macho-diff/README.md

macho-diff

A command-line tool for visualizing instruction-level differences between Mach-O binaries. It uses LIEF to parse the Mach-O structure and capstone to disassemble and compare functions byte-by-byte and instruction-by-instruction.

Features

• Architecture Support: Supports ARM64, ARM, X86_64, and X86.
• Function Checksums: Quickly identifies modified functions via SHA-256 byte hashing.
• Instruction-Level Diff: Identifies the exact mnemonic and operand differences between the original and patched binaries directly in the CLI.
• Batch Patches: Automatically generates batch hexadecimal patches which ensure unique byte patterns for safe find-and-replace patching across binaries. The batch notes output is fully compatible with Amimod.

Installation

Assuming you are using uv (or standard pip):

git clone https://NohamR/macho-diff && cd macho-diff

uv sync

Usage

Run the tool by passing the source and patched Mach-O binaries:

uv run macho-diff <source_binary> <patched_binary>

uv run macho-diff <source_binary> <patched_binary> -b