pwntools VS pwndbg

Compare pwntools vs pwndbg and see what are their differences.

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pwntools pwndbg
8 9
11,447 6,700
1.9% 3.8%
9.1 9.5
6 days ago 3 days ago
Python Python
GNU General Public License v3.0 or later MIT License
The number of mentions indicates the total number of mentions that we've tracked plus the number of user suggested alternatives.
Stars - the number of stars that a project has on GitHub. Growth - month over month growth in stars.
Activity is a relative number indicating how actively a project is being developed. Recent commits have higher weight than older ones.
For example, an activity of 9.0 indicates that a project is amongst the top 10% of the most actively developed projects that we are tracking.

pwntools

Posts with mentions or reviews of pwntools. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2021-11-13.
  • PwnTools for Exploit Development
    1 project | dev.to | 20 Aug 2023
    The Pwntools library stands out as a sophisticated toolset for CTF enthusiasts and security researchers. It aids in creating and executing shellcode, designing payloads, and interacting with remote processes. For instance, the context feature allows developers to switch between different architectures effortlessly, while the 'tube' module streamlines the communication between local and remote processes. And it's not just limited to Linux; the library has support for various platforms including Windows, making it versatile and comprehensive.
  • unable to install pwntools on mac m1
    1 project | /r/ExploitDev | 17 May 2023
    you have to remove the unicorn dependency from the setup.py because doesn't support m1 git clone https://github.com/Gallopsled/pwntools cd pwntools sed -i'' '/unicorn/d' setup.py pip install --upgrade .
  • Awesome CTF : Top Learning Resource Labs
    72 projects | /r/TutorialBoy | 13 Nov 2021
    Pwntools - CTF Framework for writing exploits.
  • Awesome Penetration Testing
    124 projects | dev.to | 6 Oct 2021
    Pwntools - Rapid exploit development framework built for use in CTFs.
  • Not sure if belongs here
    1 project | /r/masterhacker | 30 Aug 2021
    Pwntools is a thing.
  • What is Calypso?
    4 projects | dev.to | 4 Mar 2021
    One library that I may eventually make which will probably not be an officially maintained library but which I will maintain myself will be a partial or full port of pwntools (a library written in Python for CTFs) to Calypso. For more information on CTFs, atan made a pretty cool post about them:
  • Use pwntools for your exploits
    1 project | dev.to | 7 Feb 2021
  • anybody know good packet crafting resources?
    1 project | /r/ExploitDev | 31 Dec 2020
    Scapy is great if you're attacking low level networking protocol stacks like TCP/IP or UDP. In that case, you may be modifying packet headers and such. Otherwise, it's much easier to just use the Python socket module and craft your custom payload in Python. Even better is the pwntools module.

pwndbg

Posts with mentions or reviews of pwndbg. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2023-01-21.
  • Any tips for newish C debugging please.
    1 project | /r/neovim | 1 Feb 2023
    By far the best debugger for C is gdb+pwndbg (https://github.com/pwndbg/pwndbg)
  • Need help installing pwndbg on Kali Linux
    2 projects | /r/securityCTF | 21 Jan 2023
  • Hacked GDB Dashboard Puts It All on Display
    2 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 24 Mar 2022
    There are a lot of these types of tools already in the reverse engineering community (in order of lowest chance of breaking when you throw really weird stuff at it):

    GEF: https://gef.readthedocs.io/en/master/

    PWNDBG: https://github.com/pwndbg/pwndbg

    PEDA: https://github.com/longld/peda

    They also come with a slew of different features to aid in RE/exploit dev, but many of them are also useful for debugging really weird issues.

  • Debugging with GDB
    3 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 1 Mar 2022
    GDB is great. I definitely recommend checking out watchpoints as well, a very useful tool for monitoring how a variable changes over time.

    GDB also has many good plugins - pwndbg has tons of features and UI improvements over stock GDB.

    https://github.com/pwndbg/pwndbg

  • Making GDB Easier: The TUI Interface
    1 project | dev.to | 30 Jan 2022
    I've recently started a new semester for my Master's program, and the first project for the semester involves using the GDB tool (GNU Debugger) to analyze a stack on a simple C program that contains a buffer overflow vulnerability. A couple of semesters ago, I had been given a VM pre-loaded with a more featured debugger tool called pwndbg. Pwndbg was excellent because it was easy to use and easily allowed accessed to information such as current assembly code being executed and a view of the program registers. So, going back to using GDB felt a little like stepping back into the stone age.
  • Awesome CTF : Top Learning Resource Labs
    72 projects | /r/TutorialBoy | 13 Nov 2021
    Pwndbg - A GDB plugin that provides a suite of utilities to hack around GDB easily.
  • Trouble downloading pwndbg
    1 project | /r/LiveOverflow | 5 May 2021
  • Problem in downloading pwndbg
    1 project | /r/LiveOverflow | 1 May 2021
    i have peda installed on my gdb and now i am trying to install pwndbg with git clone https://github.com/pwndbg/pwndbg cd pwndbg ./setup.sh

What are some alternatives?

When comparing pwntools and pwndbg you can also consider the following projects:

Metasploit - Metasploit Framework

gef - GEF (GDB Enhanced Features) - a modern experience for GDB with advanced debugging capabilities for exploit devs & reverse engineers on Linux

one_gadget - The best tool for finding one gadget RCE in libc.so.6

peda - PEDA - Python Exploit Development Assistance for GDB

angr - A powerful and user-friendly binary analysis platform!

gdb-dashboard - Modular visual interface for GDB in Python

padding-oracle-attacker - 🔓 CLI tool and library to execute padding oracle attacks easily, with support for concurrent network requests and an elegant UI.

gophish - Open-Source Phishing Toolkit

voltron - A hacky debugger UI for hackers

OneByteWallhack - CS:GO wallhack achieved by patching one byte of game memory. Written in Python 3.