What is this unusual text being used with loadstring() in Lua?

Question

I have some Lua code which appears to be an attempt to secure the code by obscurity. My understanding of the loadstring() function is a text string is composed of Lua source code text and then converted to executable Lua code by the loadstring() method.

With the following Lua source, I tried to read the contents of the variable code by invoking print on the variable code ; while I did see some valid source text in the converted string, a majority of the characters were not displayed (I assume ones with character codes below 40 and above 176). Note that there are some particularly high values in there for ASCII, eg 231 is obviously in the extended set, being the trademark sign. Additionally, there are several null characters in there. All this makes me doubt if it is indeed ASCII.

Could someone please tell me if the string is valid Lua source, and how to be able to get Lua to return the string as printable characters so that I can see what this code does?

When I run my version with print in the Lua console on Windows I get many empty boxes, presumably the console can only print pure ASCII?

Note that the code is executed using Lua version 5.0.2

code='\27\76\117\97\80\1\4\4\4\6\8\9\9\8\182\9\147\104\231\245\125\65\12\0\0\0\64\108\117\97\101\109\103\46\108\117\97\0\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\5\23\0\0\0\8\0\0\0\16\0\0\0\17\0\0\0\17\0\0\0\17\0\0\0\17\0\0\0\17\0\0\0\18\0\0\0\18\0\0\0\19\0\0\0\20\0\0\0\21\0\0\0\35\0\0\0\35\0\0\0\26\0\0\0\49\0\0\0\49\0\0\0\37\0\0\0\59\0\0\0\59\0\0\0\54\0\0\0\61\0\0\0\66\0\0\0\2\0\0\0\4\0\0\0\104\52\120\0\1\0\0\0\22\0\0\0\7\0\0\0\77\111\100\117\108\101\0\12\0\0\0\22\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\12\0\0\0\4\13\0\0\0\122\122\97\78\111\100\101\78\97\109\101\115\0\4\6\0\0\0\90\90\65\48\49\0\4\6\0\0\0\90\90\65\48\50\0\4\14\0\0\0\122\122\97\84\101\120\116\90\101\105\108\101\110\0\4\12\0\0\0\122\122\97\80\111\115\105\116\105\111\110\0\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\240\63\4\8\0\0\0\122\122\97\84\101\120\116\0\4\1\0\0\0\0\4\20\0\0\0\122\122\97\67\117\114\114\101\110\116\84\101\120\116\86\97\108\117\101\0\4\9\0\0\0\122\122\97\83\101\116\117\112\0\4\10\0\0\0\122\122\97\83\101\108\101\99\116\0\4\9\0\0\0\122\122\97\82\101\115\101\116\0\4\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\2\0\0\0\0\1\0\7\14\0\0\0\3\0\0\0\3\0\0\0\4\0\0\0\4\0\0\0\4\0\0\0\5\0\0\0\5\0\0\0\5\0\0\0\5\0\0\0\4\0\0\0\5\0\0\0\7\0\0\0\7\0\0\0\8\0\0\0\4\0\0\0\7\0\0\0\115\116\114\116\98\108\0\0\0\0\0\13\0\0\0\16\0\0\0\40\102\111\114\32\103\101\110\101\114\97\116\111\114\41\0\5\0\0\0\11\0\0\0\12\0\0\0\40\102\111\114\32\115\116\97\116\101\41\0\5\0\0\0\11\0\0\0\2\0\0\0\118\0\5\0\0\0\11\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\2\0\0\0\4\7\0\0\0\98\117\102\102\101\114\0\4\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\14\0\0\0\65\0\0\1\7\0\0\1\0\0\0\1\3\128\1\2\222\0\128\1\5\0\0\4\198\0\0\5\83\