Mahdi Belcaid

22 papers B 1Misc 4Journal 10Unranked 7
YearRankTypeTitle / Venue / Authors
2026 J jnl
SN Comput. Sci.
Jason Leigh, Luc Renambot, Ryan Theriot, Lance Long, Christopher J. Lee, Jesse Harden, Nurit Kirshenbaum, Mahdi Belcaid, Chris North, Andrew E. Johnson, Maxine D. Brown
2025 conf
AMCIS
Akib Sadmanee, Sukhwa Hong, Jason Leigh, Mahdi Belcaid
2024 J jnl
BMC Bioinform.
William L. Harrigan, Barbra D. Ferrell, K. Eric Wommack, Shawn W. Polson, Zachary D. Schreiber, Mahdi Belcaid
2024 conf
EduVIS@VIS
Jesse Harden, Nurit Kirshenbaum, Roderick S. Tabalba, Ryan Theriot, Michael L. Rogers, Mahdi Belcaid, Chris North, Luc Renambot, Lance Long, Andrew E. Johnson, Jason Leigh
2024 J jnl
CoRR
Jesse Harden, Nurit Kirshenbaum, Roderick S. Tabalba, Ryan Theriot, Michael L. Rogers, Mahdi Belcaid, Chris North, Luc Renambot, Lance Long, Andrew E. Johnson, Jason Leigh
2023 J jnl
Comput. Sci. Eng.
Mahdi Belcaid, Jason Leigh, Ryan Theriot, Nurit Kirshenbaum, Roderick S. Tabalba, Michael L. Rogers, Andrew E. Johnson, Maxine D. Brown, Luc Renambot, Lance Long, Arthur Nishimoto, Chris North, Jesse Harden
2022 J jnl
PeerJ Comput. Sci.
Mahdi Belcaid, Alberto Gonzalez Martinez, Jason Leigh
2022 conf
PEARC
Sean B. Cleveland, Cédric Arisdakessian, Craig Nelson, Mahdi Belcaid, Kiana Frank, Gwen A. Jacobs
2021 J jnl
Bioinform.
Cédric Arisdakessian, Olivia D. Nigro, Grieg F. Steward, Guylaine Poisson, Mahdi Belcaid
2021 Misc conf
SAC
Mahdi Belcaid, Cédric Arisdakessian, Yuliia Kravchenko
2021 conf
CIC
Krishna Bharadwaj, Andrew Burks, Andrew E. Johnson, Lance Long, Luc Renambot, Maxine D. Brown, Dylan Kobayashi, Mahdi Belcaid, Nurit Kirshenbaum, Roderick S. Tabalba, Ryan Theriot, Jason Leigh
2021 J jnl
Proc. ACM Hum. Comput. Interact.
Nurit Kirshenbaum, Kylie Davidson, Jesse Harden, Chris North, Dylan Kobayashi, Ryan Theriot, Roderick S. Tabalba, Michael L. Rogers, Mahdi Belcaid, Andrew Thomas Burks, Krishna Bharadwaj, Luc Renambot, Andrew E. Johnson, Lance Long, Jason Leigh
2020 conf
PEARC
Cédric Arisdakessian, Sean B. Cleveland, Mahdi Belcaid
2019 conf
eScience
Jason Leigh, Krishna Bharadwaj, Arthur Nishimoto, Lance Long, Jason Haga, John Burns, Francis Cristobal, Jared H. McLean, Roberto Pelayo, Mahdi Belcaid, Dylan Kobayashi, Nurit Kirshenbaum, Troy Wooton, Alberto Gonzalez, Luc Renambot, Andrew E. Johnson, Maxine D. Brown, Andrew Burks
2017 Misc conf
SAC
Mahdi Belcaid, Guylaine Poisson
2015 J jnl
PeerJ Comput. Sci.
Philippe Lavoie-Mongrain, Mahdi Belcaid, Aïda Ouangraoua, Anne Bergeron, Guylaine Poisson
2011 Misc conf
SAC
Mahdi Belcaid, Kyungim Baek, David Haymer, Guylaine Poisson
2011 J jnl
BMC Bioinform.
Mahdi Belcaid, Anne Bergeron, Guylaine Poisson
2010 J jnl
J. Comput. Biol.
Mahdi Belcaid, Anne Bergeron, Guylaine Poisson
2010 Misc conf
SAC
Mark Menor, Kyungim Baek, Mahdi Belcaid, Yannick Gingras, Guylaine Poisson
2009 conf
RECOMB-CG
Guylaine Poisson, Mahdi Belcaid, Anne Bergeron
2007 B conf
APBC
Mahdi Belcaid, Anne Bergeron, Annie Chateau, Cédric Chauve, Yannick Gingras, Guylaine Poisson, M. Vendette
redb/extractors/decompiler/bninja/analysis/disassembly.py
← Index redb/extractors/decompiler/bninja/analysis/disassembly.py python
import re
import time

import binaryninja
from binaryninja.enums import (
    InstructionTextTokenType,
)

