hstrings
is a command-line tool for finding and displaying hidden continuous sequences of printable characters within a binary file or stdin input. The tool rotates the input bytes using various left-right rotations and XOR operations before searching for printable character sequences. The output is color-coded for each type of operation.
To compile the program, simply run:
make
To use the program with a binary file, run:
./hstrings <binary_file>
To use the program with input from stdin, run:
./hstrings < input_file
or
cat input_file | ./hstrings
The program will print continuous sequences of printable characters that are 3 characters or longer on separate lines. The output is color-coded based on the type of rotation applied to the input bytes:
- Red: Left rotations (ROL)
- Blue: Right rotations (ROR)
- Green: XOR operation
Before each set of sequences, the program prints the rotation type and the number of bits rotated, in the format ROL-X
, ROR-X
or XOR-X
where X
is the number of bits or key used.
Suppose you have a binary file named sample.bin
. To use the hstrings
tool on this file, run:
./hstrings sample.bin
The program will display the continuous sequences of printable characters for each rotation:
ROL-4:
(sequence 1)
(sequence 2)
...
ROR-1:
(sequence 1)
(sequence 2)
...
XOR-0x4F:
(sequence 1)
(sequence 2)
...
To install the program, run:
make install
This command will install the hstrings
tool to /usr/local/bin
. You may need to run sudo make install
to install with the required permissions.
To uninstall the program, run:
make uninstall
This command will remove the hstrings
tool from /usr/local/bin
. You may need to run sudo make uninstall
to remove the program with the required permissions.
Copyright (C) 2023 Dimitrios Vlastaras. All rights reserved.
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.