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Manticore
Manticore is a symbolic execution tool for the analysis of smart contracts and binaries.
Features
Program Exploration: Manticore can execute a program with symbolic inputs and explore all the possible states it can reach
Input Generation: Manticore can automatically produce concrete inputs that result in a given program state
Error Discovery: Manticore can detect crashes and other failure cases in binaries and smart contracts
Instrumentation: Manticore provides fine-grained control of state exploration via event callbacks and instruction hooks
Programmatic Interface: Manticore exposes programmatic access to its analysis engine via a Python API
Manticore can analyze the following types of programs:
Ethereum smart contracts (EVM bytecode)
Linux ELF binaries (x86, x86_64, aarch64, and ARMv7)
WASM Modules
Installation
Note: We recommend installing Manticore in a virtual environment
to prevent conflicts with other projects or packages
Option 1: Installing from PyPI:
pip install manticore
Option 2: Installing from PyPI, with extra dependencies needed to execute native binaries:
pip install "manticore[native]"
Option 3: Installing a nightly development build:
pip install --pre "manticore[native]"
Option 4: Installing from the master branch:
git clone https://github.com/trailofbits/manticore.git
cd manticore
pip install -e ".[native]"
Option 5: Install via Docker:
docker pull trailofbits/manticore
Once installed, the manticore CLI tool and Python API will be available.
For a development installation, see our wiki.
Usage
CLI
Manticore has a command line interface which can perform a basic symbolic analysis of a binary or smart contract.
Analysis results will be placed into a workspace directory beginning with mcore_. For information about the workspace, see the wiki.
EVM
Manticore CLI automatically detects you are trying to test a contract if (for ex.)
the contract has a .sol or a .vy extension. See a demo.
An alternative CLI tool is provided that simplifies contract testing and
allows writing properties methods in the same high-level language the contract uses.
Checkout manticore-verifier documentation.
See a demo
Native
Click to expand:
$ manticore examples/linux/basic
[9507] m.n.manticore:INFO: Loading program examples/linux/basic
[9507] m.c.manticore:INFO: Generated testcase No. 0 - Program finished with exit status: 0
[9507] m.c.manticore:INFO: Generated testcase No. 1 - Program finished with exit status: 0
[9507] m.c.manticore:INFO: Results in ~/manticore/mcore_7u7hgfay
[9507] m.n.manticore:INFO: Total time: 2.8029580116271973
API
Manticore provides a Python programming interface which can be used to implement powerful custom analyses.
EVM
For Ethereum smart contracts, the API can be used for detailed verification of arbitrary contract properties. Users can set the starting conditions,
execute symbolic transactions, and then review discovered states to ensure invariants for a contract hold.
Click to expand:
from manticore.ethereum import ManticoreEVM
contract_src="""
contract Adder {
function incremented(uint value) public returns (uint){
if (value == 1)
revert();
return value + 1;
}
}
"""
m = ManticoreEVM()
user_account = m.create_account(balance=10000000)
contract_account = m.solidity_create_contract(contract_src,
owner=user_account,
balance=0)
value = m.make_symbolic_value()
contract_account.incremented(value)
for state in m.ready_states:
print("can value be 1? {}".format(state.can_be_true(value == 1)))
print("can value be 200? {}".format(state.can_be_true(value == 200)))
Native
It is also possible to use the API to create custom analysis tools for Linux binaries. Tailoring the initial state helps avoid state explosion
problems that commonly occur when using the CLI.
Click to expand:
# example Manticore script
from manticore.native import Manticore
m = Manticore.linux('./example')
@m.hook(0x400ca0)
def hook(state):
cpu = state.cpu
print('eax', cpu.EAX)
print(cpu.read_int(cpu.ESP))
m.kill() # tell Manticore to stop
m.run()
WASM
Manticore can also evaluate WebAssembly functions over symbolic inputs for property validation or general analysis.
