Description

We developed the HarmonyOS NEXT decompilation tool named arkdecompiler, which takes Panda Binary File as input, parses Panda Bytecode, and then translates it into Panda IR. After having IR, we can do various analyses. Based on IR, we reversely construct the native arkTS AST tree, and then we traverse the AST tree and translate it into native arkTS source code.

• 2025 Black Hat, USA
• 2026 Black Hat, ASIA
• 2026.Q1: Support all instructions and program structures

Installation

Tested platform

Ubuntu 22.04

In the future we will adapt to other development platforms such as (windows, macOS) and add a GUI.

Prepare environment

./prepare.sh(It will create the root directory **harmonyos**)

Clone arkdecompiler in harmonyos

cd harmonyos && git clone https://github.com/jd-opensource/arkdecompiler.git

• directory structure

➜  harmonyos ls
ark.py  arkcompiler  arkdecompiler  build  developtools  docs  foundation  kernel  out  prebuilts  prebuilts_download.sh  third_party

Apply patches to arkcompiler and third_party

Apply patches to harmonyos/arkcompiler/runtime_core, harmonyos/arkcompiler/ets_frontend, and harmonyos/third_party/protobuf according to the patches.

Usage

Build the decompilation main program xabc

./build.sh

Prepare the source code file

Create demo.ts(refer tests directory)

Compilation && Decompilation

./run.sh(It will invoke genlogs.sh)

detailed description

• The compilation result is：demo.abc(generated by genlogs.sh)
• The decompilation result is：arkdemo.ts

Demo

Decompile bytecode to arkTS

AST

{
  "type": "Program",
  "statements": [
    {
      "type": "ExpressionStatement",
      "expression": {
        "type": "AssignmentExpression",
        "operator": "=",
        "left": {
          "type": "Identifier",
          "name": "v254",
          "loc": {
            "start": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            },
            "end": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            }
          }
        },
        "right": {
          "type": "Identifier",
          "name": "undefined",
          "loc": {
            "start": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            },
            "end": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            }
          }
        },
        "loc": {
          "start": {
            "line": 1,
            "column": 1
          },
          "end": {
            "line": 1,
            "column": 1
          }
        }
      },
      "loc": {
        "start": {
          "line": 1,
          "column": 1
        },
        "end": {
          "line": 1,
          "column": 1
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "ExpressionStatement",
      "expression": {
        "type": "AssignmentExpression",
        "operator": "=",
        "left": {
          "type": "Identifier",
          "name": "c",
          "loc": {
            "start": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            },
            "end": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            }
          }
        },
        "right": {
          "type": "Identifier",
          "name": "v254",
          "loc": {
            "start": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            },
            "end": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            }
          }
        },
        "loc": {
          "start": {
            "line": 1,
            "column": 1
          },
          "end": {
            "line": 1,
            "column": 1
          }
        }
      },
      "loc": {
        "start": {
          "line": 1,
          "column": 1
        },
        "end": {
          "line": 1,
          "column": 1
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "ExpressionStatement",
      "expression": {
        "type": "AssignmentExpression",
        "operator": "=",
        "left": {
          "type": "Identifier",
          "name": "v0",
          "loc": {
            "start": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            },
            "end": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            }
          }
        },
        "right": {
          "type": "NumberLiteral",
          "value": 1,
          "loc": {
            "start": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            },
            "end": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            }
          }
        },
        "loc": {
          "start": {
            "line": 1,
            "column": 1
          },
          "end": {
            "line": 1,
            "column": 1
          }
        }
      },
      "loc": {
        "start": {
          "line": 1,
          "column": 1
        },
        "end": {
          "line": 1,
          "column": 1
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "ExpressionStatement",
      "expression": {
        "type": "AssignmentExpression",
        "operator": "=",
        "left": {
          "type": "Identifier",
          "name": "v254",
          "loc": {
            "start": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            },
            "end": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            }
          }
        },
        "right": {
          "type": "BinaryExpression",
          "operator": "+",
          "left": {
            "type": "NumberLiteral",
            "value": 1,
            "loc": {
              "start": {
                "line": 1,
                "column": 1
              },
              "end": {
                "line": 1,
                "column": 1
              }
            }
          },
          "right": {
            "type": "Identifier",
            "name": "v0",
            "loc": {
              "start": {
                "line": 1,
                "column": 1
              },
              "end": {
                "line": 1,
                "column": 1
              }
            }
          },
          "loc": {
            "start": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            },
            "end": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            }
          }
        },
        "loc": {
          "start": {
            "line": 1,
            "column": 1
          },
          "end": {
            "line": 1,
            "column": 1
          }
        }
      },
      "loc": {
        "start": {
          "line": 1,
          "column": 1
        },
        "end": {
          "line": 1,
          "column": 1
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "ExpressionStatement",
      "expression": {
        "type": "AssignmentExpression",
        "operator": "=",
        "left": {
          "type": "Identifier",
          "name": "c",
          "loc": {
            "start": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            },
            "end": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            }
          }
        },
        "right": {
          "type": "Identifier",
          "name": "v254",
          "loc": {
            "start": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            },
            "end": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            }
          }
        },
        "loc": {
          "start": {
            "line": 1,
            "column": 1
          },
          "end": {
            "line": 1,
            "column": 1
          }
        }
      },
      "loc": {
        "start": {
          "line": 1,
          "column": 1
        },
        "end": {
          "line": 1,
          "column": 1
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "ExpressionStatement",
      "expression": {
        "type": "AssignmentExpression",
        "operator": "=",
        "left": {
          "type": "Identifier",
          "name": "v254",
          "loc": {
            "start": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            },
            "end": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            }
          }
        },
        "right": {
          "type": "Identifier",
          "name": "undefined",
          "loc": {
            "start": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            },
            "end": {
              "line": 1,
              "column": 1
            }
          }
        },
        "loc": {
          "start": {
            "line": 1,
            "column": 1
          },
          "end": {
            "line": 1,
            "column": 1
          }
        }
      },
      "loc": {
        "start": {
          "line": 1,
          "column": 1
        },
        "end": {
          "line": 1,
          "column": 1
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "ReturnStatement",
      "argument": {
        "type": "Identifier",
        "name": "undefined",
        "loc": {
          "start": {
            "line": 1,
            "column": 1
          },
          "end": {
            "line": 1,
            "column": 1
          }
        }
      },
      "loc": {
        "start": {
          "line": 1,
          "column": 1
        },
        "end": {
          "line": 1,
          "column": 1
        }
      }
    }
  ],
  "loc": {
    "start": {
      "line": 1,
      "column": 1
    },
    "end": {
      "line": 1,
      "column": 1
    }
  }
}