mirror of
https://github.com/frida/frida-python
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Ole André Vadla Ravnås
46 lines
2.4 KiB
Markdown
46 lines
2.4 KiB
Markdown
## So what is Frida, exactly?
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It's Greasemonkey for native apps, or, put in more technical terms, it's a
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dynamic code instrumentation toolkit. It lets you inject snippets of JavaScript
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into native apps on Windows, Mac, Linux and iOS. Frida also provides you with
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some simple tools built on top of the Frida API. These can be used as-is,
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tweaked to your needs, or serve as examples of how to use the API.
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## Why do I need this?
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Great question. We'll try to clarify with some use-cases:
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- There's this new hot app everybody's so excited about, but it's only
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available for iOS and you'd love to interop with it. You realize it's
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relying on encrypted network protocols and tools like Wireshark just
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won't cut it. You pick up Frida and use it for API tracing.
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- You're building a desktop app which has been deployed at a customer's site.
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There's a problem but the built-in logging code just isn't enough. You
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need to send your customer a custom build with lots of expensive logging
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code. Then you realize you could just use Frida and build an application-
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specific tool that will add all the diagnostics you need, and in just a
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few lines of Python. No need to send the customer a new custom build - you
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just send the tool which will work on many versions of your app.
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- You'd like to build a Wireshark on steroids with support for sniffing
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encrypted protocols. It could even manipulate function calls to fake network
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conditions that would otherwise require you to set up a test lab.
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- Your in-house app could use some black-box tests without polluting your
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production code with logic only required for exotic testing.
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## Why a Python API, but JavaScript debugging logic?
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Frida's core is written in C and injects Google's V8 engine into the target
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processes, where your JS gets executed with full access to memory, hooking
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functions and even calling native functions inside the process. There's a
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bi-directional communication channel that is used to talk between your
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app (Python?) and the JS running inside the target process.
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On top of this C core there are multiple language bindings (Python, .NET
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and a browser plugin), and it is very easy to build further bindings for
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other languages and environments (Node.js could be a future binding if
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anyone's interested in helping out with that).
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## So how do I get started?
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Have a look at our [Quick-start Guide](http://www.frida.re/docs/quickstart/).
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