Example of dumping memory from within Python's code, using `ctypes.c_byte.from_address`

python_memory_dump.py

#!/usr/bin/python

def hex_dump_memory(ptr, num):
    import ctypes
    
    s = ''
    n = 0
    lines = []
    data = list((num * ctypes.c_byte).from_address(ptr))

    if len(data) == 0:
        return '<empty>'

    for i in range(0, num, 16):
        line = ''
        line += '%04x | ' % (i)
        n += 16

        for j in range(n-16, n):
            if j >= len(data): break
            line += '%02x ' % abs(data[j])

        line += ' ' * (3 * 16 + 7 - len(line)) + ' | '

        for j in range(n-16, n):
            if j >= len(data): break
            c = data[j] if not (data[j] < 0x20 or data[j] > 0x7e) else '.'
            line += '%c' % c

        lines.append(line)
    return '\n'.join(lines)


addr = int('0x' + open('/proc/self/maps', 'r').readlines()[0].split('-')[0], 16)
print 'Hex dump from 0x%016x' % addr

print hex_dump_memory(addr, 256)

can we use this to dump a application as well so i dont have to use procdump

@modz2014 hi! I've never tried repurposing that primitive into fully-fledged process dumper, neither do I believe that would be easy to do so. In order to obtain nice minidump you would need to adhere to underlying file format & required structures that formulate it.
Implemented primitive is capable of merely acquiring raw bytes view, which is not enough to end up with a tidy minidump.

Hopefully that makes things more clear.

Regards,
Mariusz

I just want to be able to dump memory of a program that’s all so I don’t have to use procdump all the time

it’s only dump at a certain string won’t even need a full
Dump of the program

Hasn't it been better to use ctypes.c_ubyte on line 9?