sigmaker 1.6.0

Sigmaker is an IDA Pro 9.0+ cross-platform signature maker plugin that works on MacOS/Linux/Windows. It creates unique binary pattern signatures to identify specific functions or addresses within binaries, even after updates. It helps reverse engineers preserve their analysis work by generating resilient signatures that can quickly relocate important code locations in new binary versions.

Signature Maker Plugin for IDA Pro 9.0+

An IDA Pro 9.0+ zero-dependency cross-platform signature maker plugin with optional SIMD (e.g. AVX2/NEON/SSE2) speedups that works on MacOS/Linux/Windows. The primary goal of this plugin is to work with future versions of IDA without needing to compile against the IDA SDK as well as to allow for easier community contributions.

Installation

sigmaker's main value proposition is its cross-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux) Python 3 support. It uses zero third party dependencies, making the code both portable and easy to install.

Quick Install

• Copy src/sigmaker/__init__.py into the /plugins/ folder to the plugin directory!
• Rename it to sigmaker.py
• OPTIONALLY, if you would like SIMD speedups, just pip install sigmaker
• Restart IDA Pro.

From Releases

• Download the latest conveniently renamed sigmaker.py release from the Releases page
• Copy it to your IDA Pro plugins directory
• OPTIONALLY, if you would like SIMD speedups, just pip install sigmaker
• Restart IDA Pro

That's it!

Need to find your plugin directory?

From IDA's Python console run the following command to find its plugin directory:

import idaapi, os; print(os.path.join(idaapi.get_user_idadir(), "plugins"))

Where and what is my default user directory?

The user directory is a location where IDA stores some of the global settings and which can be used for some additional customization. Default location:

• On Windows: %APPDATA%/Hex-Rays/IDA Pro
• On Linux and Mac: $HOME/.idapro

SIMD Speedups

If you just followed the installation above and ran pip install sigmaker, then based on your system and architecture (i.e. Windows (x64), Linux (x64), Mac (x64), Mac (ARM/Silicon)), the plugin will install the appropriate wheel and will automatically use them if they're available. You do not have to do anything else. The plugin is designed to display the status of whether or not SIMD speedups are installed. They are shown in the top right menu bar of the plugin:

SIMD Enabled

No SIMD Speedups

Requirements

• IDA Pro 9.0+
• IDA Python
• Python 3.10+

What is a "sigmaker"?

Sigmaker stands for "signature maker." It enables users to create unique binary pattern signatures that can identify specific addresses or routines within a binary, even after the binary has been updated.

In malware analysis or binary reverse engineering, a common challenge is pinpointing an important address, such as a function or global variable. However, when the binary is updated, all the effort spent identifying these locations can be lost if their addresses change.

To preserve this work, reverse engineers take advantage of the fact that most programs do not change drastically between updates. While some functions or data may be modified, much of the binary remains the same. Most often, previously identified addresses are simply relocated. This is where sigmaker comes in.

Sigmaker lets you create unique patterns to track important parts of a program, making your analysis more resilient to updates. By generating signatures for specific functions, data references, or other critical locations, you can quickly relocate these points in a new version of the binary, saving time and effort in future reverse engineering tasks.

Usage

In disassembly view, select a line you want to generate a signature for, and press CTRL+ALT+S:

OR Right-Click and select SigMaker:

The generated signature will be printed to the output console, as well as copied to the clipboard:

---

Signature type	Example preview
IDA Signature	E8 ? ? ? ? 45 33 F6 66 44 89 34 33
x64Dbg Signature	E8 ?? ?? ?? ?? 45 33 F6 66 44 89 34 33
C Byte Array Signature + String mask	\xE8\x00\x00\x00\x00\x45\x33\xF6\x66\x44\x89\x34\x33 x????xxxxxxxx
C Raw Bytes Signature + Bitmask	0xE8, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x45, 0x33, 0xF6, 0x66, 0x44, 0x89, 0x34, 0x33 0b1111111100001

---

Finding XREFs

Generating code Signatures by data or code xrefs and finding the shortest ones is also supported:

---

Signature searching

Searching for Signatures works for supported formats:

It also supports wildcard nibble search support:

Just enter any string containing your Signature, it will automatically try to figure out what kind of Signature format is being used:

Currently, all output formats you can generate are supported.

Match(es) of your signature will be printed to console alongside the containing function name:

If the matched address is not a function name or has no function name, it falls back to just printing the address:

Signature Configuration

sigmaker also supports configurable wildcardable operands for unique signature creation:

There are also various options that be configured via the Other options button:

Acknowledgements

Thank you to to @A200K's IDA-Pro-SigMaker plugin which served as an inspiration and the initial port of this plugin.

Development & Releases

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Test thoroughly
5. Submit a pull request

Contact

ping me on x @mahmoudimus or you may contact me from any one of the addresses on mahmoudimus.com.

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2024 Mahmoud Abdelkader (@mahmoudimus)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.