# Managed-code analysis and planned extensions REA inspects .NET PE/CLI artifacts without loading or executing their code. It can identify an assembly, inspect metadata and CIL, compare members across builds, and connect declared native calls to supplied native-analysis evidence. CIL is Common Intermediate Language, the instruction format used by managed assemblies. The seven shipped tools are: | Task | MCP tool | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------- | | Identify an artifact and its managed deployment form | `inspect_managed_artifact` | | Inspect types, signatures, method bodies, calls, and field access | `inspect_managed_members` | | List declared native calls and native implementation indicators | `inspect_managed_native_boundaries` | | Compare members across builds and map build-local tokens | `compare_managed_members` | | Check native call declarations against supplied export or function evidence | `verify_managed_native_boundaries` | | Import decompiled code against verified static member identities | `import_managed_reconstruction` | | Add managed findings to an application graph | `project_managed_application_graph` | Each has a matching CLI command: replace underscores with hyphens and prefix the name with `rea`, for example `rea inspect-managed-artifact`. Native-body bridge mapping remains planned; managed runtime execution is not part of the current tool set. This guide describes the implementation and verification of [ADR-0003](adr/0003-managed-code-evidence-and-provider-boundary.md). The canonical tool inventory is [`product-catalog.json`](https://github.com/morluto/rea/blob/main/docs/product-catalog.json). ## Shipped scope The canonical parser admits PE/CLI bytes and their metadata/CIL without loading an assembly. It reports observed implementation markers and unavailable facts; it does not unpack .NET single-file hosts, decode IL2CPP metadata, or infer a NativeAOT identity from an ordinary native PE. Inputs without admitted CLI metadata do not become managed assemblies through naming or routing guesses. Inspect separately obtained components explicitly and preserve their identities. The broader deployment classification and native-body mapping below are design goals from ADR-0003, not claims that every row has an implemented parser. A valid marker can establish a candidate native boundary, not recovered native semantics or runtime behavior. ## Analysis objective REA's managed-code track is intended to answer five different questions without collapsing them: 1. What exact artifact and managed deployment form is this? 2. What do its admitted metadata and CIL bytes state? 3. What source-like or behavioral structure can be reconstructed or inferred? 4. Which findings survive an exact-build check or a cross-build structural comparison? 5. Which remaining questions require native analysis or runtime evidence that static inspection cannot supply? The ordinary workflow ends at question four. Static analysis never loads or executes the target. ## Planned deployment classification The intended extended classifier proceeds from outermost authenticated bytes inward: ```text source path -> canonical path, size, SHA-256 -> container inventory -> PE/native header and architecture -> CLI header and metadata root -> deployment/runtime markers -> per-component and per-method implementation availability -> managed-only, native-only, composed, degraded, or unsupported route ``` The planned result is a vector rather than one label. For example, a single-file modern .NET deployment can contain a native host, ordinary CIL assemblies, and ReadyToRun components. Each component receives its own digest, classification, coverage, and route while retaining the outer bundle commitment. | Case | Required positive observations | Claims that remain unavailable or inferred | | --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | .NET Framework | Valid CLI metadata plus bounded Framework-specific target/reference evidence | Exact installed CLR and runtime behavior | | Modern .NET | Valid CLI metadata plus bounded target/reference/runtime-config evidence | Exact runtime selected on another host | | Unity Mono | Valid managed assembly plus authenticated Unity context when supplied | Engine behavior or native integration not represented by metadata | | ReadyToRun | Valid managed metadata plus authenticated ReadyToRun header/sections | Native implementation semantics until a selected deep provider analyzes them | | C++/CLI | Valid CLI metadata plus mixed-mode PE/header evidence | Mapping managed declarations to native implementations without explicit bridge evidence | | Single-file | Valid authenticated bundle inventory and component extents | Components that