UEFI App embedded on another uefi app

UEFI App embedded on another uefi app

[Rafael Machado]

Hi Everyone.

I have a limited space problem at a project.
To solve this we had an idea, but would like to ask to you before expending
time on trying to do it, due to some tight schedule. (We know that the best
is to try before ask, but we do not have time for that now. Sorry for that.)

The idea is to create a kind of DecompressorApp.efi, that
uses  EFI_DECOMPRESS_PROTOCOL

During the compilation process of the application the tasks would be:

- Compile App.efi
- Compress App.efi, generating the App.efi.compressed (using
tianoCompress.exe)
- Compile the Decompressor.efi app (with the App.efi.compressed embedded)
       - The idea to do this is to add the compressed app as a Binary at
the DecompressorApp.efi .inf file using the [Binaries] tag


So during the entrypoint of the Decompressor.efi app, the application will
need to copy the compressed part of the app (App.efi.compressed), to a
buffer, and after that this buffer will be decompressed using the
EFI_DECOMPRESS_PROTOCOL. Finally the execution control is passed to the
App.efi decompressed (not sure how to do that yet).

So the questions we have for know are:

- How to detect the App.efi.compressed insyde the loaded app, so we can
have an address to decompress
- How to pass the application executions control to another app, that is in
a buffer (not sure if this can be done with the EFI Boot Service
LoadImage(), since this buffer does not have a valid file device path)

Could you help us on understanding if this is possible?

Thanks and Regards
Rafael R. Machado

Re: UEFI App embedded on another uefi app

[Ni, Ruiyu]

On 12/15/2017 7:45 PM, Rafael Machado wrote:
> Hi Everyone.
> 
> I have a limited space problem at a project.
> To solve this we had an idea, but would like to ask to you before expending
> time on trying to do it, due to some tight schedule. (We know that the best
> is to try before ask, but we do not have time for that now. Sorry for that.)
> 
> The idea is to create a kind of DecompressorApp.efi, that
> uses  EFI_DECOMPRESS_PROTOCOL
> 
> During the compilation process of the application the tasks would be:
> 
> - Compile App.efi
> - Compress App.efi, generating the App.efi.compressed (using
> tianoCompress.exe)
> - Compile the Decompressor.efi app (with the App.efi.compressed embedded)
>         - The idea to do this is to add the compressed app as a Binary at
> the DecompressorApp.efi .inf file using the [Binaries] tag
> 
> 
> So during the entrypoint of the Decompressor.efi app, the application will
> need to copy the compressed part of the app (App.efi.compressed), to a
> buffer, and after that this buffer will be decompressed using the
> EFI_DECOMPRESS_PROTOCOL. Finally the execution control is passed to the
> App.efi decompressed (not sure how to do that yet).
> 
> So the questions we have for know are:
> 
> - How to detect the App.efi.compressed insyde the loaded app, so we can
> have an address to decompress
Is your usage case similar to the upx?

If the App.efi is compressed and embedded as binary in the application,
the application itself should know that the binary should be
decompressed and executed.


> - How to pass the application executions control to another app, that is in
> a buffer (not sure if this can be done with the EFI Boot Service
> LoadImage(), since this buffer does not have a valid file device path)
Yes you could use LoadImage(). The API also accepts a PE buffer to load.
Then you could use StartImage() to execute the PE buffer.
Make sure you use the correct entrypoint prototype for the PE buffer.
typedef
EFI_STATUS
(EFIAPI *EFI_IMAGE_ENTRY_POINT)(
   IN  EFI_HANDLE                   ImageHandle,
   IN  EFI_SYSTEM_TABLE             *SystemTable
   );

> 
> Could you help us on understanding if this is possible?
> 
> Thanks and Regards
> Rafael R. Machado
> _______________________________________________
> edk2-devel mailing list
> edk2-devel@lists.01.org
> https://lists.01.org/mailman/listinfo/edk2-devel
> 


-- 
Thanks,
Ray

Re: UEFI App embedded on another uefi app

[Rafael Machado]

Hi Ruiyu

Thanks for the answer.
The case is similar. The only difference is that we are not allowed to use
some external code besides the UDK references and modules.

This is why we're trying to find a way to embed a binary on another one.

I did some tests here but I have a question.

