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Simple trick to increase readability of exceptions raised by Burp extensions written in Python

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burp-exceptions

Simple trick to increase readability of exceptions raised by Burp extensions written in Python.

Rationale

Have you ever written a Burp Extender extension in Python to end up with a completely unlegible exception stack trace? Something like:

java.lang.RuntimeException: org.python.core.PyException
  at burp.fl.a(Unknown Source)
  at burp.edd.a(Unknown Source)
  at burp.e2g.a(Unknown Source)
  at burp.e2g.g(Unknown Source)
  at burp.i1c.stateChanged(Unknown Source)
  at javax.swing.JTabbedPane.fireStateChanged(JTabbedPane.java:416)
  at javax.swing.JTabbedPane$ModelListener.stateChanged(JTabbedPane.java:270)
  ...

Would you rather see something you can actually understand? Just like:

*** PYTHON EXCEPTION
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/mb/Desktop/burp extension/exceptions_fix.py", line 8, in decorated_function
    return original_function(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/Users/mb/Desktop/burp extension/CustomEditorTab.py", line 78, in setMessage
    self._txtInput.setEsditable(self._editable)
AttributeError: 'burp.ul' object has no attribute 'setEsditable'

I'm presenting a neat solution to the problem!

Quick guide

  1. Grab https://github.com/securityMB/burp-exceptions/blob/master/exceptions_fix.py and save it to your Folder for loading modules.

Hint: If you don't know what folder it is, open your Burp and go to ExtenderOptionsPython EnvironmentFolder for loading modules. If you haven't picked any folder yet, just set it now.

  1. Modify your Burp extension a bit. Firstly, add the following lines in the beginning of your Python file:
from exceptions_fix import FixBurpExceptions
import sys

then find your registerExtenderCallbacks method and add one line to it:

sys.stdout = callbacks.getStdout()

and then also add one new line at the very end of the file:

FixBurpExceptions()
  1. If you're not sure about the changes you're supposed to make, grab https://github.com/securityMB/burp-exceptions/blob/master/AlteredCustomEditorTab.py and look for lines with # ADDED LINE comment.

  2. Just let the magic happen.

Alternatively, you might add @FixBurpExceptionForClass decorator just before the class you'd like to have exceptions fixed.

@FixBurpExceptionForClass
class SomeClass(IMessageEditorTab):
    ....

How does it work?

The code is a fine example of what one can achieve with metaprogramming in some programming languages. Let's start with the most outer function, namely FixBurpExceptions.

def FixBurpExceptions():
    for name, cls in inspect.getmembers(sys.modules['__main__'], predicate=inspect.isclass):
        FixBurpExceptionsForClass(cls)

We're just iterating over all classes defined in __main__ module (which is just the main file of your Burp extension) and calling FixBurpExceptionsForClass.

def FixBurpExceptionsForClass(cls):
    for name, method in inspect.getmembers(cls, inspect.ismethod):
        setattr(cls, name, decorate_function(method))        
    return cls

Here, for a change, we're iterating over all methods defined in a given class and overwrite them with results of decorate_function(method). So what does it do?

def decorate_function(original_function):
    @functools.wraps(original_function)
    def decorated_function(*args, **kwargs):
        try:
            return original_function(*args, **kwargs)
        except:
            sys.stdout.write('\n\n*** PYTHON EXCEPTION\n')
            traceback.print_exc(file=sys.stdout)
            raise
    return decorated_function

To better understand the code, you need to be familiar with Python decorators. At first, we use a @functools.wraps decorator so that the wrapper function will look just like the wrapped function (original_function). Then, we call the original function in try: ... except block so that we're able to catch any exception that might be raised. If some exception is raised, we're just writing the stack trace to sys.stdout and re-raise the exception.

Author

Feel free to contact me via GitHub or Twitter (@SecurityMB) if you have any questions or remarks.

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Simple trick to increase readability of exceptions raised by Burp extensions written in Python

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