Common Use Cases for reverse‑skill: A Complete Guide to AI‑Assisted Security Workflows

The reverse‑skill package routes AI agents to the correct reverse‑engineering, security analysis, or penetration‑testing workflow by evaluating the target and automatically selecting validated tools from its modular skill directories.

The reverse‑skill repository by zhaoxuya520 is a production‑grade skill router that eliminates guesswork for security practitioners and AI agents. Instead of manually choosing between disassemblers, decompilers, or pentest frameworks, you describe the target and the system handles tool orchestration, case initialization, and evidence generation. This guide covers every common use case documented in the source code, from APK analysis to LLM security testing.

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How reverse‑skill Routes Tasks

The router follows a strict execution contract defined in skills/MASTER‑ROUTING.md. Understanding this flow explains why each use case works reliably:

1. Route first, act later — keywords determine the primary skill.
2. Generate routing rationale — one‑sentence justification for audit trails.
3. Initialize a case via case‑init.ps1, creating a scoped work/ directory with mandatory authentication.
4. Validate tool availability against skills/tool-index.md; bootstrap missing MCP tools automatically.
5. Execute the workflow (e.g., launch IDA MCP server, open binary, run analysis).
6. Append timeline/work‑items and produce an evidence‑finding‑path report.

This "refresh → route → run → document" philosophy ensures repeatable, auditable analyses across all use cases.

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Mobile Application Reverse Engineering

APK and Android Analysis

When your target is an Android package (APK) or Smali bytecode, reverse‑skill selects skills/apk-reverse/. This skill wraps jadx and apktool for rapid triage.

When to invoke: Binary is an Android package, or you need resource extraction and Java‑to‑Smali cross‑reference.

# Route and execute Android analysis

powershell -File skills/scripts/master-route.ps1 -Hint "Decompile suspicious.apk"

The router validates jadx and apktool availability via skills/tool-index.md, then initializes a case under work/android-[timestamp]/.

iOS and Mobile Binary Analysis

For IPA files, Frida instrumentation, or MobSF reports, the skills/mobile-reverse/ directory provides the workflow. This handles Mach‑O binaries, dyld chains, and jailbreak detection bypasses.

When to invoke: IPA distribution, mobile binary with Frida/Objection hooks, or MobSF static analysis output.

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Native Binary Reverse Engineering

PE, ELF, and Mach‑O Analysis (IDA Pro)

The most common use case: native executables and libraries requiring disassembly or decompilation. The router chooses between skills/ida-reverse/ and skills/radare2/ based on tool availability and analysis depth required.

When to invoke: Any Windows PE, Linux ELF, or macOS Mach‑O needing function‑level decompilation.

# Full IDA‑based workflow

powershell -File skills/ida-reverse/scripts/start.ps1          # Start MCP HTTP server

powershell -File skills/ida-reverse/scripts/open.ps1 -Path "sample.exe" -TimeoutSeconds 600
powershell -File skills/scripts/append-evidence.ps1 -CaseRoot work/sample-case -Id E-001 -Title "Main function CFG" -ReproCommand "idapro_get_func_cfg(0x401000)"

The open.ps1 script in skills/ida-reverse/scripts/ handles database locks, headless timeouts, and MCP API retries automatically.

.NET and C# Reverse Engineering

For .NET assemblies, dnSpy workflows, or ConfuserEx deobfuscation, skills/dotnet-reverse/ provides the toolchain. This skill integrates de4dot for automated unpacking and ILSpy MCP bridges.

When to invoke: Managed executable with metadata, obfuscated C# binary, or mixed‑mode assembly.

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Web and Frontend Security

JavaScript and Encoded Parameter Analysis

Modern web applications require dedicated handling for obfuscated JavaScript bundles and Chrome DevTools CDP traffic. The skills/js-reverse/ skill automates breakpoint injection, script prettification, and request‑parameter decoding.

When to invoke: Single‑page application bundles, encrypted API parameters, or anti‑debugging JS protections.

API and GraphQL Security Testing

The skills/api-security/ directory covers BOLA (Broken Object Level Authorization), JWT attacks, and GraphQL injection. This skill validates authentication boundaries and generates proof‑of‑concept exploits with full reproduction steps.

When to invoke: REST/GraphQL endpoints with complex authorization, token‑based authentication, or speculative query surfaces.

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Specialized Reverse Engineering Domains

Custom DSL and Virtual Machine Analysis

For proprietary opcode VMs and FireEye‑style virtualized code, skills/reverse-engineering/dsl-vm-reverse/ provides the analysis framework. This includes bytecode pattern matching and VM handler reconstruction.

When to invoke: Packed binary with custom instruction set, VMProtect‑like virtualization, or unknown interpreter opcodes.

Firmware and IoT Penetration Testing

The skills/firmware-pentest/ skill orchestrates Binwalk extraction, EMBA firmware analysis, and hardware‑level debugging. It handles JTAG/UART discovery flows and embedded filesystem forensics.

When to invoke: Router firmware, IoT device update packages, or bare‑metal embedded binaries.

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Offensive Security and Red Team Operations

Malware Analysis and YARA Rule Development

The skills/malware-analysis/ skill combines dynamic sandboxing, behavioral labeling, and YARA rule generation. It produces IOC timelines and family classification for threat intelligence pipelines.

