Binwalk

binwalk Agent Skill

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• The user needs to analyze, extract, or reverse engineer firmware images
• Working on IoT security assessments or hardware hacking engagements
• The user asks about identifying embedded file systems, compressed data, or executables in binary blobs
• Performing entropy analysis to identify encrypted or compressed regions
• Comparing firmware versions to identify changes or patches
• Building custom magic signatures for proprietary formats

What Binwalk Does

Binwalk is a firmware analysis tool designed to search binary images for embedded files and executable code. It uses a library of magic byte signatures to identify file types within a binary, then optionally extracts them to disk. Binwalk is the de facto standard for IoT firmware reverse engineering, capable of handling everything from raw flash dumps to vendor-supplied update packages. It supports entropy analysis to highlight encrypted regions, recursive extraction to unpack nested archives, and side-by-side firmware diffing.

Installation

# Kali Linux / Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install binwalk -y

# pip (Python 3)
pip3 install binwalk

# From source (recommended for latest features)
git clone https://github.com/ReFirmLabs/binwalk.git
cd binwalk
sudo python3 setup.py install

# Dependencies for full extraction support
sudo apt install squashfs-tools cramfsck jefferson sasquatch \
  mtd-utils gzip bzip2 tar arj lhasa p7zip p7zip-full cabextract \
  sleuthkit default-jdk lzop cpio openjdk-11-jdk -y

# sasquatch (non-standard SquashFS support — critical for many routers)
git clone https://github.com/devttys0/sasquatch
cd sasquatch && ./build.sh

Core Concepts

Signature Scanning

Binwalk compares bytes at every offset against a database of magic signatures (stored in /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/binwalk/magic/). A match reports the offset, hex offset, and description of the identified file type.

Extraction

When -e is used, binwalk calls external tools (7z, tar, dd, jefferson, unsquashfs, etc.) mapped to each signature type to extract content. Extracted files land in _{firmware}_extracted/.

Entropy Analysis

The -E flag computes Shannon entropy across the file in sliding windows. High entropy (~1.0) indicates encryption or compression; low entropy (~0.0) indicates sparse/null data; mid-range entropy is typical of compressed but not encrypted data.

CLI Reference

Basic Scanning

# Signature scan (default behavior)
binwalk firmware.bin

# Verbose output — show all matches including false positives
binwalk -v firmware.bin

# Scan multiple files
binwalk firmware_v1.bin firmware_v2.bin

# Quiet mode (suppress output, use exit code)
binwalk -q firmware.bin; echo "Exit: $?"

Extraction

# Extract identified files
binwalk -e firmware.bin
# Output directory: ./_firmware.bin.extracted/

# Specify custom extraction directory
binwalk -e -C /tmp/extracted/ firmware.bin

# Recursive extraction (extract, then extract from extracted files)
binwalk -Me firmware.bin
# -M = matryoshka (recursive), -e = extract

# Extract with dd (raw carve even for unsupported types)
binwalk -e --dd='.*' firmware.bin   # Carve everything

# Extract only specific file types
binwalk -e --dd='squashfs' firmware.bin

Entropy Analysis

# Entropy graph (requires matplotlib)
binwalk -E firmware.bin

# Save entropy graph to file
binwalk -E -J entropy.png firmware.bin

# Combine with scan
binwalk -eE firmware.bin

# Raw entropy output (no graph, CSV-compatible)
binwalk --entropy firmware.bin

Firmware Diffing

# Side-by-side hex comparison of two firmware files
binwalk -W firmware_v1.bin firmware_v2.bin

# Diff only regions that differ
binwalk -W --block=512 firmware_v1.bin firmware_v2.bin

# Output diff to file
binwalk -W firmware_v1.bin firmware_v2.bin > diff.txt

Signature and Magic Options

# List all built-in signatures
binwalk --list-magic

# Use custom magic file
binwalk -m /path/to/custom.magic firmware.bin

# Add to (not replace) built-in signatures
binwalk --magic=/path/to/extra.magic firmware.bin

# Disable default signatures (use only custom)
binwalk --magic=/path/to/custom.magic --no-default-magic firmware.bin

Code/String Scanning

# Scan for executable code (opcodes)
binwalk -A firmware.bin        # CPU architecture detection

# Scan for strings
binwalk -R "password" firmware.bin          # Raw string search
binwalk -R "admin\x00password" firmware.bin # Hex sequences

