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LUA Buglight 2.0, second preview

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LUA Buglight is a utility that helps identify "LUA bugs" in applications -- application features that that fail as standard user but that work as administrator.  I work on it in my spare time, so progress has been slow.  Attached to this blog post is the second preview version of LUA Buglight 2.0.

Main changes since the previous preview:

  • Single executable:  all the helper DLLs, EXEs, etc., are self-extracted to your temp folder when you run the program.  No need to copy lots of files around.
  • For Vista:  the helper program that requires elevation is now signed, so you get the nicer elevation prompt.  The driver file for Vista is signed as well, so startup is much faster.
  • Explicit check for x86 -- sorry, the current version cannot be used on 64-bit versions of Windows.
  • Various bug fixes.

Some of the improvements of LUA Buglight 2.0 over 1.0:

  • Much better Vista support
  • Streamlined UI and improved flow
  • Identifies more bugs
  • On XP, not restricted to using a local admin account to create the "this-user-as-admin" context
  • On Vista, prompts for elevation just one time per session instead of for each test
  • Log file names autogenerated with timestamp in the name to avoid accidental overwrite of previous logs.
  • User options saved to the registry.

Updated: Attachment removed, as LUA Buglight 2.1 is now available here.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    November 06, 2008
    So, when is it going to support x64?  Because my main dev machine runs x64, and I expect that's just going to get more and more commonplace (with memory requirements going up). [Aaron Margosis]  To be determined.  The main challenges are 1) I need to build a 64-bit version of the Detours-based shim DLL that I inject into new target processes if they are 64-bit (not sure how complicated that will be), and 2) I need to determine reliably whether the new process being launched is a 32- or 64-bit process.  Inspecting the PE headers of the target executable is straightforward enough, but managed (.NET) apps can be marked x86 but end up running 64-bit (I need to go learn how Windows tells the difference.)  And given the limited amount of time I have to work on it, I have to decide whether it's more important to work on that, or other functionality I want to add (like automatic generation of fixes for various problems, detection of other classes of problems, etc.) FWIW, both my main systems run Vista x64 too.  I do all my testing in Virtual PC x86 virtual machines (with "undo disks" enabled, to ensure clean and repeatable testing).

  • Anonymous
    November 09, 2008
    If you have a look at corflags, there are some bits in the header that tell the runtime whether the assembly can run 64-bit or not, but that seems a little fragile (you'd have to check whether the 64-bit runtime was actually installed as well). It's probably easier to just use IsWow64Process (assuming you can inject after-the-fact). [Aaron Margosis]  I'll have to dig into corflags and see what I can find.  The DLL has to be injected at the time of process creation.

  • Anonymous
    December 18, 2008
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 07, 2009
    I was looking forward to trying this program but the download (attachment) link is not working. It gives me "We are currently unable to serve your request."

  • Anonymous
    April 22, 2009
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    August 27, 2009
    How do I run this program in Windows 7.  Everytime I run it, it states " ERROR:  LUA Buglight must be run by a member of the Administrators group in admin-approval mode. [Aaron Margosis]  New version of LUA Buglight is in the works that includes support for Windows 7. Sorry for the delay.

  • Anonymous
    September 03, 2009
    Great blogs on LUA.  I'd downloaded the 2.0 version but the ZIP file didn't include the guide DOC.  Where can I get it?

  • Anonymous
    September 29, 2009
    Please release this for 64 bit.

  • Anonymous
    October 08, 2009
    Great app! All our developers runs x64 and they are the "troublemakers" on the network... A x64 version would be great! Keep up the good work! /Bob

  • Anonymous
    October 14, 2009
    So does anyone know the steps to work this program with windows 7 from start to finish?  A simple text explanation would be great! [Aaron Margosis]  Ahoy all -- I will be posting a version soon that supports Windows 7, as well as x64.  (x64 will be Vista and higher only -- ran into problems getting it to work on XP x64.)

  • Anonymous
    November 03, 2009
    LUA Buglight 2.1 is now released, with support for Windows 7 x86 and x64, and more: http://blogs.msdn.com/aaron_margosis/pages/LuaBuglight.aspx