gallopsled/pwntools

★ 13,435PythonAudience · developerComplexity · 3/5Setup · moderate

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Exploit writing tools
      Network connections
      Binary manipulation
    Use Cases
      CTF competitions
      Security research
      Vulnerability testing
    Tech Stack
      Python
      Ubuntu Linux
      Assembly support
    Audience
      Security researchers
      CTF competitors

mindmap root((repo)) What it does Exploit writing tools Network connections Binary manipulation Use Cases CTF competitions Security research Vulnerability testing Tech Stack Python Ubuntu Linux Assembly support Audience Security researchers CTF competitors

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Write a CTF exploit that connects to a remote server, sends shellcode, and opens an interactive shell in under 10 lines of Python.

USE CASE 2

Automate binary exploitation tasks like packing bytes and managing network sockets for security competitions.

USE CASE 3

Script controlled interactions with local binaries to practice vulnerability research safely.

USE CASE 4

Assemble or disassemble machine code for non-standard processor architectures during exploit development.

Tech stack

PythonUbuntuLinux

Getting it running

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires Ubuntu Linux 22.04 or 24.04 and Python 3.10 or newer, some assembly features need extra system packages.

In plain English

Pwntools is a Python library built for a specific security competition format called CTF (Capture The Flag). In these competitions, participants solve technical puzzles that often involve finding and exploiting software vulnerabilities. Pwntools gives competitors a set of ready-made tools to write those exploits quickly rather than building everything from scratch. The library is designed to make the low-level work of exploit writing much simpler. Instead of manually constructing bytes, managing network connections, or working with raw processor instructions, you call short Python functions that handle those details. The code example in the README shows connecting to a remote server, sending machine code instructions, and taking control of an interactive session in just four lines. Installation is straightforward. On Ubuntu Linux, you run a few apt-get commands to install dependencies, then pip install pwntools. The core library is Python-only and self-contained. An optional layer for assembling or disassembling code meant for other processor types requires additional system packages, but most users won't need that immediately. The project runs on 64-bit Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04, with best support there. It works on other Unix-like systems too, including Debian, Arch, FreeBSD, and macOS. Python 3.10 or newer is required for the current version. Older hardware or Python 2.7 environments can use the older Pwntools 4.x series. The project has full documentation, a series of tutorials for new users, and a write-ups repository with example solutions to past CTF challenges. A Discord server is available for questions. The README is sparse on deep technical detail but points to docs.pwntools.com for everything further.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

Show me how to use pwntools to connect to a CTF challenge server, send a buffer overflow payload, and get a shell.

Prompt 2

Write a pwntools script that opens a local binary, finds the return address offset, and sends a ROP chain.

Prompt 3

How do I use pwntools p64() and recv() to interact with a 64-bit ELF binary in a CTF challenge?

Prompt 4

Show me how to automate a format string exploit against a local program using pwntools.

Prompt 5

How do I use the pwntools ELF class to automatically find the address of a function in a compiled binary?

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