The United States’ National Security Agency (NSA) today finally released GHIDRA version 9.0 for free, the agency’s home-grown classified software reverse engineering tool that agency experts have been using internally for over a decade to hunt down security bugs in software and applications.
GHIDRA is a Java-based reverse engineering framework that features a graphical user interface (GUI) and has been designed to run on a variety of platforms including Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Reverse engineering a program or software involves disassembling, i.e. converting binary instructions into assembly code when its source code is unavailable, helping software engineers, especially malware analysts, understand the functionality of the code and actual design and implementation information.
The existence of GHIDRA was first publicly revealed by WikiLeaks in CIA Vault 7 leaks, but the NSA today publicly released the tool for free at the RSA conference, making it a great alternative to expensive commercial reverse engineering tools like IDA-Pro.
“It [GHIDRA] helps analyze malicious code and malware like viruses, and can give cybersecurity professionals a better understanding of potential vulnerabilities in their networks and systems,” NSA official website says while describing GHIDRA.
Source: thehackernews.com