# Support both package and standalone imports
try:
    from ..function_type import FunctionTypeAnalysis
    from ..utils.hashes import calculate_sha256
except ImportError:
    # Fallback to absolute imports (for multiprocessing spawned processes)
    from redb.extractors.decompiler.bninja.function_type import FunctionTypeAnalysis
    from redb.extractors.decompiler.bninja.utils.hashes import calculate_sha256


class DisassemblyAnalysis:
    INVALID_STACK_SIZE = -1

    def __init__(self, arch, function, bv, logger):
        self.arch = arch
        self.function = function
        self.bv = bv
        self.logger = logger
        if self.function is not None and hasattr(self.function, "instructions"):
            self.instructions = self.function.instructions
        else:
            self.instructions = []
        self.errors = []
        return

    def log_error(
        self, message, function_name, address, exception=None, error_location="unknown"
    ):
        """Log an error during processing."""
        error_msg = f"Error in function {function_name} at {address}: {message}"
        if exception:
            error_msg += f" - {str(exception)}"
        self.logger.error(error_msg)

        # Add to errors list
        error = {
            "function_name": function_name,
            "function_address": str(address),
            "error_location": error_location,
            "error_message": message,
            "error_details": str(exception) if exception else "",
            "error_type": type(exception).__name__ if exception else "Unknown",
            "timestamp": int(time.time() * 1000),
        }
        self.errors.append(error)

    def get_json(self):
        try:
            # Build disassembly string and normalized versions
            disassembly_builder = [[], []]  # Address and instruction text

            # Create a dictionary mapping addresses to instruction tokens
            instr_tokens_by_addr = {}
            for instr_tokens, addr in self.instructions:
                instr_tokens_by_addr[addr] = instr_tokens

            addresses = sorted(instr_tokens_by_addr.keys())
            for address in addresses:
                # Original disassembly with addresses
                # instr_tokens, address = instruction
                instr_tokens = instr_tokens_by_addr[address]
                disassembly_builder[0].append(address)
                disassembly_builder[1].append("".join(map(str, instr_tokens)))

            # Join with newlines
            disassembly_str = "\n".join(disassembly_builder[1])
            disassembly_with_addresses = "\n".join(
                f"{hex(address)}: {instr_text}"
                for address, instr_text in zip(
                    disassembly_builder[0], disassembly_builder[1], strict=False
                )
            )

            disassembly_json = {
                "disassembled_function_hash": calculate_sha256(disassembly_str),
                "disassembled_function": disassembly_with_addresses,
                "disassembled_function_no_addresses": disassembly_str,
                "disassembled_function_name": self.function.name,
                "disassembled_function_address": self.function.start,
                "instructions_count": len(instr_tokens_by_addr.keys()),
                "function_type": FunctionTypeAnalysis(self.function)
                .get_function_type()
                .name,
            }

            # Add additional metrics
            type_frequencies = self.collect_instruction_types()
            disassembly_json["instructions_types"] = list(type_frequencies.keys())
            disassembly_json["control_flow_count"] = (
                self.count_control_flow_instructions()
            )
            disassembly_json["memory_access_pattern"] = self.collect_memory_patterns()
            disassembly_json["register_usage"] = self.collect_register_usage()
            disassembly_json["data_references_count"] = self.count_data_references()
            disassembly_json["max_block_size"] = self.compute_max_block_size()
            disassembly_json["num_calls"] = self.compute_num_calls()
            disassembly_json["stack_size"] = self.estimate_stack_size()

            return disassembly_json, self.errors

        except Exception as e:
            self.log_error(
                "Failed to collect instruction types",
                self.function.name,
                self.function.start,
                e,
                "collect_instruction_types",
            )
            raise ValueError(e) from e

    def collect_instruction_types(self):
        """Collect instruction type frequencies from a function."""
        type_frequencies = {}

        try:
            # Iterate through all instructions in the function
            for instruction in self.instructions:
                instr_tokens = instruction[0]  # Get the instruction tokens