Click to expand:
from manticore.wasm import ManticoreWASM
m = ManticoreWASM("collatz.wasm")
def arg_gen(state):
# Generate a symbolic argument to pass to the collatz function.
# Possible values: 4, 6, 8
arg = state.new_symbolic_value(32, "collatz_arg")
state.constrain(arg > 3)
state.constrain(arg < 9)
state.constrain(arg % 2 == 0)
return [arg]
# Run the collatz function with the given argument generator.
m.collatz(arg_gen)
# Manually collect return values
# Prints 2, 3, 8
for idx, val_list in enumerate(m.collect_returns()):
print("State", idx, "::", val_list[0])
Requirements
Manticore requires Python 3.7 or greater
Manticore officially supports the latest LTS version of Ubuntu provided by Github Actions
Manticore has experimental support for EVM and WASM (but not native Linux binaries) on MacOS
We recommend running with increased stack size. This can be done by running ulimit -s 100000 or by passing --ulimit stack=100000000:100000000 to docker run
Compiling Smart Contracts
Ethereum smart contract analysis requires the solc program in your $PATH.
Manticore uses crytic-compile to build smart contracts. If you're having compilation issues, consider running
crytic-compile on your code directly to make it easier to identify any issues.
We're still in the process of implementing full support for the EVM Istanbul instruction semantics, so certain opcodes may not be supported.
In a pinch, you can try compiling with Solidity 0.4.x to avoid generating those instructions.
Using a different solver (Yices, Z3, CVC4)
Manticore relies on an external solver supporting smtlib2. Currently Z3, Yices and CVC4 are supported and can be selected via command-line or configuration settings.
If Yices is available, Manticore will use it by default. If not, it will fall back to Z3 or CVC4. If you want to manually choose which solver to use, you can do so like this:
manticore --smt.solver Z3
Installing CVC4
For more details go to https://cvc4.github.io/. Otherwise, just get the binary and use it.
Feel free to stop by our #manticore slack channel in Empire Hacking for help using or extending Manticore.
Documentation is available in several places:
The wiki contains information about getting started with Manticore and contributing
The API reference has more thorough and in-depth documentation on our API
The examples directory has some small examples that showcase API features
The manticore-examples repository has some more involved examples, including some real CTF problems
If you'd like to file a bug report or feature request, please use our issues page.
For questions and clarifications, please visit the discussion page.
License
Manticore is licensed and distributed under the AGPLv3 license. Contact us if you're looking for an exception to the terms.
Publications
Manticore: A User-Friendly Symbolic Execution Framework for Binaries and Smart Contracts, Mark Mossberg, Felipe Manzano, Eric Hennenfent, Alex Groce, Gustavo Grieco, Josselin Feist, Trent Brunson, Artem Dinaburg - ASE 19
If you are using Manticore in academic work, consider applying to the Crytic $10k Research Prize.
Demo Video from ASE 2019
Tool Integrations
MATE: Merged Analysis To prevent Exploits
Mantiserve: REST API interaction with Manticore to start, kill, and check Manticore instance
Dwarfcore: Plugins and detectors for use within Mantiserve engine during exploration
Under-constrained symbolic execution Interface for symbolically exploring single functions with Manticore
How does trailofbits/manticore compare to other Backend projects?
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Is trailofbits/manticore open source?
Yes — trailofbits/manticore ships under the AGPL-3.0 license, which makes its source code freely readable (and, depending on license terms, forkable and reusable). Source: github.com/trailofbits/manticore.
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What is trailofbits/manticore?
trailofbits/manticore (trailofbits/manticore) is a Python project on GitHub. From the project's own README: Symbolic execution tool
Where can I see trailofbits/manticore in action?
The project maintains a homepage at https://blog.trailofbits.com/2017/04/27/manticore-symbolic-execution-for-humans/. The README tab on this page also usually contains screenshots and a quickstart.
Where do I read more about trailofbits/manticore?
This TopGit page is a snapshot — the READ ME tab shows the project's own README content (links stripped, images preserved). The GitHub repository at github.com/trailofbits/manticore is the definitive source.
Read full README in the tab above.
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