pwndbg¤
pwndbg (/paʊnˈdiˌbʌɡ/) is a GDB and LLDB plug-in that makes debugging suck less, with a focus on features needed by low-level software developers, hardware hackers, reverse-engineers and exploit developers.
It has a boatload of features, see FEATURES.md and CHEATSHEET (feel free to print it!).
Why?¤
Vanilla GDB and LLDB are terrible to use for reverse engineering and exploit development. Typing x/g30x $esp or navigating cumbersome LLDB commands is not fun and often provides minimal information. The year is 2025, and core debuggers still lack many user-friendly features such as a robust hexdump command. Windbg users are completely lost when they occasionally need to bump into GDB or LLDB.
What?¤
Pwndbg is a Python module which is loaded directly into GDB or LLDB*. It provides a suite of utilities and enhancements that fill the gaps left by these debuggers, smoothing out rough edges and making them more user-friendly.
Many other projects from the past (e.g., gdbinit, PEDA) and present (e.g. GEF) exist to fill some these gaps. Each provides an excellent experience and great features -- but they're difficult to extend (some are unmaintained, and all are a single 100KB, 200KB, or 363KB file (respectively)).
Pwndbg exists not only to replace all of its predecessors, but also to have a clean implementation that runs quickly and is resilient against all the weird corner cases that come up. It also comes batteries-included, so all of its features are available if you run setup.sh.
When to Use GDB or LLDB?¤
Pwndbg supports both GDB and LLDB, and each debugger has its own strengths. Here's a quick guide to help you decide which one to use:
| Use Case | Supported Debugger |
|---|---|
| Debugging Linux binaries or ELF files | GDB, LLDB |
| Debugging Mach-O binaries on macOS | LLDB |
| Linux kernel debugging (qemu-system) | GDB, LLDB |
| Linux user-space emulation (qemu-user) | GDB |
| Embedded debugging (ARM Cortex M* or RISC-V/32) | GDB, LLDB |
Pwndbg ensures a consistent experience across both, so switching between them is seamless.
The LLDB implementation in Pwndbg is still in early-stage and may contain bugs or limitations.
Known issues are tracked in GitHub Issues.If you encounter any problems, feel free to report them or discuss on our Discord server.
Compatibility Table¤
| Feature | Supported Version | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| pwndbg-gdb | - Python 3.10+ - GDB 12.1+ | Battle-tested on Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 |
| pwndbg-lldb | - Python 3.12+ - LLDB 19+ | Experimental/early-stage support |
| qemu-user | QEMU 8.1+ | vFile API is needed for vmmap |
| qemu-system | QEMU 6.2+ | Supported version since ubuntu 22.04 |
How?¤
See installation instructions.
What can I do with that?¤
For further info about features/functionalities, see FEATURES.
Who?¤
Pwndbg is an open-source project, maintained by many contributors!
Pwndbg was originally created by Zach Riggle, who is no longer with us. We want to thank Zach for all of his contributions to Pwndbg and the wider security community.
Want to help with development? Read CONTRIBUTING or join our Discord server!
How to develop?¤
To run tests locally you can do this in docker image, after cloning repo run simply
Disclaimer - this won't work on apple silicon macs.Contact¤
If you have any questions not worthy of a bug report, feel free to ping anybody on Discord and ask away.