                # Extract the mnemonic from the instruction tokens
                mnemonic = None
                for token in instr_tokens:
                    if token.type == InstructionTextTokenType.InstructionToken:
                        mnemonic = token.text
                        break

                if not mnemonic:
                    continue

                # Use normalize_opcode to get standardized opcode
                normalized = self.normalize_opcode(mnemonic)

                # Get category from opcode_categories or use the instruction type directly
                category = self.arch.opcode_categories.get(normalized)
                if category:
                    self._increment_frequency(type_frequencies, category)

        except Exception as e:
            self.log_error(
                "Failed to collect instruction types",
                self.function.name,
                self.function.start,
                e,
                "collect_instruction_types",
            )

        return type_frequencies

    def normalize_opcode(self, opcode):
        return opcode.upper()

    def collect_memory_patterns(self):
        """Collect memory access patterns from a function."""
        patterns = []
        try:
            for instruction in self.instructions:
                instr_tokens = instruction[0]

                # We need to capture memory operands between BeginMemoryOperandToken and EndMemoryOperandToken
                in_memory_operand = False
                memory_operand_text = ""

                for token in instr_tokens:
                    if token.type == InstructionTextTokenType.BeginMemoryOperandToken:
                        in_memory_operand = True
                        memory_operand_text = ""
                    elif token.type == InstructionTextTokenType.EndMemoryOperandToken:
                        in_memory_operand = False

                        # Process the captured memory operand text
                        if memory_operand_text:
                            # Categorize memory access pattern
                            if (
                                "+" in memory_operand_text
                                and "*" in memory_operand_text
                            ):
                                if "MEM_SCALED_INDEX" not in patterns:
                                    patterns.append("MEM_SCALED_INDEX")
                            elif (
                                "+" in memory_operand_text or "-" in memory_operand_text
                            ):
                                if "MEM_BASE_OFFSET" not in patterns:
                                    patterns.append("MEM_BASE_OFFSET")
                            else:
                                if "MEM_DIRECT" not in patterns:
                                    patterns.append("MEM_DIRECT")

                            # Check for stack accesses
                            if any(
                                reg in memory_operand_text
                                for reg in ["SP", "BP", "ESP", "EBP", "RSP", "RBP"]
                            ):
                                if "MEM_STACK" not in patterns:
                                    patterns.append("MEM_STACK")
                            # Check for string operations
                            elif (
                                any(
                                    reg in memory_operand_text
                                    for reg in ["SI", "DI", "ESI", "EDI", "RSI", "RDI"]
                                )
                                and "MEM_STRING" not in patterns
                            ):
                                patterns.append("MEM_STRING")
                    elif in_memory_operand:
                        # Accumulate token text while inside a memory operand
                        memory_operand_text += token.text
        except Exception as e:
            self.log_error(
                "Failed to collect memory patterns",
                self.function.name,
                self.function.start,
                e,
                "collect_memory_patterns",
            )
        return patterns

    def collect_register_usage(self):
        """Collect register usage from a function."""
        registers = []
        try:
            # Define register groups we're interested in tracking
            register_groups = {
                "GPR": [
                    "RAX",
                    "RBX",
                    "RCX",
                    "RDX",
                    "R9",
                    "R10",
                    "R11",
                    "R12",
                    "R13",
                    "R14",
                    "R15",
                    "EAX",
                    "EBX",
                    "ECX",
                    "EDX",
                    "R9D",
                    "R10D",
                    "R11D",
                    "R12D",
                    "R13D",
                    "R14D",
                    "AX",
                    "BX",
                    "CX",
                    "DX",
                ],
                "GPR_INDEX": ["RSI", "RDI", "ESI", "EDI", "SI", "DI"],
                "GPR_STACK": ["RSP", "RBP", "ESP", "EBP", "SP", "BP"],
                "SIMD": ["XMM", "YMM", "ZMM"],
                "FPU": ["ST", "ST0", "ST1", "ST2", "ST3", "ST4", "ST5", "ST6", "ST7"],
                "FLAGS": ["FLAGS", "EFLAGS", "RFLAGS"],
                "CONTROL_REGISTER": ["CR0", "CR2", "CR3", "CR4", "CR8"],
                "DEBUG_REGISTER": ["DR0", "DR1", "DR2", "DR3", "DR6", "DR7"],
            }

