Tools: Firmware & Binary Analysis
1. Introduction
Firmware and binary analysis tools are essential for performing security assessments when you don't have access to the source code, such as when integrating third-party components or verifying production firmware. They allow engineers to inspect compiled firmware images to find vulnerabilities, hardcoded secrets, or insecure configurations.
For a detailed explanation of the compliance requirements this helps to meet, see our guide on Secure Configuration & Hardening.
2. Build vs. Buy: A Strategic Choice
The choice in this category is not whether to build your own analysis tools from scratch, but how to best leverage the powerful tools that already exist.
Developing a software reverse-engineering framework like Ghidra or radare2, or a disassembler like IDA Pro, is a monumental task that requires years of specialized research and development. It is not a practical or value-adding activity for a product manufacturer.
The most effective path is to integrate these industry-standard tools into your security testing workflow and train your team to use them effectively, rather than attempting to reinvent them.
3. Tooling Landscape
These tools allow engineers to reverse-engineer compiled firmware images, inspect their contents, extract file systems, and analyze the executable code to find hidden vulnerabilities.
| Tool | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Binwalk | 🐙 | A fast, easy-to-use tool for analyzing, reverse engineering, and extracting firmware images. |
| Ghidra | 🐙 | A full-featured, high-end software reverse engineering (SRE) framework developed by the NSA. |
| radare2 | 🐙 | A complete framework for reverse-engineering and analyzing binaries, composed of a set of small, scriptable utilities. |
| strings | 🐙 | A basic utility that prints the printable character sequences in a file. A simple but effective first step for finding hardcoded secrets. |
| FACT (Firmware Analysis & Comparison Tool) | 🐙 | An extensible platform for performing automated firmware security analysis and comparing firmware versions. |
| Firmwalker | 🐙 | A script for searching extracted firmware filesystems for common vulnerabilities and interesting artifacts. |
| Finite State | 💰 | A commercial product security platform that performs deep binary analysis on firmware to uncover vulnerabilities and generate SBOMs from compiled code. |
| IDA Pro | 💰 | A powerful, industry-standard commercial disassembler and debugger for software reverse engineering. |
| JEB Decompiler | 💰 | A professional reverse engineering platform for Android, ARM, and MIPS binaries. |
Type: 💰=Commercial, 🐙=Open-Source