Is it possible to create a PCD that points to an embedded binary?
For example. At the MdeModulePkg/Application/HelloWorld/HelloWorld.c we
have some example of how to access a string that is declared at the .dec
and and filled at the .uni:

Print ((CHAR16*)PcdGetPtr (PcdHelloWorldPrintString));

I was able to compile this application adding the Logo.bmp to the
HelloWorld.inf file, just to check how this would work.

So the question is. How could I create a PCD that points to a binary that
is added to a .efi?

Based on the code I believe the only what to do that is creating a .fdf and
setting the PCD to point to the binary, on the same way it's done with the:

MdeModulePkg\Logo\Logo.inf
CorebootPayloadPkg\CorebootPayloadPkg.fdf

The problem is that at our case, we need to have a single .efi that has an
embedded binary.

Any idea on how to do that? (Not sure if this is to intrusive for the PE
format. Still learning this)

Thanks and Regards
Rafael R. Machado

Em seg, 18 de dez de 2017 às 03:13, Ni, Ruiyu <ruiyu.ni@intel.com> escreveu:

> On 12/15/2017 7:45 PM, Rafael Machado wrote:
> > Hi Everyone.
> >
> > I have a limited space problem at a project.
> > To solve this we had an idea, but would like to ask to you before
> expending
> > time on trying to do it, due to some tight schedule. (We know that the
> best
> > is to try before ask, but we do not have time for that now. Sorry for
> that.)
> >
> > The idea is to create a kind of DecompressorApp.efi, that
> > uses  EFI_DECOMPRESS_PROTOCOL
> >
> > During the compilation process of the application the tasks would be:
> >
> > - Compile App.efi
> > - Compress App.efi, generating the App.efi.compressed (using
> > tianoCompress.exe)
> > - Compile the Decompressor.efi app (with the App.efi.compressed embedded)
> >         - The idea to do this is to add the compressed app as a Binary at
> > the DecompressorApp.efi .inf file using the [Binaries] tag
> >
> >
> > So during the entrypoint of the Decompressor.efi app, the application
> will
> > need to copy the compressed part of the app (App.efi.compressed), to a
> > buffer, and after that this buffer will be decompressed using the
> > EFI_DECOMPRESS_PROTOCOL. Finally the execution control is passed to the
> > App.efi decompressed (not sure how to do that yet).
> >
> > So the questions we have for know are:
> >
> > - How to detect the App.efi.compressed insyde the loaded app, so we can
> > have an address to decompress
> Is your usage case similar to the upx?
>
> If the App.efi is compressed and embedded as binary in the application,
> the application itself should know that the binary should be
> decompressed and executed.
>
>
> > - How to pass the application executions control to another app, that is
> in
> > a buffer (not sure if this can be done with the EFI Boot Service
> > LoadImage(), since this buffer does not have a valid file device path)
> Yes you could use LoadImage(). The API also accepts a PE buffer to load.
> Then you could use StartImage() to execute the PE buffer.
> Make sure you use the correct entrypoint prototype for the PE buffer.
> typedef
> EFI_STATUS
> (EFIAPI *EFI_IMAGE_ENTRY_POINT)(
>    IN  EFI_HANDLE                   ImageHandle,
>    IN  EFI_SYSTEM_TABLE             *SystemTable
>    );
>
> >
> > Could you help us on understanding if this is possible?
> >
> > Thanks and Regards
> > Rafael R. Machado
> > _______________________________________________
> > edk2-devel mailing list
> > edk2-devel@lists.01.org
> > https://lists.01.org/mailman/listinfo/edk2-devel
> >
>
>
> --
> Thanks,
> Ray
>

Re: UEFI App embedded on another uefi app

[Ni, Ruiyu]

Your requirement doesn't need any PCD knowledge.
I think all you need to do:
1. Study to know how to embedded a binary to your PE image
    a). Either by converting that binary to a big C array
    b). Or by creating a new resource section, including that binary
2. In your entrypoint of the wrapper PE image,
    a). either decompressing that C array to a bigger buffer containing PE image
    b). or extracting the binary from PE section, decompressing it.

