obfany

Forked from obfstr by CasualX — extended with obfnum! and obfbool!, modernised to Rust 2024 edition (1.85+), and expanded test coverage.

Compiletime string, number, and boolean constant obfuscation for Rust — no_std and zero dependencies.

Values are stored XOR-encrypted in the binary and decrypted locally at runtime. Static analysis tools see only ciphertext — plaintext constants never appear in the data section.

---

Quick Start

// Cargo.toml
// [dependencies]
// obfany = "0.1"

use obfany::obfstr as s;

// String literals are embedded in obfuscated form
assert_eq!(s!("Hello 🌍"), "Hello 🌍");

// Numbers are stored XOR-encrypted
let secret = obfany::obfnum!(u32, 0xDEAD_BEEF);
assert_eq!(secret, 0xDEAD_BEEF_u32);

// Booleans are stored XOR-encrypted too
let enabled: bool = obfany::obfbool!(true);
assert!(enabled);

// Compiletime random values
const SALT: u64 = obfany::random!(u64);

---

Usage

String Obfuscation — obfstr!

Four syntax forms cover every use case. The deobfuscated temporary lives only for the enclosing statement.

Inline expression — use directly where a &str is expected:

use obfany::obfstr as s;
println!("{}", s!("Hello world"));

Multi-let — obfuscate several strings into local bindings:

use obfany::obfstr as s;
s! {
    let hello = "Hello";
    let world = "World";
}
assert_eq!(hello, "Hello");
assert_eq!(world, "World");

Assign to outer variable — deobfuscate into an uninitialised binding:

use obfany::obfstr as s;
let greeting;
s!(greeting = "Hello");
assert_eq!(greeting, "Hello");

Write into a caller-provided buffer — zero heap allocations:

use obfany::obfstr as s;
let mut buf = [0u8; 16];
let s = s!(buf <- "hello");
assert_eq!(s, "hello");

CStr Obfuscation — obfcstr!

Same syntax as obfstr!, produces &CStr:

use std::ffi::CStr;
use obfany::obfcstr as cstr;

const GREETING: &CStr = c"Hello CStr";
assert_eq!(cstr!(GREETING).to_str().unwrap(), "Hello CStr");

Owned String — obfstring!

Returns String when you need an owned value:

use obfany::obfstring;
let s: String = obfstring!("I am owned");
assert_eq!(s, "I am owned");

Byte Slice Obfuscation — obfbytes!

Same syntax as obfstr!, produces &[u8]:

use obfany::obfbytes;
assert_eq!(obfbytes!(b"raw bytes"), b"raw bytes");

Wide String Obfuscation — obfwide!

Obfuscates and encodes as UTF-16 (&[u16]):

use obfany::obfwide;
assert_eq!(obfwide!("Wide"), obfany::wide!("Wide"));

Number Obfuscation — obfnum!

XOR-encrypts an integer or float constant. Pass the concrete primitive type first, then the constant value. This lets unsuffixed literals work while still giving the macro the exact byte width it needs at compile time.

use obfany::obfnum;

// Integers
assert_eq!(obfnum!(u32, 0x1234), 0x1234_u32);
assert_eq!(obfnum!(i64, -9999), -9999_i64);
assert_eq!(obfnum!(u128, u128::MAX), u128::MAX);

// Floats
assert_eq!(obfnum!(f64, 3.14159265358979), std::f64::consts::PI);
assert_eq!(obfnum!(f32, 1.0), 1.0_f32);

Supported types: u8, u16, u32, u64, u128, usize, i8, i16, i32, i64, i128, isize, f32, f64.

Boolean Obfuscation — obfbool!

XOR-encrypts a boolean constant.

use obfany::obfbool;

assert!(obfbool!(true));
assert!(!obfbool!(false));

Compiletime Random — random!

Produces deterministic compiletime values using file!(), line!(), column!(), and a global seed. Same input → same output across builds.

use obfany::random;

const RND: u32 = random!(u32);
const FLAG: bool = random!(bool);

// Extra seeds disambiguate calls on the same line
let a = random!(u64, "lhs");
let b = random!(u64, "rhs");
assert_ne!(a, b);

Supported types: u8, u16, u32, u64, usize, i8, i16, i32, i64, isize, bool, f32, f64.

Floats are in [1.0, 2.0). Integers fill their full range.

UTF-16 Encoding — wide!

Encodes a string literal as a compiletime &[u16; N]:

use obfany::wide;
assert_eq!(wide!("Rust\0"), &[b'R' as u16, b'u' as u16, b's' as u16, b't' as u16, 0]);

Handles Unicode, escape sequences, and raw string literals.

Control Flow Obfuscation — obfstmt!

Randomises the execution order of a statement sequence. Each iteration dispatches via a match-on-key so the compiled control flow looks unrelated to the source order.

use obfany::obfstmt;

let mut x = 0;
obfstmt! {
    x = 2;
    x *= 22;
    x -= 12;
    x /= 3;
}
assert_eq!(x, 10);

Key collisions (two statements hashing to the same dispatch key) are detected at compile time — the build will fail with a clear message.

Cross-Reference Obfuscation — xref! / xref_mut!

