Creating a hexadecimal editor in Rust

​Description

​In this talk, I'll tell a story involving the need of binary editing, how I tried to improve existing tools, and the outcome and challenges of my decision to build my own hex editor in Rust while learning the language. And no, I didn't ask a LLM to write it, for a variety of reasons I'll also cover in the presentation.

​Next, I'll present the features my hex editor has and how it helps me (and hopefully others) to achieve my goals while working with security research on a daily basis.

​Bio

​Fernando Mercês is a security researcher that spent more than 10 years analyzing malware and investigating cyberattacks and APTs. At Binarly, he works with vulnerability detection in POSIX binaries as his primary focus, and broader ELF ecosystem support on the side. In his free time, he's a volunteer at Mente Binária, the NPO that he founded with free educational programs in computing and security.