context.md

Table of Contents

• Context
  • Context Settings
    • arch
    • bits
    • binary
    • endian
    • log_file
    • log_level
    • sign
    • terminal
    • timeout
    • update

Context

The context object is a global, thread-aware object which contains various settins used by pwntools.

Generally at the top of an exploit, you'll find something like:

from pwn import *
context.arch = 'amd64'

Which informs pwntools that shellcode generated will be for amd64, and that the default word size is 64 bits

Context Settings

arch

The target architecture. Valid values are "aarch64", "arm", "i386", "amd64", etc. The default is "i386".

The first time this is set, it automatically sets the default context.bits and context.endian to the most likely values.

bits

How many bits make up a word in the target binary, e.g. 32 or 64.

binary

Absorb settings from an ELF file. For example, context.binary='/bin/sh'.

endian

Set to "big" or "little" (the default) as needed.

log_file

File to send all of the logging output into.

log_level

Verbosity of logs. Valid values are integers (lower is more verbose), and string values like "debug", "info", and "error".

sign

Sets the default signed-ness of integer packing / unpacking. Default is "unsigned".

terminal

Preferred terminal program to open new windows with. By default, uses x-terminal-emulator or tmux.

timeout

Default timeout for tube operations.

update

Sets multiple values at once, e.g. context.update(arch='mips', bits=64, endian='big').