Turna: a control flow graph reconstruction tool for RISC-V architecture

A control flow graph (CFG) is a type of directed graph that shows the execution paths of the programs. It is a mathematical structure that is actively used in software testing. It can be constructed from the source or the executable of the program. Construction of the CFG from the executable is called CFG reconstruction. CFG reconstruction is used in many areas of computer science, like reverse engineering, security analysis, and worst-case execution time analysis. CFG reconstruction can be performed using a static, dynamic, or hybrid approach. This paper introduces a new CFG reconstruction tool named Turna that uses a hybrid approach. Turna works on programs that are compiled for RISC-V architecture. One of the main phases of CFG reconstruction is basic block detection. Therefore, together with Turna, a new rule set and an algorithm for basic block detection from RISC-V executables are also introduced. The CFG reconstruction process and the outputs of Turna are shared and discussed.