⚡ HT-RE – Web-Based Reverse Engineering Environment

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Why Use HT-RE?
3. Key Features Overview
4. Prerequisites & Dependencies
5. Installing binpatch (Required Dependency)
6. Installation & Setup
7. Workflow & Usage Guide
8. License

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Introduction

HT-RE is a fast, dependency-light, web-based Graphical User Interface for Reverse Engineering and Binary Patching. Designed natively for Linux, it brings standard GNU utilities (objdump, readelf, xxd, strings, as, objcopy), the Ghidra Headless Decompiler, and the binpatch utility into a unified, responsive browser workspace.

Instead of opening heavy desktop applications, HT-RE lets you dissect, decompile, patch, convert data representations, inspect CPU memory, and calculate relative jumps directly in your browser with persistent SHA-256 caching and an integrated multi-window desktop environment.

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Why Use HT-RE?

Traditional reverse engineering workflows often require juggling terminal windows, hex editors, disassemblers, calculators, and decompilers. HT-RE integrates these tools into a single interface:

• Instant Context Navigation: Click memory addresses in disassembly, headers, or strings to jump directly to instruction offsets.
• Headless Ghidra Decompilation: Runs Ghidra in the background, extracting C/C++ source and caching it permanently using SHA-256 file hashes for instant loading across sessions.
• Multi-Project Workspace: Open and switch between multiple binaries in tabs without losing disassembly state, window layouts, or calculator data.
• Floating Multi-Window Environment: Open multiple functions side-by-side, reorder tabs via drag-and-drop, pop tabs into separate windows, and manage views with a top-bar dock taskbar.
• Data & RE Calculator Arsenal: Spawn unlimited bitwise scientific calculators, convert between data types (including Float16, Float32, Float64), swap endianness, and encode/decode UTF-8, UTF-16LE, and ANSI strings.

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Key Features Overview

• Multi-Project Tabs: Load multiple ELF binaries into workspace tabs. Switch between binaries while preserving full scroll positions, disassemblies, floating windows, and calculator states.
• Floating Multi-Window Desktop:
  • Multi-tab floating windows with independent Ace Editor instances.
  • HTML5 drag-and-drop tab reordering and right-click tab detaching ("Pop into New Window").
  • Window controls: Center on screen, minimize to top taskbar dock, maximize, and resize.
  • Sidebar context menus to open functions in active or new windows.
  • Interactive font size scaling (A+ / A-) and symbol double-click jumping inside decompiled C/C++ code.
• Virtual DOM Scroller: Renders massive 100,000+ line disassemblies smoothly with sub-millisecond updates and syntax highlighting.
• Persistent Tab Memory: Remembers your exact scroll position and output state across all tabs (Disassembly, Hex Dump, Strings, Found Strings, Header, Sections, Relocs).
• "All In One" Decompilation: Stitches all Ghidra-decompiled C/C++ functions into a single source view (with main or _start organized at the bottom) for readable top-down analysis.
• Dis/Assembler Tool: Convert assembly instructions (e.g. mov r1, #55 or xor eax, eax) directly to machine hex bytes (e3 a0 10 37 / 31 c0) and vice-versa for x86-64, ARM, and AArch64.
• Integrated binpatch GUI: Search byte patterns (exact or heuristic), apply hex patches with automatic .bak backups, and disassemble functions with "Stream Until Return" support.
• Infinite RE Calculators: Spawn unlimited calculators with:
  • Base translation outputs (Dec, Hex, Bin).
  • Space-insensitive and prefix-free Hex interpretation (e.g. FF + 20).
  • CPU-accurate bit-width bounding (8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, 64-bit, Unlimited).
  • Bitwise operations (AND, OR, XOR, LSH, RSH, NOT) and custom functions (bswap32, bswap64, rol, ror).
  • Interactive calculation histories.
• Memory & Float Conversions: Real-time conversions across Hex, Binary, Octal, Int8/16/32/64, UInt8/16/32/64, Float16 (Half), Float32 (Single), and Float64 (Double).
• Multi-Encoding String Converter: Encode and decode text to hex across UTF-8, UTF-16LE (Windows Wide), and ANSI (Windows-1252).
• Full ASCII Reference Table: Top-to-bottom 3-column reference covering all 256 standard, control, and extended ASCII characters.
• Relative Jump Calculator: Calculate displacement offsets and destination targets in both Hex and Decimal.
• Granular JSON Workspace Exporter: Selectively export headers, sections, disassembly segments, decompiled C/C++ functions, and custom binpatch runs into standalone JSON reports.

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Prerequisites & Dependencies

HT-RE is built for Linux environments (utilizing standard Linux ELF tools).

1. Python 3.6+ & Flask

Install Flask for the backend server:

pip install flask

2. GNU Binutils

Required for disassembly, symbol extraction, and binary inspection:

# Arch / Artix Linux
sudo pacman -S binutils

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install binutils

3. Ghidra (For C/C++ Decompilation)

Ghidra must be installed on your system. HT-RE automatically looks for analyzeHeadless in common directories (/opt/ghidra/, ~/Downloads/ghidra_.../, /usr/lib/ghidra/).

If installed in a custom path, set GHIDRA_HOME before launching HT-RE:

export GHIDRA_HOME="/path/to/your/ghidra_directory"

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Installing binpatch (Required Dependency)

To use the Patch/Find tab and custom export commands, install binpatch globally:

• GitHub: https://github.com/TheMaster1127/binpatch
• GitLab: https://gitlab.com/TheMaster1127/binpatch

System-wide Installation (Linux)

git clone https://github.com/TheMaster1127/binpatch.git
cd binpatch
sudo cp binpatch /usr/local/bin/binpatch
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/binpatch

(Alternatively, install using wget):

sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TheMaster1127/binpatch/main/binpatch -O /usr/local/bin/binpatch && sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/binpatch

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Installation & Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/TheMaster1127/HT-RE.git
   cd HT-RE

2. Start the server:

   python3 server.py

3. Open the application: Navigate your browser to:

   http://localhost:8000
   

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Workflow & Usage Guide

1. Load Binaries: Enter the absolute path to an executable in the top input box or click 📁 Browse to upload an executable from your local file system.
2. Decompile All: Click ⚡ Decompile All in the left sidebar to run batch headless decompilation across all symbol mappings. Once finished, a ✓ Decompiled Already indicator will appear.
3. Open Function Windows:
   • Double-click any function in the sidebar to open it in a floating window.
   • Right-click functions to open them in new windows, tabbed views, or jump to them in the disassembly.
4. Window Management:
   • Drag windows by their title bars.
   • Reorder tabs using drag-and-drop or right-click to pop tabs into standalone windows.
   • Use window controls to center, minimize to the top taskbar dock, or maximize windows.
5. Inspect & Disassemble:
   • Switch between Header / Info, Sections, Disassembly, Hex Dump, Relocs, and Strings.
   • Your scroll position is preserved when switching back and forth between tabs.
6. Patch & Assemble:
   • Use the Patch/Find (binpatch) tab to locate signatures, resolve function boundaries, and apply patches.
   • Use the Dis/Assembler tab to convert between mnemonics and opcodes.
7. Calculate & Convert:
   • Open the Data / Calc tab to perform register simulations, IEEE float conversions, and relative jump calculations.
   • Spawn multiple RE Scientific Calculators side-by-side.
8. Export Workspace: Click Export JSON, select the desired headers, strings, disassembly chunks, and decompiled C/C++ functions, and download a structured JSON archive.

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License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPLv3).