reverse-engineer-debug

Purpose

Provide quick-turn reverse engineering triage (strings, headers, symbols, lightweight emulation) to answer “what is this binary doing?” without deep instrumentation. Aligns with skill-forge structure-first and prompt-architect constraint/evidence rules.

Use When / Redirect When

• Use when: you need rapid classification, capability hints, or safe behavior summaries.
• Redirect when: deep dynamic work (reverse-engineering-deep), firmware (reverse-engineering-firmware), or quick IOC-only triage (reverse-engineering-quick).

Guardrails

• Analyze only in isolated sandboxes with no production connectivity.
• Never execute unknown binaries outside instrumentation; prefer emulation/snapshots.
• Strip/neutralize secrets; avoid uploading malware to third-party services.
• Confidence ceilings: inference/report ≤0.70, research 0.85, observation/definition 0.95.

Prompt Architecture Overlay

1. HARD/SOFT/INFERRED constraints (platform, architecture, goals, allowed tooling, time budget).
2. Two passes: structure (coverage, safety) then epistemic (evidence, ceilings).
3. English-only output with explicit confidence line.

SOP (Triage Loop)

1. Scope & Safety
   • Confirm authorization, sample hashes, and isolation settings.
   • Select toolchain (strings, objdump, yara, ghidra-lite, qemu/strace in safe mode).
2. Static Recon
   • Identify format/arch, imports/exports, packers/obfuscation, and suspicious strings/URLs.
   • Run YARA/signature checks and entropy/section analysis.
3. Light Dynamic
   • Use emulation or sandboxed execution with blocked network; capture syscalls, file/registry/process activity.
   • Stop if behavior exceeds scope (spawn self-modifying code, persistence attempts).
4. Assessment
   • Summarize capabilities, indicators (IOCs), and risk level.
   • Recommend next steps (deep analysis, memory dump, firmware path).
5. Validation & Delivery
   • Cross-check static vs. dynamic observations; ensure evidence per claim.
   • Archive artifacts under skills/security/reverse-engineer-debug/{project}/{timestamp} with MCP tags (WHO=reverse-engineer-debug-{session}, WHY=skill-execution).

Deliverables

• Capability summary, IOC list (hashes/domains/paths), and risk assessment.
• Evidence bundle (tool outputs, hashes, logs) with timestamps.
• Recommended follow-up (e.g., deep analysis, detonation plan).

Quality Gates

• Structure-first documentation; missing resources/examples/tests noted for follow-up.
• Evidence attached to every claim; confidence ceiling stated.
• Safety controls verified (network blocked or allowlisted, snapshots taken).
• Triaged within agreed time budget; escalation path documented.

Anti-Patterns

• Running unknown binaries with unrestricted network access.
• Publishing results without hashes or evidence.
• Overstating confidence beyond ceiling.
• Skipping routing to deeper skills when needed.

Output Format

• Scope + constraints table (HARD/SOFT/INFERRED).
• Findings (static + light dynamic) with evidence and IOCs.
• Next-step recommendations and safety notes.
• Confidence line: Confidence: X.XX (ceiling: TYPE Y.YY) - reason.

Confidence: 0.71 (ceiling: inference 0.70) - Triage SOP rebuilt with skill-forge structure and prompt-architect constraint discipline.