Ghidra - DWARF Plugin¶

Export as DWARF¶

This functionality exports Ghidra’s program information into a DWARF file. This exported information includes function names, types, stack variables, etc.

You can use this extension in different ways as documented below:

Project Manager¶

This extension provides a DWARF exporter that can be used by right-clicking on the binary to export, then: Export > Format > DWARF:

CodeBrowser¶

From the CodeBrowser tool, you can left-click on the LIEF menu and select Export as DWARF:

Scripts¶

You can also use the Java API from a (headless) script to export a given Ghidra program:

import lief.ghidra.core.dwarf.export.Manager;
import lief.ghidra.core.NativeBridge;

public class LiefDwarfExportScript extends GhidraScript {
  @Override
  protected void run() throws Exception {
    NativeBridge.init();
    Manager manager = new Manager(currentProgram);
    File output = new File("/home/romain/output.dwarf");
    manager.export(output);
  }
}

Support & Limitations¶

This extension tries to convert as much as possible of Ghidra’s internal binary representation into DWARF structures, but this support is not exhaustive; here is an overview of what is and is not exported.

ghidra.program.model.listing.Program

Function
Data Variables
Types
Comments

ghidra.program.model.listing.Function

Name
Address range
Parameters
Type of parameters
Return type
Stack variables
Types of stack variables
Comments
CodeUnits

ghidra.program.model.listing.Data

Name
Type
Address
Comments

ghidra.program.model.data.DataType

ghidra.program.model.data.VoidDataType
ghidra.program.model.data.AbstractIntegerDataType
ghidra.program.model.data.Array
ghidra.program.model.data.TypeDef
ghidra.program.model.data.Composite
ghidra.program.model.data.Enum
ghidra.program.model.data.FunctionDefinition
ghidra.program.model.data.Pointer

Any types not mentioned here are not supported.

References¶

https://github.com/NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra/issues/2687