A Bug Hunter's Diary

1.4 Tools of the Trade

When searching for bugs, or building exploits to test them, I need a way to see inside the workings of applications. I most often use debuggers and disassemblers to gain that inside view.

Debuggers

A debugger normally provides methods to attach to user space processes or the kernel, write and read values to and from registers and memory, and to control program flow using features such as breakpoints or single-stepping. Each operating system typically ships with its own debugger, but several third-party debuggers are available as well. Table 1-1 lists the different operating system platforms and the debuggers used in this book.

Table 1-1. Debuggers Used in This Book

Operating system	Debugger	Kernel debugging
Microsoft	WinDbg (the ...