httpd.asm: Arguably the world smallest web server. ( for GNU/Linux i386. Compile with nasm )

httpd.asm

section .text
global _start

_start:
  xor eax, eax
  xor ebx, ebx
  xor esi, esi
  jmp _socket

_socket_call:
  mov al, 0x66
  inc byte bl
  mov ecx, esp
  int 0x80
  jmp esi

_socket:
  push byte 6
  push byte 1
  push byte 2
  mov esi, _bind
  jmp _socket_call

_bind:
  mov edi, eax
  xor edx, edx
  push dword edx
  push word 0x6022
  push word bx
  mov ecx, esp
  push byte 0x10
  push ecx
  push edi

  mov esi, _listen
  jmp _socket_call

_listen:
  inc bl
  push byte 0x01
  push edi
  mov esi, _accept
  jmp _socket_call

_accept:
  push edx
  push edx
  push edi
  mov esi, _fork
  jmp _socket_call

_fork:
  mov esi, eax
  mov al, 0x02
  int 0x80
  test eax, eax
  jz _write

  xor eax, eax
  xor ebx, ebx
  mov bl, 0x02
  jmp _listen

_write:
  mov ebx, esi
  push edx
  push dword 0x0a0d3e31
  push dword 0x682f3c21
  push dword 0x64334e77
  push dword 0x503e3168
  push dword 0x3c0a0d0a
  push dword 0x0d6c6d74
  push dword 0x682f7478
  push dword 0x6574203a
  push dword 0x65707954
  push dword 0x2d746e65
  push dword 0x746e6f43
  push dword 0x0a4b4f20
  push dword 0x30303220
  push dword 0x302e312f
  push dword 0x50545448
  mov al, 0x04
  mov ecx, esp
  mov dl, 64
  int 0x80

_close:
  mov al, 6
  mov ebx, esi
  int 0x80
  mov al, 6
  mov ebx, edi
  int 0x80

_exit:
  mov eax, 0x01
  xor ebx, ebx
  int 0x80

Note that this is buggy; the bind system call passes sa_family=AF_UNIX, and doesn't end up binding to a specific TCP port, instead letting the kernel randomly pick which one it listens on.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/67445637/why-doesnt-this-assembly-http-server-work

$ strace ./httpd
execve("./httpd", ["./httpd"], 0x7ffde685ac10 /* 54 vars */) = 0
[ Process PID=615796 runs in 32 bit mode. ]
socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TCP) = 3
bind(3, {sa_family=AF_UNIX, sun_path="\"`"}, 16) = -1 EAFNOSUPPORT (Address family not supported by protocol)
syscall_0xffffffffffffff66(0x4, 0xffd53c58, 0, 0x8049043, 0x3, 0) = -1 ENOSYS (Function not implemented)
syscall_0xffffffffffffff66(0x5, 0xffd53c4c, 0, 0x804904d, 0x3, 0) = -1 ENOSYS (Function not implemented)
syscall_0xffffffffffffff02(0x5, 0xffd53c4c, 0, 0xffffffda, 0x3, 0) = -1 ENOSYS (Function not implemented)
listen(3, 1)                            = 0
accept(3, NULL, NULL

(Same behaviour as https://gist.github.com/DGivney/5917914 which was forked from this.)

nash-f is another small HTTP server, coming down to 194B without content (or 229 bytes with the obligatory <h1>Hello!</h1>)

mov eax, 0x01 contains three 0 bytes, and could be done more efficiently (in 32-bit mode) with xor eax,eax / inc eax. Or if you can assume close didn't return an error, mov al,1

@pcordes xor/inc is definitely smaller, but the fact is that code's purpose was to be used as a null-free shellcode (as used by Cymothoa Shellcode Injector featured on Phrack issue #64 Crossbower's article on parasite code for linux. So, by the time you land on the code you don't want to take chances the high EAX (AH) might not be zeroed.

Also, inc bl is 2 bytes; inc ebx is 1 byte.

See https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/132981/tips-for-golfing-in-x86-x64-machine-code

I'm pretty sure I could optimize the hell out of this code and make much smaller (and ugglier), but It would not be so useful today. Maybe porting this to x64 or ARM would be more beneficial.

It would probably also be worthwhile to include the string for write as literal data (maybe at the end with the jmp / call / pop trick to get its address into a register), instead of spending 1 byte for every 4 on a push opcode.

Also, note that push byte 0x01 is still a dword push (because only word and the default operand-size are available for push). And NASM would pick a 1-byte immediate by default, so IMO it's more misleading than helpful especially when other places in the source use push word ... which looks similar but is very different.
If you want to enforce the size of the immediate, use push strict byte 1. The strict keyword exists to force encodings.

About this... pretty sure I got missed some gotchas translating this from ATT&T/Motorola syntax into NASM's Intel-lish syntax. To clear any doubts, better check my original raw shellcode and assembly code as posted on milw0rm.com and later exploit-db circa 2009.

Maybe that is also the reason bind() ends up with an unclean structure from stack with wrong sock type.

nash-f is an even smaller HTTP server, coming down to 194B without content (or 229 bytes with the obligatory <h1>Hello!</h1>)

No it's not:

• my original bytecode: 166 bytes
• nash-f: 229 bytes

Also, the purpose of the original httpd.asm was to avoid null bytes.
nash-f's server code is full of 00s, which then trims strings and kills exploitability of some vulnerable string functions.

@xenomuta My apologies. I'm still somewhat new to all of this. I've edited my comment.

Also, thank you for the clarifications, very educational!

@xenomuta My apologies. I'm still somewhat new to all of this. I've edited my comment.

Also, thank you for the clarifications, very educational!

Oh that's ok, no need to apologize. You're welcome.
Keep the good stuff going.