1\2\4\7\0\0\4\29\0\0\1\84\254\127\0\5\0\0\1\27\0\1\1\27\128\0\0\0\0\0\0\26\0\0\0\1\1\0\4\18\0\0\0\27\0\0\0\28\0\0\0\28\0\0\0\29\0\0\0\29\0\0\0\30\0\0\0\32\0\0\0\32\0\0\0\32\0\0\0\32\0\0\0\32\0\0\0\33\0\0\0\33\0\0\0\33\0\0\0\33\0\0\0\33\0\0\0\27\0\0\0\35\0\0\0\2\0\0\0\8\0\0\0\122\122\97\70\105\108\101\0\0\0\0\0\17\0\0\0\6\0\0\0\122\101\105\108\101\0\3\0\0\0\16\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\7\0\0\0\77\111\100\117\108\101\0\5\0\0\0\4\5\0\0\0\114\101\97\100\0\0\4\14\0\0\0\122\122\97\84\101\120\116\90\101\105\108\101\110\0\4\12\0\0\0\122\122\97\80\111\115\105\116\105\111\110\0\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\240\63\0\0\0\0\18\0\0\0\148\3\128\0\139\62\0\1\153\0\1\1\85\128\125\0\20\0\128\0\148\2\128\0\4\0\0\2\6\63\1\2\4\0\0\3\70\191\1\3\73\128\1\2\4\0\0\2\4\0\0\3\70\191\1\3\140\191\1\3\201\128\126\2\212\251\127\0\27\128\0\0\0\0\0\0\37\0\0\0\1\2\0\7\21\0\0\0\39\0\0\0\39\0\0\0\39\0\0\0\39\0\0\0\39\0\0\0\40\0\0\0\40\0\0\0\40\0\0\0\40\0\0\0\43\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\49\0\0\0\3\0\0\0\6\0\0\0\118\97\108\117\101\0\0\0\0\0\20\0\0\0\9\0\0\0\110\111\100\101\78\97\109\101\0\0\0\0\0\20\0\0\0\20\0\0\0\122\122\97\83\101\108\101\99\116\101\100\80\111\115\105\116\105\111\110\0\10\0\0\0\20\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\7\0\0\0\77\111\100\117\108\101\0\7\0\0\0\4\8\0\0\0\122\122\97\84\101\120\116\0\4\14\0\0\0\122\122\97\84\101\120\116\90\101\105\108\101\110\0\4\20\0\0\0\122\122\97\67\117\114\114\101\110\116\84\101\120\116\86\97\108\117\101\0\4\5\0\0\0\67\97\108\108\0\4\5\0\0\0\90\90\65\48\0\4\14\0\0\0\58\65\99\116\105\118\97\116\101\78\111\100\101\0\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\240\63\0\0\0\0\21\0\0\0\4\0\0\2\4\0\0\3\198\190\1\3\6\128\1\3\201\0\125\2\4\0\0\2\4\0\0\3\134\190\1\3\201\0\126\2\0\0\0\2\197\0\0\3\1\1\0\4\0\128\0\5\65\1\0\6\147\1\2\4\1\1\0\5\0\0\1\6\147\129\2\5\129\1\0\6\89\0\2\3\27\128\0\0\0\0\0\0\54\0\0\0\1\0\0\4\19\0\0\0\56\0\0\0\56\0\0\0\56\0\0\0\56\0\0\0\56\0\0\0\56\0\0\0\56\0\0\0\56\0\0\0\56\0\0\0\57\0\0\0\57\0\0\0\57\0\0\0\57\0\0\0\57\0\0\0\57\0\0\0\57\0\0\0\57\0\0\0\57\0\0\0\59\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\7\0\0\0\77\111\100\117\108\101\0\7\0\0\0\4\5\0\0\0\67\97\108\108\0\4\13\0\0\0\122\122\97\78\111\100\101\78\97\109\101\115\0\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\240\63\4\14\0\0\0\58\65\99\116\105\118\97\116\101\78\111\100\101\0\4\4\0\0\0\97\108\108\0\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\64\0\0\0\0\19\0\0\0\5\0\0\0\4\0\0\1\198\190\0\1\6\191\0\1\193\0\0\2\147\128\0\1\1\1\0\2\65\1\0\3\89\0\2\0\5\0\0\0\4\0\0\1\198\190\0\1\6\192\0\1\193\0\0\2\147\128\0\1\1\1\0\2\65\1\0\3\89\0\2\0\27\128\0\0\23\0\0\0\34\0\0\0\202\0\0\1\10\0\1\2\65\0\0\3\129\0\0\4\95\0\0\2\137\0\125\1\10\0\0\2\137\128\126\1\201\63\127\1\73\64\128\1\73\64\129\1\98\0\0\2\0\128\0\0\137\128\129\1\162\0\0\2\0\128\0\0\137\0\130\1\226\0\0\2\0\128\0\0\137\128\130\1\27\0\1\1\27\128\0\0';

return loadstring(code)();

