asm_execve.s:
.section .data
file_to_run:
.ascii "/bin/sh"
.section .text
.globl main
main:
pushl %ebp
movl %esp, %ebp
subl $0x8, %esp # array of two pointers. array[0] = file_to_run array[1] = 0
movl file_to_run, %edi
movl %edi, -0x4(%ebp)
movl $0, -0x8(%ebp)
movl $11, %eax # sys_execve
movl file_to_run, %ebx # file to execute
leal -4(%ebp), %ecx # command line parameters
movl $0, %edx # environment block
int $0x80
leave
ret
makefile:
NAME = asm_execve
$(NAME) : $(NAME).s
gcc -o $(NAME) $(NAME).s
Program is executed, but sys_execve is not called:
alex@alex32:~/project$ make
gcc -o asm_execve asm_execve.s
alex@alex32:~/project$ ./asm_execve
alex@alex32:~/project$
Expected output is:
alex@alex32:~/project$ ./asm_execve
$ exit
alex@alex32:~/project$
This Assembly program is supposed to work like the following C code:
char *data[2];
data[0] = "/bin/sh";
data[1] = NULL;
execve(data[0], data, NULL);
Something wrong in system call parameters?
The execve
system call is being called, but you are indeed passing it bad parameters.
(You can see this by running your executable using strace
.)
There are three problems:
.ascii
does not 0-terminate the string. (You might get lucky, as there is nothing following it in your .data
section in this example, but that's not guaranteed...) Add a 0, or use .asciz
(or .string
) instead.
movl file_to_run, %edi
moves the value pointed to by the file_to_run
symbol into %edi
, i.e. the first 4 bytes of the string (0x6e69622f
). The address of the string is just the value of the symbol itself, so you need to use the $
prefix for literal values: movl $file_to_run, %edi
. Similarly, you need to say movl $file_to_run, %ebx
a few lines further down. (This is a common source of confusion between AT&T syntax and Intel syntax!)
The parameters are placed on the stack in the wrong order: -0x8(%ebp)
is a lower address than -0x4(%ebp)
. So the address of the command string should be written to -0x8(%ebp)
, the 0 should be written to -0x4(%ebp)
, and the leal
instruction should be leal -8(%ebp), %ecx
.
Fixed code:
.section .data
file_to_run:
.asciz "/bin/sh"
.section .text
.globl main
main:
pushl %ebp
movl %esp, %ebp
subl $0x8, %esp # array of two pointers. array[0] = file_to_run array[1] = 0
movl $file_to_run, %edi
movl %edi, -0x8(%ebp)
movl $0, -0x4(%ebp)
movl $11, %eax # sys_execve
movl $file_to_run, %ebx # file to execute
leal -8(%ebp), %ecx # command line parameters
movl $0, %edx # environment block
int $0x80
leave
ret
You actually don't need to load anything in the other arguments. If you are doing this in x86 the following simpler code will also work:
.global _main
.section .text
.data
file_to_run:
.asciz "/bin/sh"
.section .text
.globl main
_main:
pushl %ebp
movl %esp, %ebp
movl $11, %eax # sys_execve
movl $file_to_run, %ebx # file to execute
movl $0, %ecx # Null value will work too
movl $0, %edx # Null will works too
int $0x80
leave
ret
This will essentially open a shell terminal after invoking the system call.