Tool

XRefer

A Python plugin for IDA Pro from Google's FLARE team that adds a custom navigation interface. XRefer traces execution paths from entry points, groups the binary into clusters of related functions, and surfaces downstream behaviors and artifacts, with path graphs for context. It can ingest external data such as API traces from the VMRay and CAPE sandboxes, capa results and user-defined indirect cross-references. An optional integration sends extracted artifacts to Google's Gemini model to generate natural-language descriptions of code relationships and cluster-based function labels.

Targets: Binary
Category: Native analysis tools
Relationship: Foundation tool
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-27

Stars: 325
Last commit: 2026-02-23
Language: Python
License (GitHub): Apache-2.0

GitHub data as of 2026-11-09

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Requirements & limits

IDA Pro with Python. Install through hcli or copy plugins/ into IDA’s plugins directory, install requirements.txt, and restart IDA. The asciinet dependency needs a JRE on PATH.
Optional enrichment accepts VMRay and CAPE API traces, capa output and user-defined indirect cross-references.
When enabled, optional LLM features send extracted APIs, strings, library references and function relationships to external services such as Google Gemini; all LLM features can be disabled.
The repository includes two AES-encrypted third-party sample archives under test_samples/ without documented passwords or provenance.
License: Apache-2.0 for the plugin.

Cite

BibTeX

@misc{xrefer,
  title = {{XRefer}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://github.com/mandiant/xrefer}},
  url = {https://github.com/mandiant/xrefer},
  urldate = {2026-10-27},
  note = {Awesome REA entry: \url{https://awesomerea.org/resources/xrefer/}}
}

Plain text

XRefer. https://github.com/mandiant/xrefer (accessed 2026-10-27). Awesome REA entry: https://awesomerea.org/resources/xrefer/

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About this entry

The description was reviewed against primary sources.

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Primary sources

README.md GitHub · mandiant/xrefer · Revision 1aeda16
docs/usage.md GitHub · mandiant/xrefer · Revision 1aeda16
requirements.txt GitHub · mandiant/xrefer · Revision 1aeda16
ida-plugin.json GitHub · mandiant/xrefer · Revision 1aeda16
test_samples GitHub · mandiant/xrefer · Revision 1aeda16
LICENSE GitHub · mandiant/xrefer · Revision 1aeda16