Hides the reference to a static in the disassembly. The pointer is reconstructed through opaque arithmetic so the original symbol is not directly visible.

use obfany::xref;

static SECRET: i32 = 42;
let p: &i32 = xref!(&SECRET);
assert_eq!(*p, 42);

xref! works with &str and &[u8] as a lightweight alternative to obfstr!:

assert_eq!(xref!("Hello"), "Hello");
assert_eq!(xref!(b"bytes"), b"bytes");

For mutable statics, use xref_mut!:

static mut COUNTER: i32 = 0;
let p: &mut i32 = obfany::xref_mut!(unsafe { &mut *(&raw mut COUNTER) });

Compiletime Hashing — hash! / murmur3!

hash! — DJB2-xor hash of a string literal:

use obfany::hash;
assert_eq!(hash!("Hello World"), 0x6E4A573D);

murmur3! — MurmurHash3 (32-bit) keyed hash of a byte slice:

use obfany::murmur3;
let h: u32 = murmur3!(b"data", 0x12345678);

Compiletime Substring Search — position!

Finds a needle in a haystack at compile time. Panics at compile time if not found — ideal for pooling multiple strings in a single obfuscated blob:

use obfany::{obfstr, position};

const POOL: &str = concat!("Foo", "Bar", "Baz");
obfstr! { let pool = POOL; }

let foo = &pool[position!(POOL, "Foo")];
let bar = &pool[position!(POOL, "Bar")];
let baz = &pool[position!(POOL, "Baz")];

---

Reproducible Builds

The global RNG seed is controlled by the OBFANY_SEED environment variable at compile time. When unset it defaults to "FIXED". Changing the seed forces recompilation of all dependents.

OBFANY_SEED="my-custom-seed" cargo build --release

The seed value itself — not a hash — is embedded, so builds with the same seed produce identical binaries.

---

API Reference

Macros

Macro	Signature	Description
obfstr!	($s:expr) → &str	Obfuscate a string literal
obfstr!	{ let $name = $s; … }	Multi-let form
obfstr!	($name = $s)	Assign to outer variable
obfstr!	($buf <- $s)	Write into buffer, return &str
obfcstr!	(same forms) → &CStr	Obfuscate a CStr literal
obfstring!	($s:expr) → String	Obfuscate into owned String
obfbytes!	(same forms) → &[u8]	Obfuscate a byte slice
obfwide!	(same forms) → &[u16]	Obfuscate a UTF-16 string
obfnum!	($ty, $val:expr) → $ty	Obfuscate a numeric constant
obfbool!	($val:expr) → bool	Obfuscate a boolean constant
random!	($ty $(, $seed)*) → T	Compiletime random value
wide!	($s:expr) → &[u16; N]	UTF-16 encode at compile time
obfstmt!	{ $($stmt;)* }	Control flow obfuscation
xref!	($e:expr) → &T	Obfuscate a static reference
xref_mut!	($e:expr) → &mut T	Obfuscate a mutable static reference
hash!	($s:expr) → u32	DJB2-xor hash at compile time
murmur3!	($s:expr $(, $seed)?) → u32	MurmurHash3 at compile time
position!	($haystack, $needle) → Range<usize>	Substring search at compile time

Constants

Constant	Type	Description
SEED	u64	Active RNG seed (derived from OBFANY_SEED)

---

How It Works

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Compile time                                           │
│                                                         │
│  obfstr!("secret")                                      │
│  ├─ random!(u32, "key", stringify!("secret"))           │
│  │   └─ entropy(concat!(file!(), line!(), column!()))   │
│  ├─ keystream::<LEN>(key)     ← XorShift RNG            │
│  ├─ obfuscate(plaintext, keystream)  ← XOR each byte    │
│  └─ static _SDATA: [u8; LEN] = ciphertext               │
│                                                         │
│  Runtime                                                │
│                                                         │
│  ├─ read_volatile(&_SDATA)    ← block constant folding  │
│  ├─ deobfuscate(ciphertext, keystream)  ← XOR again     │
│  └─ return &str (temporary)                             │
│                                                         │
│  • Plaintext never appears in .rodata or the binary     │
│  • No heap allocations                                  │
│  • no_std compatible                                    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

---

Platform Support

Target	Status
All Rust targets (no_std)	✅ Full support

Requires Rust 1.85+ (edition 2024).

---

Building

cargo build --release

For deterministic (reproducible) builds:

OBFANY_SEED="0xDEAD_BEEF" cargo build --release

---

Testing

# Unit + doc tests
cargo test

# Check for warnings
cargo check

---

Verifying Obfuscation (Assembly Inspection)

The examples/inspect_asm.rs example is designed for manual verification that obfuscation works at the binary level — plaintext strings and direct symbol references must not appear in the compiled output.

# Sanity check
cargo run --example inspect_asm

# Dump assembly
cargo rustc --release --example inspect_asm -- --emit asm -C "llvm-args=-x86-asm-syntax=intel"

# Search for plaintext (should return NOTHING)
Select-String -Path target/release/examples/inspect_asm.s -Pattern "Hello world"

---

Credits

Forked from obfstr by CasualX (MIT).

Changes from upstream:

• Renamed crate to obfany
• Added obfnum! for numeric constant obfuscation
• Added obfbool! for boolean constant obfuscation
• Added compiletime key-collision detection in obfstmt!
• Replaced transmute with from_bits / to_ne_bytes (Rust 1.85+)
• Added SAFETY comments to all unsafe blocks
• Expanded test coverage (27 unit + 16 doc tests)

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License

Licensed under MIT License, see license.txt.

Contribution

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the work by you, shall be licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.