are compressed or encoded by an unsupported bundle version | | Unity IL2CPP | Authenticated native image/metadata pairing and supported metadata version | Canonical CIL and source-equivalent C# | | NativeAOT | Native image plus bounded NativeAOT evidence | Ordinary CLI metadata/CIL unless independently present | | Obfuscated assembly | Same positive byte observations as its underlying deployment form | Meaning inferred only from names | | Malformed/unsupported | Exact admitted regions and failure locations | Completeness, successfully skipped rows, or semantics beyond the admitted parser boundary | ### NativeAOT metadata recovery NativeAOT removes the ordinary CIL method bodies, so a CIL decompiler cannot reconstruct those bodies as C# source. The executable remains a native target for Hopper or Ghidra, where decompilation produces pseudocode and analyst inference. This is a different route from ordinary managed member inspection. NativeAOT is not limited to Windows `.exe` files. The native image can be PE, ELF, or Mach-O, and NativeAOT can also publish shared libraries (PE DLL, ELF `.so`, or Mach-O `.dylib`) with explicitly exported entry points. Identify the image from its bytes and loader metadata, not its filename extension. When the image is inside an application bundle, inventory or extract the bundle first and carry the component identity into native analysis. Matching PDB, ELF debug, or dSYM sidecars can add symbol evidence when the selected provider supports them; verify their identity and keep them separate from observations made from the executable itself. [Microsoft's NativeAOT overview](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/deploying/native-aot/) lists supported OS/architecture targets and deployment limitations, while its [native library guide](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/deploying/native-aot/libraries) describes exported shared-library entry points. The [Ghidra NativeAOT analyzer](https://github.com/Washi1337/ghidra-nativeaot) is a useful optional companion for recovering ReadyToRun metadata. It rehydrates the `DEHYDRATED_DATA` section and annotates method tables, type relationships, vtable slots, frozen objects, and strings. It does not recover original C# method bodies. It is a separate Ghidra extension and interactive metadata browser; REA does not currently install or invoke it through its headless bridge. Its README describes ReadyToRun header discovery, including symbol-based and heuristic paths, so a missed header or unsupported binary should remain an explicit limitation rather than a failed claim about the binary's contents. The upstream analyzer currently gates its own analysis to x86-64. NativeAOT's broader platform matrix does not establish REA coverage: PE/COFF, ELF, Mach-O, shared libraries, target architectures, and runtime metadata versions each need their own provider verification. REA's experimental Windows Ghidra boundary is limited to admitted native x86-64 PE applications, so it does not currently establish coverage for PE DLLs. Mobile NativeAOT targets should remain experimental until REA has a matching provider and package-level verification. For REA's native analysis, preserve the same artifact path and digest used by `inspect_managed_artifact`, and report recovered type data as provider observations. Linking those types to native function addresses requires verified provider evidence; names or vtable similarity alone do not prove that a native function implements a specific managed method. ## Evidence record shape Every planned operation returns a provider result and Evidence with four commitment groups: ### Artifact commitment - canonical local path, byte length, and SHA-256; - outer-container identity and digest when inspecting a component; - component name/path, byte extent, and SHA-256; - observed PE machine, CLI flags, and conflicts; - classification vector, supporting observations, and unresolved dimensions. ### Module commitment - assembly simple name, version, culture, public-key/token state, flags, and hash algorithm; - module name, generation, and MVID; - target framework and runtime/version strings with their exact metadata locations; - provider identity, analysis-affecting parameters, and their profile digest. CLI `#GUID` heap values are committed as their exact 16-byte GUID text. REA does not impose RFC 4122 UUID version or variant bits on MVID, EncId, or EncBaseId because ECMA-335 metadata does not require those bit patterns. ### Entity commitment - table kind and build-local token; - declaring scope and normalized CLI signature; - row/heap/body locations expressed as typed file offsets, RVAs, or CIL offsets; - exact raw bytes or bounded value digest; - raw CIL