data)["sections"] if s["executable"]]
scientific_method_engine.x86.pe.pe32 and scientific_method_engine.x86.image.read_source are
supported imports and change only in a major release. Other modules are internal.
Commands, inputs, limits and acceptance rules are in the bounded evidence reporter guide. The reader and engine check that they speak the same prepared-config protocol and refuse to run otherwise.
1 maintainer
Metadata
1 maintainer
Release files for scientific-method-engine 0.1.0
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Total release size: 178.5 kB
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