3. In your entrypoint of the wrapper PE image,
    Use BS.LoadImage/StartImage to execute that  PE image.

Thanks/Ray

> -----Original Message-----
> From: edk2-devel [mailto:edk2-devel-bounces@lists.01.org] On Behalf Of
> Rafael Machado
> Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2017 1:32 AM
> To: Ni, Ruiyu <ruiyu.ni@intel.com>
> Cc: edk2-devel@lists.01.org
> Subject: Re: [edk2] UEFI App embedded on another uefi app
> 
> Hi Ruiyu
> 
> Thanks for the answer.
> The case is similar. The only difference is that we are not allowed to use
> some external code besides the UDK references and modules.
> 
> This is why we're trying to find a way to embed a binary on another one.
> 
> I did some tests here but I have a question.
> 
> Is it possible to create a PCD that points to an embedded binary?
> For example. At the MdeModulePkg/Application/HelloWorld/HelloWorld.c
> we have some example of how to access a string that is declared at the .dec
> and and filled at the .uni:
> 
> Print ((CHAR16*)PcdGetPtr (PcdHelloWorldPrintString));
> 
> I was able to compile this application adding the Logo.bmp to the
> HelloWorld.inf file, just to check how this would work.
> 
> So the question is. How could I create a PCD that points to a binary that is
> added to a .efi?
> 
> Based on the code I believe the only what to do that is creating a .fdf and
> setting the PCD to point to the binary, on the same way it's done with the:
> 
> MdeModulePkg\Logo\Logo.inf
> CorebootPayloadPkg\CorebootPayloadPkg.fdf
> 
> The problem is that at our case, we need to have a single .efi that has an
> embedded binary.
> 
> Any idea on how to do that? (Not sure if this is to intrusive for the PE format.
> Still learning this)
> 
> Thanks and Regards
> Rafael R. Machado
> 
> Em seg, 18 de dez de 2017 às 03:13, Ni, Ruiyu <ruiyu.ni@intel.com> escreveu:
> 
> > On 12/15/2017 7:45 PM, Rafael Machado wrote:
> > > Hi Everyone.
> > >
> > > I have a limited space problem at a project.
> > > To solve this we had an idea, but would like to ask to you before
> > expending
> > > time on trying to do it, due to some tight schedule. (We know that
> > > the
> > best
> > > is to try before ask, but we do not have time for that now. Sorry
> > > for
> > that.)
> > >
> > > The idea is to create a kind of DecompressorApp.efi, that uses
> > > EFI_DECOMPRESS_PROTOCOL
> > >
> > > During the compilation process of the application the tasks would be:
> > >
> > > - Compile App.efi
> > > - Compress App.efi, generating the App.efi.compressed (using
> > > tianoCompress.exe)
> > > - Compile the Decompressor.efi app (with the App.efi.compressed
> embedded)
> > >         - The idea to do this is to add the compressed app as a
> > > Binary at the DecompressorApp.efi .inf file using the [Binaries] tag
> > >
> > >
> > > So during the entrypoint of the Decompressor.efi app, the
> > > application
> > will
> > > need to copy the compressed part of the app (App.efi.compressed), to
> > > a buffer, and after that this buffer will be decompressed using the
> > > EFI_DECOMPRESS_PROTOCOL. Finally the execution control is passed to
> > > the App.efi decompressed (not sure how to do that yet).
> > >
> > > So the questions we have for know are:
> > >
> > > - How to detect the App.efi.compressed insyde the loaded app, so we
> > > can have an address to decompress
> > Is your usage case similar to the upx?
> >
> > If the App.efi is compressed and embedded as binary in the
> > application, the application itself should know that the binary should
> > be decompressed and executed.
> >
> >
> > > - How to pass the application executions control to another app,
> > > that is
> > in
> > > a buffer (not sure if this can be done with the EFI Boot Service
> > > LoadImage(), since this buffer does not have a valid file device
> > > path)
> > Yes you could use LoadImage(). The API also accepts a PE buffer to load.
> > Then you could use StartImage() to execute the PE buffer.
> > Make sure you use the correct entrypoint prototype for the PE buffer.
> > typedef
> > EFI_STATUS
> > (EFIAPI *EFI_IMAGE_ENTRY_POINT)(
> >    IN  EFI_HANDLE                   ImageHandle,
> >    IN  EFI_SYSTEM_TABLE             *SystemTable
> >    );
> >
> > >
> > > Could you help us on understanding if this is possible?
> > >
> > > Thanks and Regards
> > > Rafael R. Machado
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > edk2-devel mailing list
> > > edk2-devel@lists.01.org
> > > https://lists.01.org/mailman/listinfo/edk2-devel
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Thanks,
> > Ray
> >
> _______________________________________________
> edk2-devel mailing list
> edk2-devel@lists.01.org
> https://lists.01.org/mailman/listinfo/edk2-devel