xorcrypt

This tool is a simple Python-based CLI program that XOR-encrypts shellcode. It supports reading shellcode both as raw binary files and as text (\xNN, 0xNN, or raw hex strings), using single-byte or multi-byte XOR keys. The encrypted shellcode is written as raw bytes to a binary output file, and can optionally be displayed in several common formats in the terminal, including raw output, Python bytes literals, and C-style byte arrays.

How to run the program

python3 xorcrypt.py --input <infile> --output <outfile> --key <hex-byte> [options]

or using a string key:

python3 xorcrypt.py --input <infile> --output <outfile> --key-str <string> [options]

---

Option	Description
--input, -i	Path to input shellcode file (binary by default, use additional --text for text input)
--output, -o	Path to output file for the XOR-encrypted shellcode (raw bytes)
--key, -k	XOR key as a single hex byte (00–FF or 0x00–0xFF)
--key-str	XOR key as a string (multi-byte key)
--text	Treat input file as text shellcode (\xNN, 0xNN, or raw hex)
--format, -f	Display output format for terminal: raw, python, or c-array

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Supported text input formats

When using the --text option, the following formats are supported:

• \xNN byte escapes (e.g. \x90\x90\xcc)
• 0xNN tokens (e.g. 0x90,0x90,0xCC)
• Raw hex strings (e.g. 4831c050)

Supported output formats

The following output formats are supported via the --format option:

• raw – raw binary output
• python – Python bytes literal
• c-array – C-style unsigned char array

Note: The --format option only affects how the encrypted shellcode is displayed in the terminal. The output file always contains raw XOR-encrypted bytes

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Example commands

XOR with a hex key and binary input

python3 xorcrypt.py --input shellcode.bin --output encrypted.bin --key 0x41

XOR with a string key and text input

python3 xorcrypt.py --input shellcode.txt --text --output encrypted.bin --key-str secret

Display output as a C array

python3 xorcrypt.py --input shellcode.bin --output encrypted.bin --key 0x41 --format c-array

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Output format examples

Raw (binary)

Outputs raw binary data.

b'\xb5\x01\xc8\xad\xb9\xb6\xb6'

Note: This output shows the raw XOR-encrypted bytes using Python’s default bytes representation.

C-array

unsigned char xored_shellcode[] = {
    0xb5, 0x01, 0xc8, 0xad, 0xb9, 0xb6, 0xb6
};

Python

xored_shellcode = b"\xb5\x01\xc8\xad\xb9\xb6\xb6"

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Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• No external dependencies