digest plus separately reported method-header, locals-token, and exception-region observations where available; - a deterministic decoded-instruction-tuple digest for completely decoded CIL, with the limitations below. ### Shipped decoded-CIL fingerprint `inspect_managed_members` exposes two method CIL hashes with different byte boundaries: | Field | Input | Excluded from the digest | | ---------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `il_sha256` | The exact `il_size` raw CIL bytes after the tiny or fat method header | Method header, locals signature blob, alignment, and extra sections including exception clauses | | `normalized_il_sha256` | UTF-8 `JSON.stringify` output for the instruction-order array of `[opcode, operand_kind, operand]` tuples | Instruction offsets except projected scalar branch targets, switch targets, resolved metadata/string identities, method header, locals, and exception regions | The normalized field is available only when the entire CIL stream decodes with status `present`. A malformed or absent body reports `null`. The tuple format is defined here. Tuple operands use these exact projections: - operand-free instructions: `none` and `null`; - metadata and user-string operands: the build-local token as lowercase `0x`-prefixed eight-digit hexadecimal; - scalar branches: the target CIL byte offset as a decimal string; - `switch`: the case count as a decimal string, without target offsets; - signed integer and variable operands: decimal strings; floating-point operands: JavaScript's `String` representation of the decoded IEEE value. Opcode names retain short/long forms and prefix opcodes. This makes the value a reproducible decoded-tuple fingerprint, not a canonical semantic CIL identity: it does not resolve tokens across MVIDs, does not commit full control flow or exception semantics, and does not replace the raw CIL digest. Cross-build comparison uses the value only as one unique-only structural tier and reports ambiguity when that evidence is insufficient. A future normalized-CIL commitment would need canonical token/literal identities, complete branch and switch targets, and explicit locals/exception semantics. For example, a decoded `nop; ret` body serializes exactly as `[["nop","none",null],["ret","none",null]]` and has digest `5e5fad7741cb44bca3a4f045546b7449990da343f612f5f34c0ca30e9eee0636`. This vector specifies the tuple order, `null` handling, absence of whitespace, UTF-8 encoding, and lowercase hexadecimal output. ### Epistemic commitment - authority: static bytes, reconstruction, structural inference, independent validation, native provider, or future runtime observation; - state: observed, inferred, unknown, or unavailable; - confidence independent of authority; - coverage and admitted/dropped counts; - exact supporting Evidence IDs and actionable limitations. A semantic label such as `score_submission_gate` can annotate an entity, but it is never the entity's identity. The same applies to an obfuscated name, token, RVA, or decompiler-generated local name. ## Planned static capabilities The caller-visible grouping and exact tool names are decided with the contracts that implement them. The underlying capability slices are: 1. **Triage and inventory**: container/component classification, assembly and module identity, references, files, exported types, resources, attributes, and runtime markers. 2. **Member inventory**: file-backed types, methods, fields, properties, events, interfaces, nesting, generics, and normalized signatures. 3. **Method inspection**: headers, max stack, locals, CIL instructions, constants, metadata operands, exception regions, and implementation flags. 4. **Relationships**: declared overrides, interface implementations, member references, direct CIL callers/callees, field access, construction, and interop declarations. Dynamic dispatch remains qualified. 5. **Structural search and comparison**: signature/API/constant/flow anchors, exact and normalized hashes, competing candidates, and explicit exact/structural/missing/ambiguous states. 6. **Managed/native composition**: P/Invoke, unmanaged exports, COM/mixed-mode declarations, ReadyToRun/native bodies, single-file hosts, and authenticated IL2CPP pairs linked to selected Hopper/Ghidra evidence. The shipped verification workflow checks P/Invoke declarations against supplied native export or function Evidence; native-body, thunk, and token-to-address bridge mapping remain unavailable without explicit provider-supported evidence. 