Reversing Microsoft Visual C++ Part I: Exception H

Reversing Microsoft Visual C++ Part I: Exception Handling

Igor Skochinsky (igorsk) mailru>

Monday, March 6 2006 12:02.38 CST

 Abstract

Microsoft Visual C++ is the most widely used compiler for Win32 so it is important for the Win32 reverser to be familiar with its inner working. Being able to recognize the compiler-generated glue code helps to quickly concentrate on the actual code written by the programmer. It also helps in recovering the high-level structure of the program.

In part I of this 2-part article, I will concentrate on the stack layout, exception handling and related structures in MSVC-compiled programs. Some familiarity with assembler, registers, calling conventions etc. is assumed.

Terms:

• Stack frame: A fragment of the stack segment used by a function. Usually contains function arguments, return-to-caller address, saved registers, local variables and other data specific to this function. On x86 (and most other architectures) caller and callee stack frames are contiguous.
• Frame pointer: A register or other variable that points to a fixed location inside the stack frame. Usually all data inside the stack frame is addressed relative to the frame pointer. On x86 it's usually ebp and it usually points just below the return address.
• Object: An instance of a (C++) class.
• Unwindable Object: A local object with auto storage-class specifier that is allocated on the stack and needs to be destructed when it goes out of scope.
• Stack UInwinding: Automatic destruction of such objects that happens when the control leaves the scope due to an exception.

There are two types of exceptions that can be used in a C or C++ program.

• SEH exceptions (from "Structured Exception Handling"). Also known as Win32 or system exceptions. These are exhaustively covered in the famous Matt Pietrek article[1]. They are the only exceptions available to C programs. The compiler-level support includes keywords __try, __except, __finally and a few others.
• C++ exceptions (sometimes referred to as "EH"). Implemented on top of SEH, C++ exceptions allow throwing and catching of arbitrary types. A very important feature of C++ is automatic stack unwinding during exception processing, and MSVC uses a pretty complex underlying framework to ensure that it works properly in all cases.

In the following diagrams memory addresses increase from top to bottom, so the stack grows "up". It's the way the stack is represented in IDA and opposite to the most other publications.

 Basic Frame Layout

The most basic stack frame looks like following:

    ...
    Local variables
    Other saved registers
    Saved ebp
    Return address
    Function arguments
    ...

Note: If frame pointer omission is enabled, saved ebp might be absent.

 SEH

In cases where the compiler-level SEH (__try/__except/__finally) is used, the stack layout gets a little more complicated.


SEH3 Stack Layout

When there are no __except blocks in a function (only __finally), Saved ESP is not used. Scopetable is an array of records which describe each __try block and relationships between them:

    struct _SCOPETABLE_ENTRY {
      DWORD EnclosingLevel;
      void* FilterFunc;
      void* HandlerFunc;
    }

For more details on SEH implementation see[1]. To recover try blocks watch how the try level variable is updated. It's assigned a unique number per try block, and nesting is described by relationship between scopetable entries. E.g. if scopetable entry i has EnclosingLevel=j, then try block j encloses try block i. The function body is considered to have try level -1. See Appendix 1 for an example.

 Buffer Overrun Protection

The Whidbey (MSVC 2005) compiler adds some buffer overrun protection for the SEH frames. The full stack frame layout in it looks like following:


SEH4 Stack Layout

The GS cookie is present only if the function was compiled with /GS switch. The EH cookie is always present. The SEH4 scopetable is basically the same as SEH3 one, only with added header:

    struct _EH4_SCOPETABLE {
        DWORD GSCookieOffset;
        DWORD GSCookieXOROffset;
        DWORD EHCookieOffset;
        DWORD EHCookieXOROffset;
        _EH4_SCOPETABLE_RECORD ScopeRecord[1];
    };

    struct _EH4_SCOPETABLE_RECORD {
        DWORD EnclosingLevel;
        long (*FilterFunc)();
            union {
            void (*HandlerAddress)();
            void (*FinallyFunc)();
        };
    };

GSCookieOffset = -2 means that GS cookie is not used. EH cookie is always present. Offsets are ebp relative. Check is done the following way: (ebp+CookieXOROffset) ^ [ebp+CookieOffset] == _security_cookie Pointer to the scopetable in the stack is XORed with the _security_cookie too. Also, in SEH4 the outermost scope level is -2, not -1 as in SEH3.

