The Ghidra Book, 2nd Edition

The Ghidra Book, 2nd Edition

The Definitive Guide
by Kara Nance and Chris Eagle
January 2026, 608 pp.
ISBN-13: 
9781718504684
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The latest Early Access file for this title will be sent out within the next week. Thank you for your patience and support!


DANCE WITH THE DRAGON

The result of more than a decade of research and development within the NSA, the Ghidra platform was developed to address some of the agency’s most challenging reverse-engineering problems. With the open-source release of this formerly restricted tool suite, one of the world’s most capable disassemblers and intuitive decompilers is now in the hands of cybersecurity defenders everywhere—and The Ghidra Book, 2nd edition, is the one and only guide you need to master it.

In addition to discussing RE techniques useful in analyzing software and malware of all kinds, the book thoroughly introduces Ghidra’s components, features, and unique capacity for group collaboration. You’ll learn how to:

  • Navigate a disassembly
  • Use Ghidra’s built-in decompiler to expedite analysis
  • Analyze obfuscated binaries
  • Extend Ghidra to recognize new data types
  • Build new Ghidra analyzers and loaders
  • Add support for new processors and instruction sets
  • Script Ghidra tasks to automate workflows
  • Set up and use a collaborative reverse engineering environment

Designed for beginner and advanced users alike, The Ghidra Book, 2nd edition, will effectively prepare you to meet the needs and challenges of RE, so you can analyze files like a pro.

New to this edition: This updated edition reflects the continued evolution of the open source project and brings readers up to speed with expanded real-world examples, new tools like PyGhidra and BSim, enhanced debugger capabilities, and seamless IDE integration. Clear, practical examples are woven into every chapter, helping you leverage Ghidra’s growing ecosystem and modern development environments to their fullest potential.

Author Bio 

Kara Nance is a private security consultant. She has been a professor of computer science for many years. She has served on the Honeynet Project Board of Directors and given numerous talks at conferences around the world. She enjoys building Ghidra extensions and regularly provides Ghidra training.

Chris Eagle has been reverse engineering software for 40 years. He is the author of The IDA Pro Book (No Starch Press) and is a highly sought-after provider of reverse engineering training. He has published numerous reverse engineering tools and given talks at conferences such as Blackhat, Defcon, and Shmoocon.

Table of contents 

Acknowledgments

Part I: Introduction
Chapter 1: Introduction to Disassembly
Chapter 2: Reversing and Disassembly Tools
Chapter 3: Meet Ghidra

Part II: Basic Ghidra Usage
Chapter 4: Getting Started with Ghidra
Chapter 5: Ghidra Data Displays
Chapter 6: Making Sense of a Ghidra Disassembly
Chapter 7: Disassembly Manipulation
Chapter 8: Data Types and Data Structures
Chapter 9: Cross-References
Chapter 10: Graphs

Part III: Making Ghidra Work for You
Chapter 11: Collaborative SRE
Chapter 12: Customizing Ghidra
Chapter 13: Extending Ghidra’s Worldview
Chapter 14: Basic Ghidra Scripting
Chapter 15: Eclipse and GhidraDev
Chapter 16: Ghidra in Headless Mode

Part IV: A Deeper Dive
Chapter 17: Ghidra Loaders
Chapter 18: Ghidra Processors
Chapter 19: The Ghidra Decompiler
Chapter 20: Compiler Variations

Part V: Real-World Applications
Chapter 21: Obfuscation and Emulation
Chapter 22: Patching Binaries
Chapter 23: BSim and Other Comparison Tools

Appendix: Ghidra for IDA Users

The chapters in red are included in this Early Access PDF.