7. **Application graph projection**: managed assembly/module/type/method/field, P/Invoke, and native-implementation declarations enter the same Evidence-backed application graph vocabulary as JavaScript/Electron findings while preserving managed static-analysis authority. Inventory lists preserve deterministic order and include every fact available from the admitted PE/CLI streams. Malformed ranges and unsupported metadata are reported as coverage issues instead of being silently omitted. Search exposes scanned, matched, returned, and dropped counts. An unresolved indirect call or a failed signature decode is not silently omitted from a completeness claim. ## Obfuscation-resistant method slices Names are one weak feature among many. A behavior slice records the smallest bounded set of observations needed to investigate a proposition: - normalized declaring/member signatures and inheritance/interface shape; - framework and application API references; - exact strings, numeric constants, enum-like values, and serialization keys; - branch, switch, exception, loop, call, and field-flow shape; - construction and generic-instantiation sites; - raw CIL and decoded-tuple commitments, plus separate header, locals, and exception observations; - callers, callees, shared fields, and competing candidates; and - limitations from reflection, dynamic dispatch, generated code, protection, native transitions, or incomplete coverage. The workflow produces separate observation, inference, validation, and unknown tables. It may say that a method is a strong candidate for a role; it cannot turn that role into the method's durable identity. Cross-version matching first prefers exact CIL/signature identity. When that does not match, it pairs an exact declared type, method name, and raw signature before trying structural body shape. The exact-signature key uses names only as part of that full tuple; names alone never select a pair. Duplicate tuples remain ambiguous rather than being paired by token order. Fields follow the same exact tiers. The raw signature is exact whether or not REA decoded it, so undecoded signatures pair by that tuple too, but they never enter structural rounds. An unmatched member is therefore reported as `unknown`, not added or removed, when its own signature was not decoded or when the other side has an unpaired member, one-sided or ambiguous, with the same declared type and name whose signature was not decoded. For a matched method, an unavailable or partial body makes body-shape facets unknown while preserving observed signature differences. Structural identity compares normalized signatures, the limited decoded-CIL tuple fingerprint, constants, and bounded shape context. It reports all candidates at the winning score and remains ambiguous when the evidence does not distinguish them. The digest does not itself remap metadata tokens. Tokens are always remapped through observed structure. A caller cannot carry `0x06001234` into a new MVID and assume it names the same method. ## Managed/native boundary rules | Boundary | Managed observation | Native observation | Permitted link | | ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | | P/Invoke | Module, entry point, charset/calling-convention flags, declaring method | Import/export/symbol/function evidence from the selected deep provider | Exact declared-name/module link or qualified resolution inference | | COM | Interop attributes, GUIDs, imported interfaces, method signatures | Native registration/vtable evidence when independently available | Identifier/signature inference with explicit environment limitations | | C++/CLI | Managed declaration and implementation flags | Native body/function evidence | Only a provider-supported bridge observation; never token-as-address | | ReadyToRun | Component/header and per-method CIL/native availability | Native section/function evidence | Authenticated image mapping with format/profile version | | Unmanaged export | Export metadata/attribute when present | PE export and native thunk/function | Exact export identity plus provider-qualified address | | Single-file host | Bundle entry/component identity | Host and native component evidence | Outer bundle plus component digest/extent commitment | | Unity IL2CPP | Supported metadata entity with authenticated pairing | Generated native function/type evidence | Versioned IL2CPP mapping only; no invented CIL | | Runtime-resolved native | API/constant/data-flow candidate | Loaded-module/symbol observation from an independently collected runtime source | Static candidate remains inference until separately observed | Declared import inventory supports a bounded positive claim. Its absence does not exclude dynamic resolution, generated code, protected code, native helpers, or server-side behavior. ## Tool and packaging boundary The production parser is REA-owned TypeScript and ships with the existing Node application. Deterministic conformance