RTFC.org.uk

Kev Sheldrake

Home

Cliapi - Command Line Interface / Application Programming Interface

Download

Tool: cliapi.0.7.tgz | cliapi.0.6.tgz
Slides: cliapi.0.6.pdf

Overview

The idea is to be able to run any function in a library or an exe from the command line without having to write code. You know how it is; the thing you're hacking does some complex manipulation that you could simulate either by writing code or stringing together a stack of cli programs, but you can't help thinking that there should be some way of just running the function, without having to do it manually in gdb. Well that's what cliapi was written to address.

Cliapi can load an exe or a shared library, it can list the functions it finds in the (non-stripped) symbol table together with start addresses, it can take a set of arguments and run a single function within the exe or shared library, and it can return the return value as its exit code.

If it's an exe then there is the option to break either at the start of main() (default) or at the start of some other function or a specific address. You can also specify command line arguments for the exe that get passed to it when it starts up that might be needed if you break it after the start of main().

Cliapi also has an option to start it up as a pipe server. This means that it will break on main() (or the specified break function) and then wait for commands over the specified pipe. Cliapi can then be run again as a pipe client to tell the pipe server to run a specific function with specified arguments. This can be repeated over and again to run one function after another while retaining the exe in memory and any state that it may create or manipulate.

There's also lots of things cliapi can't do; most notably, it's probably not ported to your architecture. For that, and everything else, there is C. Feel free to use this code as a base for your crazy project but don't expect any support for your insanity.

Supported platforms

Expecting it to work on any other platforms is very optimistic of you.






        888     .d888                      888                .d8888888b.                                       d8b 888                                    
        888    d88P"                       888               d88P"   "Y88b                                      Y8P 888                                    
        888    888                         888               888  d8b  888                                          888                                    
888d888 888888 888888 .d8888b .d88b.   .d88888  .d88b.       888  888  888       .d88b.  88888b.d88b.   8888b.  888 888      .d8888b .d88b.  88888b.d88b.  
888P"   888    888   d88P"   d88""88b d88" 888 d8P  Y8b      888  888bd88P      d88P"88b 888 "888 "88b     "88b 888 888     d88P"   d88""88b 888 "888 "88b 
888     888    888   888     888  888 888  888 88888888      888  Y8888P"       888  888 888  888  888 .d888888 888 888     888     888  888 888  888  888 
888     Y88b.  888   Y88b.   Y88..88P Y88b 888 Y8b.          Y88b.     .d8      Y88b 888 888  888  888 888  888 888 888 d8b Y88b.   Y88..88P 888  888  888 
888      "Y888 888    "Y8888P "Y88P"   "Y88888  "Y8888        "Y88888888P"       "Y88888 888  888  888 "Y888888 888 888 Y8P  "Y8888P "Y88P"  888  888  888 
                                                                                     888                                                                   
                                                                                Y8b d88P                                                                   
                                                                                 "Y88P"