 C++ Exception Model Implementation

When C++ exceptions handling (try/catch) or unwindable objects are present in the function, things get pretty complex.


C++ EH Stack Layout

EH handler is different for each function (unlike the SEH case) and usually looks like this:

     (VC7+)
    mov eax, OFFSET __ehfuncinfo
    jmp ___CxxFrameHandler

__ehfuncinfo is a structure of type FuncInfo which fully describes all try/catch blocks and unwindable objects in the function.

    struct FuncInfo {
      // compiler version.
      // 0x19930520: up to VC6, 0x19930521: VC7.x(2002-2003), 0x19930522: VC8 (2005)
      DWORD magicNumber;

      // number of entries in unwind table
      int maxState;

      // table of unwind destructors
      UnwindMapEntry* pUnwindMap;

      // number of try blocks in the function
      DWORD nTryBlocks;

      // mapping of catch blocks to try blocks
      TryBlockMapEntry* pTryBlockMap;

      // not used on x86
      DWORD nIPMapEntries;

      // not used on x86
      void* pIPtoStateMap;

      // VC7+ only, expected exceptions list (function "throw" specifier) 
      ESTypeList* pESTypeList;

      // VC8+ only, bit 0 set if function was compiled with /EHs
      int EHFlags;
    };

Unwind map is similar to the SEH scopetable, only without filter functions:

    struct UnwindMapEntry {
      int toState;        // target state
      void (*action)();   // action to perform (unwind funclet address)
    };

Try block descriptor. Describes a try{} block with associated catches.

    struct TryBlockMapEntry {
      int tryLow;
      int tryHigh;    // this try {} covers states ranging from tryLow to tryHigh
      int catchHigh;  // highest state inside catch handlers of this try
      int nCatches;   // number of catch handlers
      HandlerType* pHandlerArray; //catch handlers table
    };

Catch block descriptor. Describes a single catch() of a try block.

struct HandlerType {
  // 0x01: const, 0x02: volatile, 0x08: reference
  DWORD adjectives;

  // RTTI descriptor of the exception type. 0=any (ellipsis)
  TypeDescriptor* pType;

  // ebp-based offset of the exception object in the function stack.
  // 0 = no object (catch by type)
  int dispCatchObj;

  // address of the catch handler code.
  // returns address where to continues execution (i.e. code after the try block)
  void* addressOfHandler;
};

List of expected exceptions (implemented but not enabled in MSVC by default, use /d1ESrt to enable).

    struct ESTypeList {
      // number of entries in the list
      int nCount;

      // list of exceptions; it seems only pType field in HandlerType is used
      HandlerType* pTypeArray;
    };

RTTI type descriptor. Describes a single C++ type. Used here to match the thrown exception type with catch type.

struct TypeDescriptor {
  // vtable of type_info class
  const void * pVFTable;

  // used to keep the demangled name returned by type_info::name()
  void* spare;

  // mangled type name, e.g. ".H" = "int", ".?AUA@@" = "struct A", ".?AVA@@" = "class A"
  char name[0];
};

Unlike SEH, each try block doesn't have a single associated state value. The compiler changes the state value not only on entering/leaving a try block, but also for each constructed/destroyed object. That way it's possible to know which objects need unwinding when an exception happens. You can still recover try blocks boundaries by inspecting the associated state range and the addresses returned by catch handlers (see Appendix 2).

 Throwing C++ Exceptions

throw statements are converted into calls of _CxxThrowException(), which actually raises a Win32 (SEH) exception with the code 0xE06D7363 ('msc'|0xE0000000). The custom parameters of the Win32 exception include pointers to the exception object and its ThrowInfo structure, using which the exception handler can match the thrown exception type against the types expected by catch handlers.

    struct ThrowInfo {
      // 0x01: const, 0x02: volatile
      DWORD attributes;

      // exception destructor
      void (*pmfnUnwind)();

      // forward compatibility handler
      int (*pForwardCompat)();

      // list of types that can catch this exception.
      // i.e. the actual type and all its ancestors.
      CatchableTypeArray* pCatchableTypeArray;
    };

    struct CatchableTypeArray {
      // number of entries in the following array
      int nCatchableTypes; 
      CatchableType* arrayOfCatchableTypes[0];
    };

Describes a type that can catch this exception.

    struct CatchableType {
      // 0x01: simple type (can be copied by memmove), 0x02: can be caught by reference only, 0x04: has virtual bases
      DWORD properties;

      // see above
      TypeDescriptor* pType;

      // how to cast the thrown object to this type
      PMD thisDisplacement;

      // object size
      int sizeOrOffset;

      // copy constructor address
      void (*copyFunction)();
    };

    // Pointer-to-member descriptor.
    struct PMD {
      // member offset
      int mdisp;

      // offset of the vbtable (-1 if not a virtual base)
      int pdisp;

      // offset to the displacement value inside the vbtable
      int vdisp;
    };

We'll delve more into this in the next article.

