radare2-mcp

MCP server exposing radare2 and Rizin binary analysis capabilities. Provides 85 tools covering static analysis, disassembly, decompilation, ESIL emulation, live debugging, vulnerability scanning, and exploit development -- all through structured JSON responses over the Model Context Protocol.

What it does

Static Analysis (19 tools)

Open binaries, list functions/imports/exports/strings/sections/classes, disassemble and decompile functions, read/write bytes, rename functions, add comments, find crypto constants, list PE resources and relocations.

Advanced Analysis (10 tools)

One-shot binary triage, deep single-function analysis, constraint extraction for crackmes, ESIL execution tracing, automated vulnerability pattern scanning, crackme solver, IOC extraction, exploit development assistant, binary diffing, file format parsing.

ESIL Emulation (10 tools)

Persistent ESIL VM sessions with register/memory read-write, single-step and run-to-address, raw ESIL expression evaluation. State is preserved across tool calls for multi-step emulation workflows.

RzIL Emulation (16 Rizin-based tools)

Typed bitvector emulation via Rizin's RzIL backend. IL AST lifting, individual CPU flag access, calling convention analysis, enhanced type and symbol queries.

Live Debugging (18 tools)

Launch or attach to processes, set/remove breakpoints, continue/step execution, read/write registers and memory, inspect memory maps, threads, and backtraces. Persistent debug sessions survive across tool calls.

Search & Navigation (9 tools)

Byte pattern search, string search, ROP gadget search, call graph and control flow graph extraction, entropy analysis, raw r2 command execution (allowlisted).

Requirements

• Node.js 20+
• radare2 >= 5.8 installed and in PATH
• Rizin >= 0.8 (optional, for RzIL tools)

Setup

npm install
npm run build
node dist/index.js

Or during development:

npm run dev

MCP client configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "radare2": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/radare2-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "ALLOWED_DIRS": "/path/to/binaries"
      }
    }
  }
}

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Description
ALLOWED_DIRS	(none)	Comma-separated directories from which binaries can be opened. Unrestricted if unset.
R2_ANALYSIS_LEVEL	aaa	Analysis command run after opening a binary.
R2_COMMAND_TIMEOUT	30000	Timeout in ms for individual r2 commands.
RIZIN_PATH	rizin	Path to the Rizin executable.
RIZIN_COMMAND_TIMEOUT	30000	Timeout in ms for individual Rizin commands.

Architecture

radare2/
  src/
    index.ts             # Entry point, stdio transport, shutdown handlers
    server.ts            # MCP server setup, registers all tools
    types.ts             # Shared TypeScript interfaces and Zod schemas
    r2/
      session.ts         # r2pipe wrapper
      session-cache.ts   # Session reuse across tool calls (avoids re-running aaa)
      commands.ts        # Typed wrappers around r2 commands
      sanitize.ts        # Input validation for paths, addresses, commands
      debug-session-manager.ts
      esil-session-manager.ts
    rizin/
      rizin-session.ts   # Rizin process management (newline cmd, null-byte response)
      rzil-session-manager.ts
    tools/               # 85 tool files, one per tool
    utils/               # Error helpers, formatters, pagination
  tests/
    unit/                # Mocked tests, no radare2 needed
    integration/         # Requires r2 in PATH

Three session patterns: cached sessions for static analysis (reused across calls, 5-min TTL), persistent debug sessions (UUID-identified, survive across calls), persistent ESIL/RzIL sessions (same pattern, for emulation state).

All user input is validated through sanitize.ts before being passed to r2. Binary paths are checked against ALLOWED_DIRS with symlink resolution. The r2_command tool restricts commands to a safe allowlist.

Security

• No arbitrary command execution -- r2_command uses an allowlist
• Path validation with symlink resolution and ALLOWED_DIRS enforcement
• Comments are base64-encoded to prevent r2 command injection
• Search queries are sanitized against shell metacharacters
• Local only -- r2pipe spawns local processes, MCP runs over stdio

License

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 -- see LICENSE.