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authorblasty <blasty@local>2026-07-26 15:04:51 +0200
committerblasty <blasty@local>2026-07-26 15:04:51 +0200
commit2c2124aff2f4ed6df23512603b6e1ecdcd4b699b (patch)
tree2b2c2afe69e7f33e87ccb58e3bc466a94a4e689e /idatui/formats.py
parentarm: switch ARM/Thumb decoding with `t` (diff)
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arm: offer 32-bit ARM at load, and fix `p` on carved code
Reported as "after c a few times and p at the entry point, Tab just flashes and nothing decompiles". Three separate things, found by following it down: **1. `p` failed on hand-carved code.** ida_funcs.add_func(ea) asks IDA to find the function's end and on carved code it often can't — a run ending in a tail call, or whose last instruction isn't recognised as a return, fails with no reason given. add_func(ea, end) with an explicit end succeeds. define_func_run tries IDA's way first, then falls back to the end of the contiguous instruction run, and says which it used. **2. The database was 64-bit, so Hex-Rays refused it regardless.** Bare `-parm` gives an AArch64 database. Ask Hex-Rays for the failure object rather than reading None as "dunno" and it says exactly what's wrong: "only 64-bit functions can be decompiled in the current database". So the disassembly looked right and F5 could never work. That is decided at LOAD and cannot be corrected — inf_set_app_bitness(32) afterwards makes the decompiler INTERR 50735. The fix is at the load dialog: arm:ARMv7-A (most firmware), arm:ARMv7-M / arm:ARMv6-M (Cortex-M, Thumb only) and arm:ARMv5TE now sit alongside 64-bit `arm`, labelled with their bitness. With arm:ARMv7-A, experiments/fibonacci.bin decompiles: void __fastcall __noreturn sub_0(int a1) { int v2; v2 = sub_E3C(a1, 0); ... } — and IDA's own auto-analysis finds 54 Thumb functions on load, versus none as plain `arm`. **3. `t` was silently building an undecompilable state.** It forced the SEGMENT to 32-bit in a 64-bit database, which produces correct-looking disassembly that F5 will never touch. It now says so and names the fix (Ctrl+L, arm:ARMv7-A) rather than leaving you to discover it. tools/verify_procs.py now reports each processor's resulting bitness, since that is the reason the variants exist — and it compares against the base module name, because a variant reports "ARM". tests: test_thumb_ui.py +5 (13 total) — a 64-bit database warns and names the fix, a 32-bit one finds functions by itself, Tab decompiles a Thumb function and the result reads like C. test_formats.py +2 (34) pinning that a 32-bit variant is offered and the ARM labels state their bitness. 209/0 scenarios, 26/0 blob, 30/0 project UI.
Diffstat (limited to 'idatui/formats.py')
-rw-r--r--idatui/formats.py15
1 files changed, 12 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/idatui/formats.py b/idatui/formats.py
index b2f784d..f09bb99 100644
--- a/idatui/formats.py
+++ b/idatui/formats.py
@@ -92,9 +92,18 @@ def needs_load_options(path: str) -> bool:
#: reach for first — arm64, aarch64, mips, m68k — are all invalid. Re-run the
#: script before adding to this list.
PROCESSORS: tuple[tuple[str, str], ...] = (
- # 'arm' covers AArch64 too; arm64/aarch64 are NOT valid -p names, so they
- # live in the label where the filter can still find them.
- ("arm", "ARM / AArch64 / arm64 — little-endian"),
+ # Bare 'arm' gives a 64-BIT database in IDA 9 (AArch64). That matters far
+ # more than it looks: Hex-Rays refuses a 32-bit function in a 64-bit database
+ # ("only 64-bit functions can be decompiled in the current database"), and
+ # Thumb doesn't exist in AArch64 at all — so a 32-bit ARM image loaded as
+ # plain 'arm' disassembles wrongly and can never be decompiled. The database
+ # bitness is fixed at load; it cannot be corrected afterwards (setting it
+ # post-hoc makes the decompiler INTERR). Pick the right one here.
+ ("arm", "ARM64 / AArch64 / arm64 — 64-bit, little-endian"),
+ ("arm:ARMv7-A", "ARM 32-bit (ARMv7-A) — Thumb capable, most firmware"),
+ ("arm:ARMv7-M", "ARM 32-bit (ARMv7-M) — Cortex-M, Thumb only"),
+ ("arm:ARMv6-M", "ARM 32-bit (ARMv6-M) — Cortex-M0/M0+"),
+ ("arm:ARMv5TE", "ARM 32-bit (ARMv5TE) — older SoCs"),
("armb", "ARM — big-endian"),
("metapc", "x86 / x86-64"),
("mipsl", "MIPS — little-endian"),