GEF Introduction

The GEF extension provides several features to the binary that are extremely helpful for debugging.

These are not all the commands that GEF provides. These are the ones I use most often in most debugging scenarios. For the complete list of commands, consult the GEF documentation.

I organize the commands into a few categories:

  • Ease of Use: Commands that make the debugging experience easier.
  • Security Measures: Commands that provide extra guidance based on the implemented security measures.
  • Memory Analysis: Extra commands that show various memory segments better than the default gdb commands.
  • Debugging UI: Commands to control the GEF debugging experience.
  • Exploit Development: Commands useful for exploit development.

Installation

The easiest way to install GEF is through wget:

$ bash -c "$(wget https://gef.blah.cat/sh -O -)"

Usage

GEF is automatically loaded when you run gdb so no further action is required!