 Prologs and Epilogs

Instead of emitting the code for setting up the stack frame in the function body, the compiler might choose to call specific prolog and epilog functions instead. There are several variants, each used for specific function type:

Name	Type	EH Cookie	GS Cookie	Catch Handlers
_SEH_prolog/_SEH_epilog	SEH3	-	-
_SEH_prolog4/_SEH_epilog4 S	EH4	+	-
_SEH_prolog4_GS/_SEH_epilog4_GS	SEH4	+	+
_EH_prolog	C++ EH	-	-	+/-
_EH_prolog3/_EH_epilog3	C++ EH	+	-	-
_EH_prolog3_catch/_EH_epilog3	C++ EH	+	-	+
_EH_prolog3_GS/_EH_epilog3_GS	C++ EH	+	+	-
_EH_prolog3_catch_GS/_EH_epilog3_catch_GS	C++ EH	+	+	+

 SEH2

Apparently was used by MSVC 1.XX (exported by crtdll.dll). Encountered in some old NT programs.

    ...
    Saved edi
    Saved esi
    Saved ebx
    Next SEH frame
    Current SEH handler (__except_handler2)
    Pointer to the scopetable
    Try level
    Saved ebp (of this function)
    Exception pointers
    Local variables
    Saved ESP
    Local variables
    Callee EBP
    Return address
    Function arguments
    ...

 Appendix I: Sample SEH Program

Let's consider the following sample disassembly.

func1           proc near

_excCode        = dword ptr -28h
buf             = byte ptr -24h
_saved_esp      = dword ptr -18h
_exception_info = dword ptr -14h
_next           = dword ptr -10h
_handler        = dword ptr -0Ch
_scopetable     = dword ptr -8
_trylevel       = dword ptr -4
str             = dword ptr  8

  push    ebp
  mov     ebp, esp
  push    -1
  push    offset _func1_scopetable
  push    offset _except_handler3
  mov     eax, large fs:0
  push    eax
  mov     large fs:0, esp
  add     esp, -18h
  push    ebx
  push    esi
  push    edi

  ; --- end of prolog ---

  mov     [ebp+_trylevel], 0 ;trylevel -1 -> 0: beginning of try block 0
  mov     [ebp+_trylevel], 1 ;trylevel 0 -> 1: beginning of try block 1
  mov     large dword ptr ds:123, 456
  mov     [ebp+_trylevel], 0 ;trylevel 1 -> 0: end of try block 1
  jmp     short _endoftry1

_func1_filter1:                         ; __except() filter of try block 1
  mov     ecx, [ebp+_exception_info]
  mov     edx, [ecx+EXCEPTION_POINTERS.ExceptionRecord]
  mov     eax, [edx+EXCEPTION_RECORD.ExceptionCode]
  mov     [ebp+_excCode], eax
  mov     ecx, [ebp+_excCode]
  xor     eax, eax
  cmp     ecx, EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION
  setz    al
  retn

_func1_handler1:                        ; beginning of handler for try block 1
  mov     esp, [ebp+_saved_esp]
  push    offset aAccessViolatio ; "Access violation"
  call    _printf
  add     esp, 4
  mov     [ebp+_trylevel], 0 ;trylevel 1 -> 0: end of try block 1

_endoftry1:
  mov     edx, [ebp+str]
  push    edx
  lea     eax, [ebp+buf]
  push    eax
  call    _strcpy
  add     esp, 8
  mov     [ebp+_trylevel], -1 ; trylevel 0 -> -1: end of try block 0
  call    _func1_handler0     ; execute __finally of try block 0
  jmp     short _endoftry0

_func1_handler0:                        ; __finally handler of try block 0
  push    offset aInFinally ; "in finally"
  call    _puts
  add     esp, 4
  retn

_endoftry0:
  ; --- epilog ---
  mov     ecx, [ebp+_next]
  mov     large fs:0, ecx
  pop     edi
  pop     esi
  pop     ebx
  mov     esp, ebp
  pop     ebp
  retn
func1           endp

