VAGD

VirtuAlization GDb integrations in pwntools

Installation

pip install vagd

or from repo with

git clone https://github.com/gfelber/vagd
pip install ./vagd/

Usage

vagd template [OPTIONS] [BINARY] [IP] [PORT] to generate a template, list OPTIONS with help -h

from pwn import *

GOFF   = 0x555555554000                               # GDB default base address
IP     = ''                                           # remote IP
PORT   = 0                                            # remote PORT
BINARY = ''                                           # PATH to local binary
ARGS   = []                                           # ARGS supplied to binary
ENV    = {}                                           # ENV supplied to binary

# GDB SCRIPT, executed at start of GDB session (e.g. set breakpoints here)
GDB    = f"""
set follow-fork-mode parent

c"""

context.binary = exe = ELF(BINARY, checksec=False)    # binary
context.aslr = args.ASLR                              # ASLR enabled (only GDB)

vm = None
# setup vagd vm
def setup():
  global vm
  if args.REMOTE or args.LOCAL:
    return

  try:
    # only load vagd if needed
    from vagd import Dogd, Qegd, Box
  except:
    log.error('Failed to import vagd, either run locally using LOCAL or install it')
  if not vm:
    vm = Dogd(BINARY, image=Box.DOCKER_UBUNTU, ex=True, fast=True)  # Docker
    # vm = Qegd(BINARY, img=Box.QEMU_UBUNTU, ex=True, fast=True)  # Qemu
  if vm.is_new:
    # additional setup here
    log.info('new vagd instance')


# get target (pwnlib.tubes.tube)
def get_target(**kw) -> tubes.tube:
  if args.REMOTE:
    # context.log_level = 'debug'
    return remote(IP, PORT)

  if args.LOCAL:
    if args.GDB:
      return gdb.debug([BINARY] + ARGS, env=ENV, gdbscript=GDB, **kw)
    return process([BINARY] + ARGS, env=ENV, **kw)

  return vm.start(argv=ARGS, env=ENV, gdbscript=GDB, **kw)


setup()

#===========================================================
#                   EXPLOIT STARTS HERE
#===========================================================

# libc = ELF('', checksec=False)

t = get_target()

t.interactive() # or it()

vagd info BINARY to print info about binary

# run as process in VM
./exploit.py
# run with gdb attached, requires tmux
./exploit.py GDB
# run with gdb and ASLR enabled
./exploit.py GDB ASLR
# run on remote IP:PORT
./exploit.py REMOTE
# run on a different remote target (IPv6 in brackets)
./exploit.py REMOTE HOST[:PORT] [PORT]
# run process locally
./exploit.py LOCAL [GDB]

I recommend using pwndbg.

Files

All created files ares stored in the local ./.vagd/ directory. Additional large files (e.g. cloudimages) are stored in the home directory ~/.share/local/vagd/ or handled by tools themselfs (e.g. Docker).

CLI

alias vagd="python -m vagd" # or install with pip / pipx
# help message
vagd -h
# analyses the binary, prints checksec and .comment (often includes Distro and Compiler info)
vagd info BINARY
# creates template, for more info use: vagd template -h
vagd template [OPTIONS] [BINARY] [IP] [PORT]
# ssh to current vagd instance, for more info use: vagd ssh -h
vagd ssh [OPTIONS]
# scp file to/from vagd instance, for more info use: vagd scp -h
# e.g. vagd scp ./test_file vagd:./ # vagd:./ is default target
vagd scp [OPTIONS] SOURCE [TARGET]
# stop and remove current vagd instance, for more info use: vagd clean -h
vagd clean [OPTIONS]

IP and PORT can also be given as HOST:PORT or nc HOST PORT, or through the environment variables VAGD_IP and VAGD_PORT. BINARY may be omitted (e.g. vagd template host:1337), the template then only sets context.arch.

vagd template -a/--auto detects the container image: it uses the final FROM of a Dockerfile next to the binary (then in the current directory) and falls back to the compiler string in the binary's .comment section (Ubuntu/Debian).

To patch a binary explicitly, use -p/--patchelf with -l/--libc, repeatable -L/--library, or -i/--interpreter. The original is saved as <binary>.bak; the exact patched binary is used locally and inside the environment. Supplying -l/--libc alone only includes libc in the generated template.

Documentation

Boxes

A listed of known working Boxes can be found in the Documentation. Other images might also work but currently only distributions that use apt and alpine for Docker are supported. This limitation may be circumvented by creating a target yourself (with the dependencies gdbserver, python, openssh) and creating a ssh connection via Shgd.

Troubleshooting

background processes

all instances continue to run in the background (after a vagd object has been started), this improves the runtime greatly after the first execution of the exploit. But this means that instances must be killed manually e.g.: vagd clean

gdb & gdbserver

For containers (Dogd, Pogd) the host gdb attaches directly to the process (native=True, default) and uses the container root as sysroot, no gdbserver or sshfs is involved. This requires that the container user has the same uid as the host user (the generated Dockerfile takes care of this) and kernel.yama.ptrace_scope <= 1. Otherwise, and for VMs, gdbserver is used; I recommend using pwndbg. Other well known gdb plugins like peda aren't compatible with gdbserver and therefore won't work.

files

files on the virtual instance are never overwritten this has performance reason (so files aren't always copied if the exploit is run). If you need to updated files on the remote either use vagd scp or create use temporary directories Dogd(..., tmp=True)

gdb performance

Using gdbserver and gdb to index libraries can be very slow. Therefore an experimental feature is available that mounts libraries locally: Dogd(..., ex=True, fast=True)

Future plans

Better Docker integration

migrate away from ssh (attach from host) to get lower latency
additionally virtualize containers (Qemu) in order to change the used kernel

Metadata

Release files for vagd 2.0.0

For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.

Source distribution (sdist)

Source distribution for vagd 2.0.0
File	Size	Uploaded
vagd-2.0.0.tar.gz	59.1 kB	Oct 8, 2026	Details

Built distribution (wheel)

Table of built distributions (wheels) for vagd 2.0.0
File	Interpreter	ABI	Platform	Reset
vagd-2.0.0-py3-none-any.whl 61.3 kB Oct 8, 2026	Python 3	none	any	Details

Total release size: 120.4 kB

Release files / vagd-2.0.0.tar.gz

Download URL	vagd-2.0.0.tar.gz
Size	59.1 kB
Tags	Source
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`3d4090850eaec9d90e5e59aaad3fbe9f63691c2f6eeb95ee1fea73eee57d6183`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`8a762f946ac921a88e97277d2e0dd9e582f43d97569b27bd74897eabbb74326e`
Upload date	Oct 8, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.13.11`

Release files / vagd-2.0.0-py3-none-any.whl

Download URL	vagd-2.0.0-py3-none-any.whl
Size	61.3 kB
Tags	Python 3
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`5d90884b39d8821028ffb01162489ca2d34ed54084b04c3d23e7a2376b31176d`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`9083dab913fc36e3127e8c1fd37500ddd9dfd816352112d2394c49ff97ab7371`
Upload date	Oct 8, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.13.11`