I have a core dump of an executable that was NOT built with debug symbols. Can I recover argv contents?

Question

I have a core dump of an executable that was NOT built with debug symbols.

Can I recover argv contents to see what the command line was?

If I run gdb, I can

Answer 1

On x86_64 the arguments are passed in %rdi, %rsi, etc. registers (calling convention).

Therefore, when you step into the main frame, you should be able to:

(gdb) p $rdi           # == argc
(gdb) p (char**) $rsi  # == argv

(gdb) set $argv = (char**)$rsi
(gdb) set $i = 0
(gdb) while $argv[$i]
> print $argv[$i++]
> end

Unfortunately, GDB will not normally restore $rdi and $rsi when you switch frames. So this example doesn't work:

cat t.c

#include <stdlib.h>

int bar() { abort(); }
int foo() { return bar(); }
int main()
{
  foo();
  return 0;
}

gcc t.c && ./a.out
Aborted (core dumped)

gdb -q ./a.out core
Core was generated by `./a.out'.
Program terminated with signal 6, Aborted.
#0  0x00007fdc8284aa75 in *__GI_raise (sig=<optimized out>) at ../nptl/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/raise.c:64
64  ../nptl/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/raise.c: No such file or directory.
    in ../nptl/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/raise.c
(gdb) bt
#0  0x00007fdc8284aa75 in *__GI_raise (sig=<optimized out>) at ../nptl/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/raise.c:64
#1  0x00007fdc8284e5c0 in *__GI_abort () at abort.c:92
#2  0x000000000040052d in bar ()
#3  0x000000000040053b in foo ()
#4  0x000000000040054b in main ()
(gdb) fr 4
#4  0x000000000040054b in main ()
(gdb) p $rdi
$1 = 5524    ### clearly not the right value

So you'll have to work some more ...

What you can do is use the knowledge of how Linux stack is set up at process startup, combined with the fact that GDB will restore stack pointer:

(gdb) set backtrace past-main
(gdb) bt
#0  0x00007ffff7a8da75 in *__GI_raise (sig=<optimized out>) at ../nptl/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/raise.c:64
#1  0x00007ffff7a915c0 in *__GI_abort () at abort.c:92
#2  0x000000000040052d in bar ()
#3  0x000000000040053b in foo ()
#4  0x0000000000400556 in main ()
#5  0x00007ffff7a78c4d in __libc_start_main (main=<optimized out>, argc=<optimized out>, ubp_av=<optimized out>, init=<optimized out>, fini=<optimized out>, rtld_fini=<optimized out>, stack_end=0x7fffffffdad8) at libc-start.c:226
#6  0x0000000000400469 in _start ()

(gdb) frame 6
(gdb) disas
Dump of assembler code for function _start:
   0x0000000000400440 <+0>: xor    %ebp,%ebp
   0x0000000000400442 <+2>: mov    %rdx,%r9
   0x0000000000400445 <+5>: pop    %rsi
   0x0000000000400446 <+6>: mov    %rsp,%rdx
   0x0000000000400449 <+9>: and    $0xfffffffffffffff0,%rsp
   0x000000000040044d <+13>:    push   %rax
   0x000000000040044e <+14>:    push   %rsp
   0x000000000040044f <+15>:    mov    $0x400560,%r8
   0x0000000000400456 <+22>:    mov    $0x400570,%rcx
   0x000000000040045d <+29>:    mov    $0x40053d,%rdi
   0x0000000000400464 <+36>:    callq  0x400428 <__libc_start_main@plt>
=> 0x0000000000400469 <+41>:    hlt    
   0x000000000040046a <+42>:    nop
   0x000000000040046b <+43>:    nop
End of assembler dump.

So now we expect the original %rsp to be $rsp+8 (one POP, two PUSHes), but it could be at $rsp+16 due to alignment that was done at instruction 0x0000000000400449

Let's see what's there ...

(gdb) x/8gx $rsp+8
0x7fffbe5d5e98: 0x000000000000001c  0x0000000000000004
0x7fffbe5d5ea8: 0x00007fffbe5d6eb8  0x00007fffbe5d6ec0
0x7fffbe5d5eb8: 0x00007fffbe5d6ec4  0x00007fffbe5d6ec8
0x7fffbe5d5ec8: 0x0000000000000000  0x00007fffbe5d6ecf

That looks promising: 4 (suspected argc), followed by 4 non-NULL pointers, followed by NULL.

Let's see if that pans out:

(gdb) x/s 0x00007fffbe5d6eb8
0x7fffbe5d6eb8:  "./a.out"
(gdb) x/s 0x00007fffbe5d6ec0
0x7fffbe5d6ec0:  "foo"
(gdb) x/s 0x00007fffbe5d6ec4
0x7fffbe5d6ec4:  "bar"
(gdb) x/s 0x00007fffbe5d6ec8
0x7fffbe5d6ec8:  "bazzzz"

Indeed, that's how I invoked the binary. As a final sanity check, does 0x00007fffbe5d6ecf look like part of the enovironment?

(gdb) x/s 0x00007fffbe5d6f3f
0x7fffbe5d6f3f:  "SSH_AGENT_PID=2874"

Yep, that's the beginning (or the end) of the environment.

So there you have it.

Final notes: if GDB didn't print <optimized out> so much, we could have recovered argc and argv from frame #5. There is work on both GDB and GCC sides to make GDB print much less of "optimized out" ...

Also, when loading the core, my GDB prints:

Core was generated by `./a.out foo bar bazzzz'.

negating the need for this whole exercise. However, that only works for short command lines, while the solution above will work for any command line.