# Grep-style regex
binwalk -r "root:.*:[0-9]+:" firmware.bin   # /etc/passwd-like lines

Miscellaneous Options

# Set scan length (scan only first N bytes)
binwalk -l 1048576 firmware.bin     # First 1 MB

# Set start offset
binwalk -O 0x100000 firmware.bin    # Start at offset 0x100000

# Exclude specific signatures
binwalk --exclude='jpeg' firmware.bin

# Output as CSV
binwalk --csv firmware.bin > scan.csv

# Output as JSON
binwalk firmware.bin --log=scan.json

Supported Formats

| Category | Formats | |----------|---------| | Filesystems | SquashFS, CramFS, JFFS2, YAFFS2, ext2/3/4, FAT, romfs, ubifs | | Compression | gzip, bzip2, lzma, xz, lzop, zlib, lz4 | | Archives | tar, zip, 7z, arj, lha, cpio, rar | | Bootloaders | U-Boot, LILO, GRUB, CFE | | Kernels | Linux kernel (zImage, uImage, bzImage) | | Executables | ELF (ARM, MIPS, x86, PPC), PE, Java class | | Certs/Keys | X.509, PEM, RSA private key | | Misc | OpenWRT TRX, Broadcom CFE, D-Link DLOB |

Custom Magic Signatures

Binwalk uses a modified libmagic format. Custom signature file example:

# custom.magic
0       string   MYRTR   Custom Router Firmware Header
>4      lelong   x       version: %d
>8      lelong   x       payload length: %d bytes

0       string   \x55\xAA\x00\x01   Proprietary bootloader image
>2      leshort  x                   build: %d

# Test custom signatures
binwalk -m custom.magic firmware.bin

# Append to built-ins
binwalk --magic=custom.magic firmware.bin

Common Workflows

Full IoT Firmware Analysis

# 1. Initial scan to understand layout
binwalk firmware.bin

# 2. Check entropy for encrypted regions
binwalk -E firmware.bin

# 3. Recursive extract everything
binwalk -Me firmware.bin
cd _firmware.bin.extracted/

# 4. Find and enter root filesystem
ls -la
cd squashfs-root/   # or jffs2-root/, cramfs-root/, etc.

# 5. Hunt for credentials, keys, and configs
grep -r "password" . --include="*.conf" --include="*.cfg" -l
find . -name "*.pem" -o -name "*.key" -o -name "id_rsa"
cat etc/passwd etc/shadow 2>/dev/null

# 6. Check for hardcoded creds in binaries
grep -r "admin\|root\|password\|secret" ./usr/bin/ --binary-files=text

# 7. Identify firmware architecture
binwalk -A firmware.bin | head -5
file _firmware.bin.extracted/squashfs-root/bin/busybox

Firmware Modification (Repack)

# 1. Extract
binwalk -Me firmware.bin

# 2. Navigate to squashfs root and modify
cd _firmware.bin.extracted/squashfs-root/
echo 'toor::0:0:root:/root:/bin/sh' >> etc/passwd  # Example: add backdoor user

# 3. Repack squashfs (match original compression)
mksquashfs squashfs-root/ new_squashfs.bin -comp lzma -b 131072 -no-xattrs

# 4. Rebuild firmware image (dd splice)
# Identify squashfs offset and original size from binwalk scan first
dd if=firmware.bin of=new_firmware.bin bs=1 count=
cat new_squashfs.bin >> new_firmware.bin
# Append tail if firmware has data after squashfs
ORIG_SIZE=$(wc -c 
SQUASH_SIZE=
TAIL_OFFSET=$((SQUASH_OFFSET + SQUASH_SIZE))
dd if=firmware.bin bs=1 skip=$TAIL_OFFSET >> new_firmware.bin

