CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++gccclang
user5364144
user5364144

Reputation:

How to export function names and variable names using GCC or clang?

I am making a commercial software and I don't want for it to be easily crackable. It is targeted for Linux and I am compiling it using GCC (8.2.1). The problem is that when I compile it, technically anyone can use disassembler like IDA or Binary Ninja to see all functions names. Here is example (you can see function names on left panel):

screenshot

Is there any way to protect my program from this kind if reverse engineering? Is there any way of exporting all if these function names and variables from code automatically (with GCC or clang?), so I can make a simple script to change them to completely random before compilation?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1318

Answers (1)

Lightness Races in Orbit
Lightness Races in Orbit

Reputation: 385144

So you want to hide/mask the names of symbols in your binary. You've decided that, to do this, you need to get a list of them so that you can create a script to modify them. Well, you could get that list with nm but you don't need any of that (rewriting names inside a compiled binary? oof… recipe for disaster).

Instead, just do what everybody does in a release build and strip the symbols! You'll see a much smaller binary, too. Of course this doesn't prevent reverse engineering (nothing does), though it arguably makes said task more difficult.

Honestly you should be stripping your release binaries anyway, and not to prevent cracking. Common wisdom is not to try too hard to prevent cracking, because you'll inevitably fail, and at the cost of wasted dev time in the attempt (and possibly a more complex codebase that's harder to maintain / a more complex executable that is less fast and/or useful for the honest customer).

Upvotes: 1

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