Interactive Disassembler
lastmod 2020-11-20created 2019-07-103 edits
IDA (Interactive DisAssembler) is a disassembler for computer software. A disassembler generates assembly language source code from machine code. It supports a variety of executable formats, central processing units, and operating systems. It can also be used as a debugger for Windows PE, Mac OS X Mach-O, and Linux ELF executables. For programs compiled with C/C++ compilers, a decompiler plugin is available for an extra fee. The latest version of IDA Pro is commercial, but an older, somewhat less capable version can be downloaded for free (version 5.0 as of December 2015).
IDA performs automatic code analysis using cross-references between code sections, parameters of API calls, and other information. Due to the nature of disassembly, accurate analysis is difficult and requires a lot of human help, but IDA has interactive features to improve disassembly. A typical IDA user starts with an automatically generated disassembly listing and can convert sections from code to data or from data to code, rename, add comments, add information, and so on.
Developed as shareware by Ilfak Guilfanov, IDA was later sold as a commercial product by the Belgian company DataRescue. The company improved the product and sold it under the name IDA Pro. In 2005, Guilfanov founded Hex-Rays for the Hex-Rays decompiler IDA extention, and in January 2008 Hex-Rays took over development and support of DataRescue's IDA Pro.