Vulnerability Development mailing list archives
Re: reverse engineer c or java
From: dagon () DAGON NET (Mark Rafn)
Date: Sat, 20 May 2000 12:25:13 -0700
On Fri, 19 May 2000, kj wrote:
Is there any difference in difficulty between reverse engineering an executable file or a Java Class.
Java is quite a bit easier than C to decompile. Both can be done, however, and both are "difficult enough" that a casual user isn't going to bother.
If the C or Java program is written with security in mind by an experienced programmer, how long would it take to reverse engineer each version of a fairly simple application?
"Written with security in mind" usually means that you don't care if it's disassembled - you've paid attention and minimized exploitable errors, so you could publish source if you liked and your product would be secure (more secure, actually, as white-hats that find bugs will tell you). But on the reverse-engineering front, java decompiles to somewhat-obscured java, while native executables written in c disassemble into assembler, not c.
The desired effect is to have a program that a client downloads off the internet, and Matthew wants to know if it should be written in c or java.
Depends on the application. It's rather paranoid and stupid IMO to choose a language based on it being slightly easier for someone to reuse your work. There may be instances where this is a major concern, but they're pretty rare. -- Mark Rafn dagon () dagon net <http://www.dagon.net/> !G
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