Answer 1

This string is valid chunk of Lua code precompiled into bytecode. Header say it's for Lua 5.0. It's not a text, it doesn't need decoding, so can be run directly with loadstring()

Answer 2

To provide a few more details than Vlad's answer for anyone who may come across this posting.

The Lua loadstring() function accepts a string of characters that are either Lua source text or Lua bytecode. It appears that the function determines type of the text by looking at the first character of the string to see if it is an escape character (0x1b or decimal 27) or not.

The loadstring() function returns an anonymous function so in the code sample:

code='\27\76\117\97\80\1\4\4\4\6\8\9\9\8\182\9\147\104\231\245\125\65\12\0\0\0\64\108\117\97\101\109\103\46\108\117\97\0\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\5\23\0\0\0\8\0\0\0\16\0\0\0\17\0\0\0\17\0\0\0\17\0\0\0\17\0\0\0\17\0\0\0\18\0\0\0\18\0\0\0\19\0\0\0\20\0\0\0\21\0\0\0\35\0\0\0\35\0\0\0\26\0\0\0\49\0\0\0\49\0\0\0\37\0\0\0\59\0\0\0\59\0\0\0\54\0\0\0\61\0\0\0\66\0\0\0\2\0\0\0\4\0\0\0\104\52\120\0\1\0\0\0\22\0\0\0\7\0\0\0\77\111\100\117\108\101\0\12\0\0\0\22\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\12\0\0\0\4\13\0\0\0\122\122\97\78\111\100\101\78\97\109\101\115\0\4\6\0\0\0\90\90\65\48\49\0\4\6\0\0\0\90\90\65\48\50\0\4\14\0\0\0\122\122\97\84\101\120\116\90\101\105\108\101\110\0\4\12\0\0\0\122\122\97\80\111\115\105\116\105\111\110\0\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\240\63\4\8\0\0\0\122\122\97\84\101\120\116\0\4\1\0\0\0\0\4\20\0\0\0\122\122\97\67\117\114\114\101\110\116\84\101\120\116\86\97\108\117\101\0\4\9\0\0\0\122\122\97\83\101\116\117\112\0\4\10\0\0\0\122\122\97\83\101\108\101\99\116\0\4\9\0\0\0\122\122\97\82\101\115\101\116\0\4\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\2\0\0\0\0\1\0\7\14\0\0\0\3\0\0\0\3\0\0\0\4\0\0\0\4\0\0\0\4\0\0\0\5\0\0\0\5\0\0\0\5\0\0\0\5\0\0\0\4\0\0\0\5\0\0\0\7\0\0\0\7\0\0\0\8\0\0\0\4\0\0\0\7\0\0\0\115\116\114\116\98\108\0\0\0\0\0\13\0\0\0\16\0\0\0\40\102\111\114\32\103\101\110\101\114\97\116\111\114\41\0\5\0\0\0\11\0\0\0\12\0\0\0\40\102\111\114\32\115\116\97\116\101\41\0\5\0\0\0\11\0\0\0\2\0\0\0\118\0\5\0\0\0\11\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\2\0\0\0\4\7\0\0\0\98\117\102\102\101\114\0\4\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\14\0\0\0\65\0\0\1\7\0\0\1\0\0\0\1\3\128\1\2\222\0\128\1\5\0\0\4\198\0\0\5\83\1\2\4\7\0\0\4\29\0\0\1\84\254\127\0\5\0\0\1\27\0\1\1\27\128\0\0\0\0\0\0\26\0\0\0\1\1\0\4\18\0\0\0\27\0\0\0\28\0\0\0\28\0\0\0\29\0\0\0\29\0\0\0\30\0\0\0\32\0\0\0\32\0\0\0\32\0\0\0\32\0\0\0\32\0\0\0\33\0\0\0\33\0\0\0\33\0\0\0\33\0\0\0\33\0\0\0\27\0\0\0\35\0\0\0\2\0\0\0\8\0\0\0\122\122