            # Extract registers from instructions
            for instruction in self.instructions:
                instr_tokens = instruction[0]
                for token in instr_tokens:
                    if token.type == InstructionTextTokenType.RegisterToken:
                        reg = token.text.upper()
                        # Check which group this register belongs to
                        for group, regs in register_groups.items():
                            # if any(r in reg for r in regs) or any(reg.startswith(r) for r in regs):
                            if any(reg == r or reg.startswith(r) for r in regs):
                                if group not in registers:
                                    registers.append(group)
                                break
        except Exception as e:
            self.log_error(
                "Failed to collect register usage",
                self.function.name,
                self.function.start,
                e,
                "collect_register_usage",
            )
        return registers

    def count_data_references(self):
        """Count the number of data references in a function."""
        count = 0
        try:

            if self.function.mlil is None:
                return 0

            for block in self.function.mlil:
                for instr in block:
                    instr_str = str(instr)
                    logged = False
                    src = None

                    # Check for constant dereferencing or symbolic refs
                    if hasattr(instr, "src"):
                        src = instr.src
                        if isinstance(
                            src,
                            (
                                binaryninja.mediumlevelil.MediumLevelILConstPtr,
                                binaryninja.mediumlevelil.MediumLevelILConst,
                            ),
                        ):
                            count += 1
                            logged = True

                    # Check full string for hardcoded addresses or symbol-like tokens
                    if re.search(r"\b0x[0-9A-Fa-f]{3,}\b", instr_str) and not logged:
                        count += 1
                        logged = True

                    if "_" in instr_str and not logged:
                        count += 1
                        logged = True

                    # Only check for MediumLevelILConstPtr if src exists
                    if src is not None and isinstance(
                        src, binaryninja.mediumlevelil.MediumLevelILConstPtr
                    ):
                        addr = src.constant
                        # Check if address is in data sections
                        segment = self.bv.get_segment_at(addr)
                        if segment and segment.writable:
                            # print(f"[{function.name}] Matched data section reference in: {instr_str}")
                            count += 1
                            logged = True
        except Exception as e:
            self.logger.warning(
                f"Failed to use MLIL for counting data references in {self.function.name} at {self.function.start}: {e}"
            )
        return count

    def compute_max_block_size(self):
        """Compute the maximum basic block size in a function."""
        max_size = 0
        if self.function is None:
            return 0

        for block in self.function.basic_blocks:
            try:
                # Count instructions in this block using the direct length approach
                # This avoids UTF-8 decoding issues entirely
                block_size = block.instruction_count
                max_size = max(max_size, block_size)
            except Exception as e:
                self.log_error(
                    f"[HandledError] computing max block size: {e}",
                    self.function.name,
                    self.function.start,
                    e,
                    "compute_max_block_size",
                )
        return max_size

    def count_control_flow_instructions(self):
        """Count the number of control flow instructions in a function."""
        count = 0
        try:
            for instruction in self.instructions:
                instr_tokens = instruction[0]
                if self.arch.is_control_flow_instruction(instr_tokens):
                    count += 1
        except Exception as e:
            self.log_error(
                "Failed to count control flow instructions",
                self.function.name,
                self.function.start,
                e,
                "count_control_flow_instructions",
            )
        return count

    def compute_num_calls(self) -> int:
        """Compute the number of call instructions in a function."""
        num_calls = 0
        try:
            for instruction in self.instructions:
                instr_tokens = instruction[0]
                # Extract the mnemonic
                for token in instr_tokens:
                    if token.type == InstructionTextTokenType.InstructionToken:
                        if token.text.upper() == "CALL":
                            num_calls += 1
                        break
        except Exception as e:
            self.log_error(
                "Failed to compute number of calls",
                self.function.name,
                self.function.start,
                e,
                "compute_num_calls",
            )
        return num_calls

    def _increment_frequency(self, frequencies, type_name):
        """Increment the frequency count for an instruction type."""
        if type_name in frequencies:
            frequencies[type_name] += 1
        else:
            frequencies[type_name] = 1

    def estimate_stack_size(self):
        """Estimate the stack size used by a function."""
        try:
            # Binary Ninja provides a stack adjustment value for functions
            # Need to convert OffsetWithConfidence to a plain integer
            stack_adjust = self.function.stack_adjustment
            if hasattr(stack_adjust, "value"):  # Handle OffsetWithConfidence objects
                return stack_adjust.value
            return stack_adjust
        except Exception as e:
            self.log_error(
                "Failed to estimate stack size",
                self.function.name,
                self.function.start,
                e,
                "estimate_stack_size",
            )
            return self.INVALID_STACK_SIZE