_func1_scopetable
  ;try block 0
  dd -1                      ;EnclosingLevel
  dd 0                       ;FilterFunc
  dd offset _func1_handler0  ;HandlerFunc

  ;try block 1
  dd 0                       ;EnclosingLevel
  dd offset _func1_filter1   ;FilterFunc
  dd offset _func1_handler1  ;HandlerFunc

The try block 0 has no filter, therefore its handler is a __finally{} block. EnclosingLevel of try block 1 is 0, so it's placed inside try block 0. Considering this, we can try to reconstruct the function structure:

    void func1 (char* str)
    {
      char buf[12];
      __try // try block 0
      {
         __try // try block 1
         {
           *(int*)123=456;
         }
         __except(GetExceptCode() == EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION)
         {
            printf("Access violation");
         }
         strcpy(buf,str);
      }
      __finally
      {
         puts("in finally");
      }
    }

 Appendix II: Sample Program with C++ Exceptions

func1           proc near

_a1             = dword ptr -24h
_exc            = dword ptr -20h
e               = dword ptr -1Ch
a2              = dword ptr -18h
a1              = dword ptr -14h
_saved_esp      = dword ptr -10h
_next           = dword ptr -0Ch
_handler        = dword ptr -8
_state          = dword ptr -4

  push    ebp
  mov     ebp, esp
  push    0FFFFFFFFh
  push    offset func1_ehhandler
  mov     eax, large fs:0
  push    eax
  mov     large fs:0, esp
  push    ecx
  sub     esp, 14h
  push    ebx
  push    esi
  push    edi
  mov     [ebp+_saved_esp], esp

  ; --- end of prolog ---

  lea     ecx, [ebp+a1]
  call    A::A(void)
  mov     [ebp+_state], 0          ; state -1 -> 0: a1 constructed
  mov     [ebp+a1], 1              ; a1.m1 = 1
  mov     byte ptr [ebp+_state], 1 ; state 0 -> 1: try {
  lea     ecx, [ebp+a2]
  call    A::A(void)
  mov     [ebp+_a1], eax
  mov     byte ptr [ebp+_state], 2 ; state 2: a2 constructed
  mov     [ebp+a2], 2              ; a2.m1 = 2
  mov     eax, [ebp+a1]
  cmp     eax, [ebp+a2]            ; a1.m1 == a2.m1?
  jnz     short loc_40109F
  mov     [ebp+_exc], offset aAbc  ; _exc = "abc"
  push    offset __TI1?PAD         ; char *
  lea     ecx, [ebp+_exc]
  push    ecx
  call    _CxxThrowException       ; throw "abc";

loc_40109F:
  mov     byte ptr [ebp+_state], 1 ; state 2 -> 1: destruct a2
  lea     ecx, [ebp+a2]
  call    A::~A(void)
  jmp     short func1_try0end

; catch (char * e)
func1_try0handler_pchar:
  mov     edx, [ebp+e]
  push    edx
  push    offset aCaughtS ; "Caught %s\n"
  call    ds:printf       ;
  add     esp, 8
  mov     eax, offset func1_try0end
  retn

; catch (...)
func1_try0handler_ellipsis:
  push    offset aCaught___ ; "Caught ...\n"
  call    ds:printf
  add     esp, 4
  mov     eax, offset func1_try0end
  retn

func1_try0end:
  mov     [ebp+_state], 0          ; state 1 -> 0: }//try
  push    offset aAfterTry ; "after try\n"
  call    ds:printf
  add     esp, 4
  mov     [ebp+_state], -1         ; state 0 -> -1: destruct a1
  lea     ecx, [ebp+a1]
  call    A::~A(void)
  ; --- epilog ---
  mov     ecx, [ebp+_next]
  mov     large fs:0, ecx
  pop     edi
  pop     esi
  pop     ebx
  mov     esp, ebp
  pop     ebp
  retn
func1           endp

func1_ehhandler proc near
  mov     eax, offset func1_funcinfo
  jmp     __CxxFrameHandler
func1_ehhandler endp

func1_funcinfo
  dd 19930520h            ; magicNumber
  dd 4                    ; maxState
  dd offset func1_unwindmap ; pUnwindMap
  dd 1                    ; nTryBlocks
  dd offset func1_trymap  ; pTryBlockMap
  dd 0                    ; nIPMapEntries
  dd 0                    ; pIPtoStateMap
  dd 0                    ; pESTypeList