\97\70\105\108\101\0\0\0\0\0\17\0\0\0\6\0\0\0\122\101\105\108\101\0\3\0\0\0\16\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\7\0\0\0\77\111\100\117\108\101\0\5\0\0\0\4\5\0\0\0\114\101\97\100\0\0\4\14\0\0\0\122\122\97\84\101\120\116\90\101\105\108\101\110\0\4\12\0\0\0\122\122\97\80\111\115\105\116\105\111\110\0\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\240\63\0\0\0\0\18\0\0\0\148\3\128\0\139\62\0\1\153\0\1\1\85\128\125\0\20\0\128\0\148\2\128\0\4\0\0\2\6\63\1\2\4\0\0\3\70\191\1\3\73\128\1\2\4\0\0\2\4\0\0\3\70\191\1\3\140\191\1\3\201\128\126\2\212\251\127\0\27\128\0\0\0\0\0\0\37\0\0\0\1\2\0\7\21\0\0\0\39\0\0\0\39\0\0\0\39\0\0\0\39\0\0\0\39\0\0\0\40\0\0\0\40\0\0\0\40\0\0\0\40\0\0\0\43\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\46\0\0\0\49\0\0\0\3\0\0\0\6\0\0\0\118\97\108\117\101\0\0\0\0\0\20\0\0\0\9\0\0\0\110\111\100\101\78\97\109\101\0\0\0\0\0\20\0\0\0\20\0\0\0\122\122\97\83\101\108\101\99\116\101\100\80\111\115\105\116\105\111\110\0\10\0\0\0\20\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\7\0\0\0\77\111\100\117\108\101\0\7\0\0\0\4\8\0\0\0\122\122\97\84\101\120\116\0\4\14\0\0\0\122\122\97\84\101\120\116\90\101\105\108\101\110\0\4\20\0\0\0\122\122\97\67\117\114\114\101\110\116\84\101\120\116\86\97\108\117\101\0\4\5\0\0\0\67\97\108\108\0\4\5\0\0\0\90\90\65\48\0\4\14\0\0\0\58\65\99\116\105\118\97\116\101\78\111\100\101\0\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\240\63\0\0\0\0\21\0\0\0\4\0\0\2\4\0\0\3\198\190\1\3\6\128\1\3\201\0\125\2\4\0\0\2\4\0\0\3\134\190\1\3\201\0\126\2\0\0\0\2\197\0\0\3\1\1\0\4\0\128\0\5\65\1\0\6\147\1\2\4\1\1\0\5\0\0\1\6\147\129\2\5\129\1\0\6\89\0\2\3\27\128\0\0\0\0\0\0\54\0\0\0\1\0\0\4\19\0\0\0\56\0\0\0\56\0\0\0\56\0\0\0\56\0\0\0\56\0\0\0\56\0\0\0\56\0\0\0\56\0\0\0\56\0\0\0\57\0\0\0\57\0\0\0\57\0\0\0\57\0\0\0\57\0\0\0\57\0\0\0\57\0\0\0\57\0\0\0\57\0\0\0\59\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\7\0\0\0\77\111\100\117\108\101\0\7\0\0\0\4\5\0\0\0\67\97\108\108\0\4\13\0\0\0\122\122\97\78\111\100\101\78\97\109\101\115\0\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\240\63\4\14\0\0\0\58\65\99\116\105\118\97\116\101\78\111\100\101\0\4\4\0\0\0\97\108\108\0\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\64\0\0\0\0\19\0\0\0\5\0\0\0\4\0\0\1\198\190\0\1\6\191\0\1\193\0\0\2\147\128\0\1\1\1\0\2\65\1\0\3\89\0\2\0\5\0\0\0\4\0\0\1\198\190\0\1\6\192\0\1\193\0\0\2\147\128\0\1\1\1\0\2\65\1\0\3\89\0\2\0\27\128\0\0\23\0\0\0\34\0\0\0\202\0\0\1\10\0\1\2\65\0\0\3\129\0\0\4\95\0\0\2\137\0\125\1\10\0\0\2\137\128\126\1\201\63\127\1\73\64\128\1\73\64\129\1\98\0\0\2\0\128\0\0\137\128\129\1\162\0\0\2\0\128\0\0\137\0\130\1\226\0\0\2\0\128\0\0\137\128\130\1\27\0\1\1\27\128\0\0';