# 5. Fix checksum if required (firmware-specific)
# Many routers use CRC32 in header — patch with Python if needed

JFFS2 Filesystem Extraction

# jefferson handles JFFS2 (binwalk calls it automatically with -e)
pip3 install jefferson
binwalk -e firmware.bin

# Manual jefferson usage
jefferson jffs2_image.bin -d output_dir/

Comparing Two Firmware Versions

binwalk -W old_firmware.bin new_firmware.bin | head -100

# Script to extract both and diff
binwalk -Me old_firmware.bin -C /tmp/old/
binwalk -Me new_firmware.bin -C /tmp/new/
diff -rq /tmp/old/ /tmp/new/ --exclude="*.pyc"

Advanced Techniques

Scripting with Binwalk's Python API

import binwalk

# Programmatic scan
for module in binwalk.scan('firmware.bin', signature=True, quiet=True):
    for result in module.results:
        print(f"0x{result.offset:08X}  {result.description}")

# Extraction via API
for module in binwalk.scan('firmware.bin', signature=True, extract=True,
                            matryoshka=True, quiet=True):
    pass  # Extraction happens as a side effect

Entropy-Guided Investigation

import binwalk

# Find encrypted/compressed regions programmatically
for module in binwalk.scan('firmware.bin', entropy=True, quiet=True):
    for result in module.results:
        if result.entropy > 0.9:
            print(f"High entropy at 0x{result.offset:08X}: {result.entropy:.4f}")

Handling Non-Standard SquashFS (Router Firmware)

Many consumer routers use modified SquashFS with non-standard block sizes or endianness. Use sasquatch (auto-invoked by binwalk if installed) or firmware-mod-kit:

# firmware-mod-kit (handles many vendor variants)
git clone https://github.com/rampageX/firmware-mod-kit
cd firmware-mod-kit
./extract-firmware.sh firmware.bin

Integration with Other Tools

| Tool | Use Case | |------|----------| | Ghidra / IDA Pro | Decompile extracted ELF/ARM binaries from firmware | | firmwalker | Automated security scan of extracted filesystem | | Emba | Comprehensive embedded Linux security analysis | | QEMU | Emulate extracted firmware for dynamic analysis | | strings | Quick string extraction from binary blobs | | file | Identify file types for manual extraction |

# Quick firmwalker scan after extraction
git clone https://github.com/craigz28/firmwalker
sudo ./firmwalker.sh /tmp/_firmware.bin.extracted/squashfs-root/

Troubleshooting

Squashfs extraction fails:

# Install sasquatch for non-standard variants
git clone https://github.com/devttys0/sasquatch && cd sasquatch && ./build.sh
# Verify with:
which sasquatch

-Me produces no filesystem:

• Check entropy — if entire file is high entropy, it may be encrypted
• Look for the decryption key in a bootloader region or a companion file
• Try binwalk --dd='.*' firmware.bin to carve raw data

Binwalk misses embedded content:

• The file may use a proprietary header — add a custom magic signature
• Try binwalk -v to see all candidate matches including low-confidence hits

Python API import errors:

pip3 install --upgrade binwalk
# Or ensure you're running in the correct Python environment
python3 -c "import binwalk; print(binwalk.__version__)"

Repack checksum mismatch on router:

• Dump the router's UART boot log to identify CRC algorithm
• Use binwalk -Y to detect cryptographic hash functions in the bootloader binary

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> Built by Red Hound InfoSec — On-demand offensive security expertise for SMBs. > 20+ years of Fortune 500 experience. Penetration testing, attack surface analysis, and security consulting. > > redhound.us | GitHub | Book a consultation

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: jph4cks
• Source: jph4cks/redhound-arsenal
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://redhound.us

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.