uses source-owned byte-built PE/CLI fixtures and expected semantic facts. An optional real ILSpy lane runs only when its executable is explicitly supplied; the default lane does not establish independent pinned-oracle parity. Production inspection needs none of those tools. - A pinned `System.Reflection.Metadata` differential oracle is planned; it is not part of the current verifier. - `ICSharpCode.Decompiler`/`ilspycmd` can supply reconstruction inference. A BYO reconstruction import records the supplied version and remains non-canonical. When `REA_ILSPY_CMD_PATH` points to an absolute runnable `ilspycmd`, `verify:managed` runs a source-owned real ILSpy oracle and imports its C# output as reconstruction inference against exact static member Evidence. - dnlib and Mono.Cecil are potential future differential oracles. Their mutation APIs are not exposed or included in the production parsing boundary. - The package contains no .NET runtime, SDK, ILSpy installation, proprietary assembly, or compiled conformance fixture. - Setup never installs or upgrades those tools. Doctor may inspect an explicit optional path without changing it. Real-tool downloads used in development or CI require exact package coordinates and SHA-256 lock entries. They are cached outside the source tree and restored into isolated directories. Updating any coordinate requires review of license, runtime, supported host, output contract, and conformance results. Target platform is not host support. The canonical parser must inspect Windows-produced PE/CLI bytes on REA's supported Linux and macOS hosts with the same result. Pinned Windows oracle jobs may provide additional conformance, but they do not claim that the REA application itself supports Windows. Native ReadyToRun, C++/CLI, NativeAOT, or IL2CPP coverage is additionally constrained by the selected Hopper/Ghidra host and format matrix. ## Source-built conformance corpus The current lane uses source-owned byte-built fixtures and malformed-input regressions, with optional operator-supplied applications and ILSpy verification. The table below describes the desired expanded corpus; it is not a report that all compiler-generated forms have been independently verified. Fixture sources are intentionally small and behavior-focused. Build outputs are generated outside tracked fixture directories and must not remain after verification or packaging. | Corpus slice | Required properties | | ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Identity | Assembly/module/version/culture/public key, references, attributes, resources, MVID | | Signatures | Nested/generic types, arrays, pointers, by-ref, function pointers where supported, varargs | | CIL | Short/long branches, switch, prefixes, constants, locals, calls, fields, boxing, tokens | | Exceptions | Catch, finally, fault/filter where the compiler/toolchain supports them | | Generated structure | Async and iterator state machines, lambdas, closures, properties, events | | Interop | P/Invoke flags, module/name mapping, managed/unmanaged implementation metadata | | Architecture | AnyCPU, preferred-32-bit where applicable, x86, x64 | | Obfuscation resistance | Unicode/meaningless/duplicate-looking names and structure-preserving renames | | Cross-build comparison | At least two builds with changed MVID/token order/layout and known same/changed behaviors | | Malformed/adversarial | Truncated/overflowing headers, streams, tables, heaps, signatures, bodies, and EH sections | Verification compares semantic facts, not decompiler text. It checks resource ceilings, deterministic ordering, complete cleanup, CLI/MCP parity, Evidence commitments, packed-package behavior, and target-free MCP startup. A parser and an oracle disagreeing on malformed input is investigated explicitly; one tool's acceptance does not automatically make the bytes valid. ## Operator-local osu! benchmark The optional osu! benchmark accepts only paths and expectations supplied by the operator. Run it with: ```sh REA_MANAGED_APP_MANIFEST_PATH=/absolute/managed-app-manifest.json npm run verify:managed ``` `verify:managed` always runs a source-owned manifest-verifier self-test first. If `REA_ILSPY_CMD_PATH` is set to an absolute `ilspycmd` path, it also runs a source-owned ILSpy oracle: version discovery, class listing, bounded C# output for a pinned fixture type, and import through `import_managed_reconstruction`. The verifier prints only command/version, executable and output digests, Evidence IDs, method locks, and compact fixture identity; it does not print decompiled C# text. A failing ILSpy oracle fails the verifier because it is an explicit real-tool claim, but leaving `REA_ILSPY_CMD_PATH` unset keeps the oracle disabled. When `REA_MANAGED_APP_MANIFEST_PATH` is set, the manifest's target path may be absolute or relative to the manifest file. A compact manifest contains: ```json { "label": "operator-local osu!stable semantic slice", "target": { "path": "./osu!.exe", "sha256": "", "mvid": "", "assembly_name": "", "runtime_family": "dotnet-framework", "managed_architecture": "x86" }, "methods": [ { "label": "operator-local semantic label", "token": "0x06000000", "signature_sha256": "", "il_size": 0, "il_sha256": "", "normalized_il_sha256": "" } ], "application_graph": { "expected_node_kinds": [ "artifact", "managed-assembly", "managed-module", "managed-type", "managed-method" ], "feature_traces": [ { "label": "operator-local feature label", "method_token": "0x06000000", "seed": "", "match": "exact", "case_sensitive": true, "min_matched_seeds": 1 } ] } } ``` Before evaluating methods, the verifier fails closed on target SHA-256, MVID, assembly name, runtime-family, and managed-architecture mismatches whenever the manifest supplies those fields. It then pages each declared MethodDef token directly by row, so selected methods do not need to appear in the first member page of a large application. Optional `il_sha256` locks the exact raw CIL bytes in addition to REA's decoded-instruction-tuple digest. That normalized field has the byte boundaries documented above and is not a complete semantic CIL identity. The optional `application_graph` block reuses those exact-build method commitments. For each referenced MethodDef token, the verifier builds a bounded managed application-graph projection from the authenticated artifact and the single selected member page, then checks requested node kinds and feature-trace seed matches. This proves only that the selected static facts enter REA's graph and tracing vocabulary for that exact local build; it does not execute the application, inspect arbitrary unlisted methods, or infer runtime behavior. Output contains assertion status and compact identities only: file name, target SHA-256, MVID, assembly name, runtime-family, managed architecture, method tokens, method names, signature digests, IL sizes, normalized IL digests, graph Evidence IDs, node-kind summaries, and trace seed hit counts. It does not print method bodies, reconstructed C#, application data, runtime telemetry, account/service details, full filesystem inventories, or the target's absolute path. The manifest and target remain outside git. The benchmark may prove that REA reproduces selected facts for that exact local build. It cannot establish general support on its own; source-built conformance remains the admission requirement. ## Runtime behavior boundary Managed inspection does not execute assemblies or observe CLR internals. Questions about actual behavior remain unknown until supported runtime evidence is collected. A direct process capture can retain declared inputs, outputs, filesystem and protocol activity for a target run; it does not prove which managed methods executed or how the CLR resolved them. ## Delivery sequence The managed-code track advances as reviewable pull requests: 1. accepted evidence/provider boundary (this document and ADR); 2. read-only artifact triage and exact identity (shipped); 3. file-backed metadata, signatures, method bodies, raw CIL hashes, and the decoded-instruction-tuple fingerprint (shipped; complete normalized-CIL semantics remain planned); 4. obfuscation-resistant slices and cross-version comparison (shipped for static member observations); 5. decompiler reconstruction import (shipped as analyst inference; REA does not run ILSpy/dnSpy, and metadata/CIL remain canonical); 6. managed/native composition and truthful deployment degradation (declaration inventory and native export/function Evidence matching shipped; native-body bridge mapping remains planned); 7. source-built managed conformance and package/CLI verification (source-owned PE/CLI corpus shipped through `npm run verify:managed`; optional BYO `ilspycmd` real-tool oracle shipped through `REA_ILSPY_CMD_PATH`; dnSpy and pinned Windows checks remain planned); and 8. managed static Evidence projection into the application graph (shipped). Each implementation PR updates generated product facts only for behavior it actually ships and states which real-tool checks were performed. ### Method metadata during build comparison Managed member comparisons report a `metadata` dimension when an observed MethodDef flags or implementation flags value differs, including accessibility or synchronization changes. This is separate from the CIL/signature matching tiers: identical instructions do not establish unchanged method metadata. The reported difference is static metadata evidence, not proof of runtime behavior.