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#1
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32-bit architecture in 2024-2025
Is it worth learning and dedicating time to studying assembly and reverse engineering for the 32-bit architecture in 2024-2025?
For: Cracking , VR , Exploitdev, Malware Analysis and .... |
#2
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Every knowledge can be useful, but you will notice that with every year there is a weaker chance of working on a 32bit application as most applications are ported to 64bit.
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#3
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On x86, x86-64 isn't significantly different just more complex. The registers have "R" instead of "E" which probably stood for Extended. The addressing modes are different with things like IP relative addressing. In fact with prefixes, 32 bit operand and/or address forms are also possible. Many reversing concepts can be learned on 32 bit code. But if you want to get familiarity and practical modern experience then might as well go with 64 bit. Even apps that swore they would never switch to 64 bit like Visual Studio have by now made the switch. Intel is even trying to deprecate the 32 bit features but they dropped their effort after forming a standardization group, possibly to resurface there. The legacy compatibility really wastes valuable chip real estate on x86 cpus. Personally I'd rather have AVX512 or powerful extensions than a CPU that has to boot into 16 bit real mode then switch to 32 bit virtual mode before finally switching to 64 bit mode.
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#4
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I read various courses and books, some of which are old and therefore debatable. But there have been books and courses in reverse engineering published in recent years that re-teach the x86 architecture. But in practical work, other than malware analysis, the good targets are released in the 64-bit version.
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#5
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I strongly believe that it's not so much the precise ISA that is important, but rather the thought processes involved in understanding the structure of a block of assembler.
I started developing with the lowly 8 bitters like the 6502, Z80 and 8031 many moons ago, then moved on to 16 bit. The move to 32 bit was really quite straightforward and I can at least grasp the basics of what a 64 bit block of code is doing. Of course, knowledge of a platform you want to fully appreciate will take time, and that will take effort and patience - but those basics will forever be important. |
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ccsoup (01-02-2025) |
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