func1_unwindmap
  dd -1
  dd offset func1_unwind_1tobase ; action
  dd 0                    ; toState
  dd 0                    ; action
  dd 1                    ; toState
  dd offset func1_unwind_2to1 ; action
  dd 0                    ; toState
  dd 0                    ; action

func1_trymap
  dd 1                    ; tryLow
  dd 2                    ; tryHigh
  dd 3                    ; catchHigh
  dd 2                    ; nCatches
  dd offset func1_tryhandlers_0 ; pHandlerArray
  dd 0

func1_tryhandlers_0
dd 0                    ; adjectives
dd offset char * `RTTI Type Descriptor' ; pType
dd -1Ch                 ; dispCatchObj
dd offset func1_try0handler_pchar ; addressOfHandler
dd 0                    ; adjectives
dd 0                    ; pType
dd 0                    ; dispCatchObj
dd offset func1_try0handler_ellipsis ; addressOfHandler

func1_unwind_1tobase proc near
a1 = byte ptr -14h
  lea     ecx, [ebp+a1]
  call    A::~A(void)
  retn
func1_unwind_1tobase endp

func1_unwind_2to1 proc near
a2 = byte ptr -18h
  lea     ecx, [ebp+a2]
  call    A::~A(void)
  retn
func1_unwind_2to1 endp

Let's see what we can find out here. The maxState field in FuncInfo structure is 4 which means we have four entries in the unwind map, from 0 to 3. Examining the map, we see that the following actions are executed during unwinding:

• state 3 -> state 0 (no action)
• state 2 -> state 1 (destruct a2)
• state 1 -> state 0 (no action)
• state 0 -> state -1 (destruct a1)

Checking the try map, we can infer that states 1 and 2 correspond to the try block body and state 3 to the catch blocks bodies. Thus, change from state 0 to state 1 denotes the beginning of try block, and change from 1 to 0 its end. From the function code we can also see that -1 -> 0 is construction of a1, and 1 -> 2 is construction of a2. So the state diagram looks like this:



Where did the arrow 1->3 come from? We cannot see it in the function code or FuncInfo structure since it's done by the exception handler. If an exception happens inside try block, the exception handler first unwinds the stack to the tryLow value (1 in our case) and then sets state value to tryHigh+1 (2+1=3) before calling the catch handler.

The try block has two catch handlers. The first one has a catch type (char*) and gets the exception object on the stack (-1Ch = e). The second one has no type (i.e. ellipsis catch). Both handlers return the address where to resume execution, i.e. the position just after the try block. Now we can recover the function code:

    void func1 ()
    {
      A a1;
      a1.m1 = 1;
      try {
        A a2;
        a2.m1 = 2;
        if (a1.m1 == a1.m2) throw "abc";
      }
      catch(char* e)
      {
        printf("Caught %s\n",e);
      }
      catch(...)
      {
        printf("Caught ...\n");
      }
      printf("after try\n");
    }

 Appendix III: IDC Helper Scripts

I wrote an IDC script to help with the reversing of MSVC programs. It scans the whole program for typical SEH/EH code sequences and comments all related structures and fields. Commented are stack variables, exception handlers, exception types and other. It also tries to fix function boundaries that are sometimes incorrectly determined by IDA. You can download it from .

 Links and References

[1] Matt Pietrek. A Crash Course on the Depths of Win32?Structured Exception Handling.

Still THE definitive guide on the implementation of SEH in Win32.

[2] Brandon Bray. Security Improvements to the Whidbey Compiler.
http://blogs.msdn.com/branbray/archive/2003/11/11/51012.aspx
Short description on changes in the stack layout for cookie checks.

[3] Chris Brumme. The Exception Model.
http://blogs.msdn.com/cbrumme/archive/2003/10/01/51524.aspx
Mostly about .NET exceptions, but still contains a good deal of information about SEH and C++ exceptions.

[4] Vishal Kochhar. How a C++ compiler implements exception handling.

An overview of C++ exceptions implementation.

[5] Calling Standard for Alpha Systems. Chapter 5. Event Processing.

Win32 takes a lot from the way Alpha handles exceptions and this manual has a very detailed description on how it happens.

Structure definitions and flag values were also recovered from the following sources:

• VC8 CRT debug information (many structure definitions)
• VC8 assembly output (/FAs)
• VC8 WinCE CRT source