| name | byte-pattern-matching |
| description | Search for raw byte patterns (hex sequences, opcodes) in binary code. Use when looking for specific instruction sequences, machine code patterns, UEFI SMI handlers, or known vulnerability signatures by their byte representation. |
Byte Pattern Matching
Search for raw byte patterns (hex sequences) in binary code.
When to use
- Find specific instruction sequences by their machine code bytes
- Locate code patterns when the raw opcode bytes are known
- Search for known vulnerability signatures by byte pattern
- Find UEFI-specific patterns like SMI handlers or protocol usage
Instructions
Using the VulHunt MCP tools, open the project (open_project) and run the following Lua query (query_project), adapting it as needed:
local result = project:search_code("<byte_pattern>")
if result then
local entry = {
function_address = tostring(result.function_address),
start_address = tostring(result.start_address),
end_address = tostring(result.end_address),
instructions = {},
}
for _, insn in ipairs(result.insns) do
table.insert(entry.instructions, {
mnemonic = insn.mnemonic,
address = tostring(insn.address),
})
end
return entry
end
The byte pattern is a hex string (e.g., "554889e5................", where .. matches any byte).
Returns a JSON object containing:
function_address - the address of the function containing the match
start_address - the start address of the matched pattern
end_address - the end address of the matched pattern
instructions - list of matched instructions with their mnemonics and addresses
UEFI Platform
For UEFI targets, additional functions and options are available:
local result = project:search_code("<byte_pattern>", "sw_smi_handlers")
local result = project:search_code("<byte_pattern>", "child_sw_smi_handlers")
local guid_found = project:search_guid("5B1B31A1-9562-11D2-8E3F-00A0C969723B", "EFI_LOADED_IMAGE_PROTOCOL_GUID")
local nvram_found = project:search_nvram("GetVariable", "PlatformLang", "8BE4DF61-93CA-11D2-AA0D-00E098032B8C")
local protocol_found = project:search_protocol("LocateProtocol", "PCD_PROTOCOL_GUID", "11B34006-D85B-4D0A-A290-D5A571310EF7")
local ppi_found = project:search_ppi("LocatePpi", "PPIName", "9C21FD11-434A-12D3-D10D-109048052C8A")
NOTE: The architecture of the loaded binary can be obtained using project.architecture.
References
URLs to additional documentation pages are available at https://vulhunt.re/llm.txt
Related Skills
- code-pattern-matching (
/code-pattern-matching) - For higher-level semantic pattern matching in decompiled code, while byte-pattern-matching works at the raw instruction level
- decompiler (
/decompiler) - Decompile matched code to understand what the byte pattern represents