by mrexodia
AI-powered reverse engineering assistant that bridges IDA Pro with language models through MCP.
# Add to your Claude Code skills
git clone https://github.com/mrexodia/ida-pro-mcpSimple MCP Server to allow vibe reversing in IDA Pro.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/6ebeaa92-a9db-43fa-b756-eececce2aca0
The binaries and prompt for the video are available in the mcp-reversing-dataset repository.
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ida-pro-mcp --config to get the JSON config for your client.Install the latest version of the IDA Pro MCP package:
pip uninstall ida-pro-mcp
pip install https://github.com/mrexodia/ida-pro-mcp/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
Configure the MCP servers and install the IDA Plugin:
ida-pro-mcp --install
Important: Make sure you completely restart IDA and your MCP client for the installation to take effect. Some clients (like Claude) run in the background and need to be quit from the tray icon.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/65ed3373-a187-4dd5-a807-425dca1d8ee9
Note: You need to load a binary in IDA before the plugin menu will show up.
LLMs are prone to hallucinations and you need to be specific with your prompting. For reverse engineering the conversion between integers and bytes are especially problematic. Below is a minimal example prompt, feel free to start a discussion or open an issue if you have good results with a different prompt:
Your task is to analyze a crackme in IDA Pro. You can use the MCP tools to retrieve information. In general use the following strategy:
- Inspect the decompilation and add comments with your findings
- Rename variables to more sensible names
- Change the variable and argument types if necessary (especially pointer and array types)
- Change function names to be more descriptive
- If more details are necessary, disassemble the function and add comments with your findings
- NEVER convert number bases yourself. Use the `int_convert` MCP tool if needed!
- Do not attempt brute forcing, derive any solutions purely from the disassembly and simple python scripts
- Create a report.md with your findings and steps taken at the end
- When you find a solution, prompt to user for feedback with the password you found
This prompt was just the first experiment, please share if you found ways to improve the output!
Another prompt by @can1357:
Your task is to create a complete and comprehensive reverse engineering analysis. Reference AGENTS.md to understand the project goals and ensure the analysis serves our purposes.
Use the following systematic methodology:
1. **Decompilation Analysis**
- Thoroughly inspect the decompiler output
- Add detailed comments documenting your findings
- Focus on understanding the actual functionality and purpose of each component (do not rely on old, incorrect comments)
2. **Improve Readability in the Database**
- Rename variables to sensible, descriptive names
- Correct variable and argument types where necessary (especially pointers and array types)
- Update function names to be descriptive of their actual purpose
3. **Deep Dive When Needed**
- If more details are necessary, examine the disassembly and add comments with findings
- Document any low-level behaviors that aren't clear from the decompilation alone
- Use sub-agents to perform detailed analysis
4. **Important Constraints**
- NEVER convert number bases yourself - use the int_convert MCP tool if needed
- Use MCP tools to retrieve information as necessary
- Derive all conclusions from actual analysis, not assumptions
5. **Documentation**
- Produce comprehensive RE/*.md files with your findings
- Document the steps taken and methodology used
- When asked by the user, ensure accuracy over previous analysis file
- Organize findings in a way that serves the project goals outlined in AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md
Live stream discussing prompting and showing some real-world malware analysis:
Large Language Models (LLMs) are powerful tools, but they can sometimes struggle with complex mathematical calculations or exhibit "hallucinations" (making up facts). Make sure to tell the LLM to use the int_convert MCP tool and you might also need math-mcp for certain operations.
Another thing to keep in mind is that LLMs will not perform well on obfuscated code. Before trying to use an LLM to solve the problem, take a look around the binary and spend some time (automatically) removing the following things:
You should also use a tool like Lumina or FLIRT to try and resolve all the open source library code and the C++ STL, this will further improve the accuracy.
You can run an SSE server to connect to the user interface like this:
uv run ida-pro-mcp --transport http://127.0.0.1:8744/sse
After installing idalib you can also run a headless SSE server:
uv run idalib-mcp --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8745 path/to/executable
Note: The idalib feature was contributed by Willi Ballenthin.
Use --isolated-contexts to enable strict per-transport isolation:
uv run idalib-mcp --isolated-contexts --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8745 path/to/executable
--isolated-contexts?Use it when multiple agents connect to the same idalib-mcp server and you want deterministic context isolation:
When --isolated-contexts is enabled:
Mcp-Session-Id for /mcp, session for /sse, stdio:default for stdio).idalib_switch(session_id) and idalib_open(...) bind the caller context only.With --isolated-contexts, strict Streamable HTTP session semantics are enabled, including Mcp-Session-Id validation.
idalib_open(input_path, ...): Open binary and bind it to the active context policy.idalib_switch(session_id): Rebind the active context policy to an existing session.idalib_current(): Return the session bound to the active context policy.idalib_unbind(): Remove the active context binding.idalib_list(): Includes is_active, is_current_context, and bound_contexts.Resources represent browsable state (read-only data) following MCP's philosophy.
Core IDB State:
ida://idb/metadata - IDB file info (path, arch, base, size, hashes)ida://idb/segments - Memory segments with permissionsida://idb/entrypoints - Entry points (main, TLS callbacks, etc.)UI State:
ida://cursor - Current cursor position and functionida://selection - Current selection rangeType Information:
ida://types - All local typesida://structs - All structures/unionsida://struct/{name} - Structure definition with fieldsLookups:
ida://import/{name} - Import details by nameida://export/{name} - Export details by nameida://xrefs/from/{addr} - Cross-references from addresslookup_funcs(queries): Get function(s) by address or name (auto-detects, accepts list or comma-separated string).int_convert(inputs): Convert numbers to different formats (decimal, hex, bytes, ASCII, binary).list_funcs(queries): List functions (paginated, filtered).list_globals(queries): List global variables (paginated, filtered).imports(offset, count): List all imported symbols with module names (paginated).decompile(addr): Decompile function at the given address.disasm(addr): Disassemble function with full details (arguments, stack frame, etc).xrefs_to(addrs): Get all cross-references to address(es).xrefs_to_field(queries): Get cross-references to specific struct field(s).callees(addrs): Get functions called by function(s) at address(es).