return loadstring(code)();

you have a text string that contains Lua bytecode, as indicated by the leading escape character of \\27, and then a call to loadstring() to create a function which is then executed.

The first few characters of the text string contain the precompiled Lua header (see Lua 5.2 Bytecode and Virtual Machine ). The length of this header varies depending on the version of Lua. However the first few characters seem to be fairly standard. code='\\27\\76\\117\\97\\80 ... contains the escape character (0x1b or decimal 27), the capital letter L (decimal 76), the lower case letter u (decimal 117), the lower case letter a (decimal 97), and the Lua version (decimal 80 is 0x50 indicating version 5.0).

The following example is from Lua 5.2 Bytecode and Virtual Machine.

What exactly is in the bytecode? Here is the hexdump of hello.luac (made by hd on my system).

 00000000 1b 4c 75 61 52 00 01 04 04 04 08 00 19 93 0d 0a |.LuaR...........| 00000010 1a 0a 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 04 07 00 00 |................| 00000020 00 01 00 00 00 46 40 40 00 80 00 00 00 c1 80 00 |.....F@@........| 00000030 00 96 c0 00 01 5d 40 00 01 1f 00 80 00 03 00 00 |.....]@.........| 00000040 00 04 06 00 00 00 48 65 6c 6c 6f 00 04 06 00 00 |......Hello.....| 

The format is not officially documented, and needs to be reverse-engineered. The necessary material is in the Lua source code, of course, in several places, mainly ldump.c and lundump.c. I have also cross-checked with NFI and LAT, but any remaining errors are mine.

The code starts with an 18-byte file header, which is the same for all official Lua 5.2 bytecode compiled on a machine like yours, whether by luac or load or loadfile. Lua 5.1 only had a 12-byte header, similar to the first 12 bytes of this one.

Byte numbers are in origin-1 decimal (mostly showing the arithmetic) and origin-0 hex.

1 x00: 1b 4c 75 61 LUA_SIGNATURE from lua.h.

5 x04: 52 00 Binary-coded decimal 52 for the Lua version, 00 to say the bytecode is compatible with the "official" PUC-Rio implementation.

5+2 x06: 01 04 04 04 08 00 Six system parameters. On x386 machines they mean: little-endian, 4-byte integers, 4-byte VM instructions, 4-byte size_t numbers, 8-byte Lua numbers, floating-point. These parameters must all match up between the bytecode file and the Lua interpreter, otherwise the bytecode is invalid.

7+6 x0c: 19 93 0d 0a 1a 0a Present in all bytecode produced by Lua 5.2 from PUC-Rio. Described in lundump.h as "data to catch conversion errors". Might be constructed from binary-coded decimal 1993 (the year it all started), Windows line terminator, MS-DOS text file terminator, Unix line terminator.

After these 18 bytes come the functions defined in the file. Each function starts with an 11-byte function header.

13+6 x12: 00 00 00 00 Line number in source code where chunk starts. 0 for the main chunk.

19+4 x16: 00 00 00 00 Line number in source code where chunk stops. 0 for the main chunk.

23+4 x1a: 00 01 04 Number of parameters, vararg flag, number of registers used by this function (not more than 255, obviously). Local variables are stored in registers; there may not be more than 200 of them (see lparser.c).