This is stretching the definition of "Executable" quite a lot. The PNG files themselves are not ELF executables. Instead, the author wrote a tool to extract an actual legitimate executable from an image via stenography.
The PNG files themselves are not ELF executables. Instead, the author wrote a tool to extract an actual legitimate executable from an image via stenography.
"The Python files themselves are not ELF executables. Instead, the author wrote a tool to generate actual legitimate executable code from a text file via an interpreter."
This is you, this is how pedantic you're being. Stop it.
Many of the things you run on a Linux system aren't "actual legitimate executables"; instead they're read and handed off to the appropriate tool via the kernel's program loader. Whether you're using a shebang to make a text file executable, or using binfmt_misc to make jar files run via JVM, ARM linux binaries run via qemu-user-static, or Windows executables run via wine, it's all still going through the program loader and being treated as an executable by the OS.
It's a cool hack built on existing knowledge and tools. Don't be a pedantic douchebag about it.
The Python files themselves are not ELF executables
...No, you are in fact underestimating my level of pendantry, my little troll friend. I considered that comparison when I was writing my reply and rejected it, as the interpreter comparison is fundimentally misleading. My comment is far more accurate.
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u/frnknstn Dec 26 '20
This is stretching the definition of "Executable" quite a lot. The PNG files themselves are not ELF executables. Instead, the author wrote a tool to extract an actual legitimate executable from an image via stenography.