When to invoke: Suspicious executable samples, unknown malware families, or attribution‑critical forensic work.

Penetration Testing Tool Orchestration

For active reconnaissance with Nmap, Nuclei, and SQLMap, skills/pentest-tools/ provides coordinated scanning workflows. The skill manages rate‑limiting, output correlation, and vulnerability deduplication.

# Example: Route to pentest skill with scope validation

powershell -File skills/scripts/master-route.ps1 -Hint "SQL injection test on target.com -scope production.api.target.com"

The router enforces scope gating per RULES.md before any ACT operation.

Attack Chain Orchestration

Complex red‑team engagements use skills/attack-chain/ for multi‑stage operations including lateral movement, persistence establishment, and full‑suite compromise documentation.

Exploit Development and Pwn Challenges

The skills/pwn-chain/ skill supports ROP chain construction, heap exploitation, and binary CTF challenges. It integrates with pwntools and provides automated crash triage.

Patch Diffing and N‑Day Exploitation

For binary diffing, patch analysis, and exploit generation, skills/patch-diff-exploit/ compares vulnerable and patched versions to identify security‑critical changes.

EDR Bypass and Anti‑AV Techniques

The skills/edr-bypass-re/ skill covers syscall obfuscation, API unhooking, and telemetry blinding for adversarial simulation scenarios.

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Supply Chain and Emerging Security Domains

Supply Chain and SBOM Analysis

The skills/supply-chain-security/ skill runs Trivy scanning, SCA (Software Composition Analysis), and BOM generation for dependency‑risk assessment.

When to invoke: Container images, lockfile audits, or vendor‑software risk reviews.

LLM and AI Security Testing

For prompt injection, agent sandboxing, and LLM output validation, skills/llm-security/ provides the testing framework. This addresses emerging risks in AI‑integrated applications.

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Competition and Documentation Workflows

CTF Sandbox Orchestration

The CTF‑Sandbox‑Orchestrator/ directory handles 40+ sub‑skills for competitive security challenges. It coordinates multi‑stage puzzle solving with automatic flag submission and timeline reconstruction.

# Start a full CTF pipeline

powershell -File CTF-Sandbox-Orchestrator/ctf-sandbox-orchestrator/SKILL.md -Hint "Solve crypto warmup challenge"

Architecture Diagram and Report Generation

The skills/diagram-generator/ skill produces Mermaid, Graphviz, and PlantUML diagrams from analysis artifacts, ensuring documentation parity with technical findings.

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Daily Workflow Integration

Refreshing Tool Availability

Before any routing decision, update the local tool index to ensure accurate skill selection:

# Linux/macOS

bash skills/scripts/refresh-tool-index.sh

# Windows

powershell -File skills/scripts/refresh-tool-index.ps1

This populates skills/tool-index.md with detected capabilities, enabling the router to skip unavailable skills or trigger MCP bootstrap procedures.

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Summary

• Reverse‑skill automates task intake → skill selection → tool orchestration → evidence generation through a 6‑step execution contract defined in skills/MASTER‑ROUTING.md.
• Mobile analysis covers APK (skills/apk-reverse/) and iOS (skills/mobile-reverse/) with jadx, apktool, Frida, and MobSF integration.
• Native binary reverse engineering routes to skills/ida-reverse/ (PE/ELF/Mach‑O via IDA Pro MCP) or skills/radare2/ based on tool availability and analysis requirements.
• Web security spans JavaScript deobfuscation (skills/js-reverse/) and API/GraphQL testing (skills/api-security/).
• Specialized domains include VM reverse engineering, firmware pentesting, malware YARA development, and EDR bypass techniques.
• Offensive operations support full red‑team chains, exploit development, and CTF orchestration with 40+ coordinated sub‑skills.
• Emerging coverage extends to supply chain security (Trivy/SCA) and LLM security testing (prompt injection, sandboxing).

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Frequently Asked Questions

How does reverse‑skill choose between IDA Pro and Radare2?

The router checks skills/tool-index.md for available MCP servers. If the IDA MCP server is responsive, skills/ida-reverse/ receives priority for deep decompilation. Radare2 serves as fallback for headless environments or license‑constrained scenarios. Both skills share the same case initialization and evidence‑appending contracts.

Can reverse‑skill handle partially analyzed cases?

Yes. Every case created via case‑init.ps1 in skills/scripts/ receives a persistent work/[case-name]/ directory. The append-evidence.ps1 script adds findings to the timeline incrementally, and the case state survives across routing sessions. Re‑running master-route.ps1 with the same hint resumes from the existing scope.

What happens if a required tool is missing?

The router consults skills/tool-index.md during step 4 of the execution contract. Missing tools trigger an MCP bootstrap sequence documented in the target skill's SKILL.md. If automatic installation fails, the routing rationale includes explicit tool gaps, allowing manual resolution before case initialization.

Is there support for custom skill extensions?

The skills/SKILL.md master entry point loads sub‑skills dynamically based on the PRIMARY fast‑path matrix (R1‑R39) in MASTER‑ROUTING.md. New skills follow the ops contract in skills/ops/ (scope, evidence, role‑map, timeline, sandbox profile) for seamless integration with the routing and reporting infrastructure.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}