!ioin (hook IN instruction execution)

Description of the '!ioin' command in HyperDbg.

Command

!ioin

Syntax

!ioin [Port (hex)] [pid ProcessId (hex)] [core CoreId (hex)] [imm IsImmediate (yesno)] [sc EnableShortCircuiting (onoff)] [stage CallingStage (prepostall)] [buffer PreAllocatedBuffer (hex)] [script { Script (string) }] [asm condition { Condition (assembly/hex) }] [asm code { Code (assembly/hex) }] [output {OutputName (string)}]

Description

Triggers when the debugging machine executes IN or IN* instructions or, in other words, when Windows or a driver tries to use I/O ports.

When you enable this event, only your specific I/O port will be hooked, so this command won't trigger on all I/O ports, thus won't make your computer slow.

Parameters

[Port (hex)]

Trigger in the case of using a special I/O port. If you don't specify this parameter, then it will be triggered for all I/O ports.

[pid ProcessId (hex)] (optional)

Optional value to trigger the event in just a specific process. Add pid xx to your command; thus, the command will be executed if the process id is equal to xx. If you don't specify this option, then by default, you receive events on all processes.

Still, in the case of user-mode debugging, HyperDbg will apply it only to the current active debugging process (not all the processes). In that case, you can specify pid all to intercept events from the entire system.

[core CoreId (hex)] (optional)

Optional value to trigger the event in just a specific core. Add core xx to your command thus command will be executed if core id is equal to xx. If you don't specify this option, then by default, you receive events on all cores.

[imm IsImmediate (yesno)] (optional)

Optional value in which yes means the results (printed texts in scripts) should be delivered immediately to the debugger. no means that the results can be accumulated and delivered as a couple of messages when the buffer is full; thus, it's substantially faster, but it's not real-time. By default, this value is set to yes.

[sc EnableShortCircuiting (onoff)] (optional)

Optional value to ignore the emulation (skip execution) of the event. Add sc on to your command thus whenever the event is triggered, the effects and the execution of the actual event will be ignored. For more information, please read this article. If you don't specify this option, then by default, all the events will be emulated (executed). By default, this value is set to off.

[stage CallingStage (prepostall)] (optional)

Optional value to configure the calling stage of the event. To trigger the event before the emulation, include stage pre in your command. Conversely, using stage post will cause the event to be triggered after the emulation. Additionally, using stage all will trigger the event both before and after the emulation. For more information, please read this article. By default, this value is set to pre.

[buffer PreAllocatedBuffer (hex)] (optional)

Optional value which reserves a safe pre-allocated buffer to be accessed within the event codes.

[script { Script (string) }] (optional)

A HyperDbg script will be executed each time the event is triggered.

[asm condition { Condition (assembly/hex) }] (optional)

Optional assembly codes which check for conditions in assembly.

[asm code { Code (assembly/hex) }] (optional)

Optional assembly codes will be executed each time the event is triggered.

[output {OutputName (string)}] (optional)

Optional output resource name for forwarding events.

Context

As the Context ($context pseudo-register in the event's script, r8 in custom code, and rdx in condition code register) to the event trigger, HyperDbg sends the port number that the target tries to access.

Short-circuiting

This event supports 'event short-circuiting', which means that you can configure HyperDbg to ignore its execution and its effects. For additional details, please refer to the article provided here.

Calling Stages

This event supports different calling stages. The 'pre' calling stage is triggered prior to running the IN instruction, whereas the 'post' calling stage is triggered subsequent to running the IN instruction; thus, you can read/modify the DX register or ignore the event in the 'pre' stage, and view/modify the results (EAX, AX, or AL) in the 'post' stage. In addition, the 'all' calling stage will trigger the event in both cases. For more information, please refer to the article provided here.

Debugger

This event supports three debugging mechanisms.

• Break

• Script

• Custom Code

Please read "How to create a condition?" if you need a conditional event, a conditional event can be used in all "Break", "Script", and "Custom Code".

Break

Imagine we want to break on all accesses (IN/IN* instructions) to I/O ports.

HyperDbg> !ioin

If we want to break on I/O port 0x3f8.

HyperDbg> !ioin 0x3f8

Note that default ports for serial connections are: 0x03f8, 0x02f8, 0x03e8, 0x02e8.

Script

Using the following command, you can use HyperDbg's Script Engine. You should replace the string between braces (HyperDbg Script Here) with your script. You can find script examples here.

HyperDbg> !ioin 0x3f8 script { HyperDbg Script Here }

The above command when messages don't need to be delivered immediately.

HyperDbg> !ioin 0x3f8 script { HyperDbg Script Here } imm no

Script (From File)

If you saved your script into a file then you can add file: instead of a script and append the file path to it. For example, the following examples show how you can run a script from file:c:\users\sina\desktop\script.txt.

HyperDbg> !ioin 0x3f8 script {file:c:\users\sina\desktop\script.txt}

You can use event forwarding to forward the event monitoring results from this event and other events to an external source, e.g., File, NamedPipe, or TCP Socket. This way, you can use HyperDbg as a monitoring tool and gather your target system's behavior and use it later or analyze it on other systems.

Custom Code

Please read "How to create an action?" to get an idea about how to run the custom buffer code in HyperDbg.

Your custom code will be executed in vmx-root mode. Take a look at this topic for more information. Running code in vmx-root is considered "unsafe".

Run Custom Code (Unconditional)

Monitoring execution of IN/IN* instructions for I/O port 0x3f8 and run 3 nops whenever the event is triggered. Take a look at Run Custom Code for more information.

HyperDbg> !ioin 0x3f8 code {90 90 90}

Or if you want to use assembly codes directly, you can add an asm before the code.

HyperDbg> !ioin 0x3f8 asm code {nop; nop; nop}

Run Custom Code (Conditional)

Monitoring execution of IN/IN* instructions for I/O port 0x3f8 and run 3 nops whenever the event condition is triggered and run 3 nops whenever the event is triggered. Take a look at Run Custom Code and how to create a condition for more information.

HyperDbg> !ioin 0x3f8 code {90 90 90} condition {90 90 90}

Or if you want to use assembly codes directly, you can add an asm before the condition and also before the code.

HyperDbg> !ioin 0x3f8 asm code {nop; nop; nop} asm condition {nop; nop; nop}

Keep in mind that a conditional event can be used in Breaking to Debugger and Running Script too.

IOCTL

This command uses the same method to send IOCTL for regular events.

As EventType use IN_INSTRUCTION_EXECUTION and send the special I/O port (if any) if you want to monitor just an I/O port in OptionalParam1 in DEBUGGER_GENERAL_EVENT_DETAIL.

Design

Both !ioin and !ioout use the vm-exits caused by setting bits in the I/O Bitmap (I/O Bitmap A, I/O Bitmap B) field of the hypervisor VMCS.

For emulating I/O ports, vm-exit with (EXIT_REASON_IO_INSTRUCTION) or exit-reason 30 is used.

Remarks

You can also modify the content of I/O ports for both IN and OUT instructions.

This command creates an event. Starting from HyperDbg v0.7, events are guaranteed to keep the debuggee in a halt state (in the Debugger Mode); thus, nothing will change during its execution and the context (registers and memory) remain untouched. You can visit instant events for more information.

Requirements

None

Related

!ioout (hook OUT instruction execution)