Find the full research paper here https://hubs.ly/Q04pLtpM0
The research reports coverage across 60 Hermes bytecode versions (HBC 40 to 99) and validation via a public round-trip corpus that recompiles and re-executes decompiled programs across 11 compiler versions, with all 359 programs producing identical output.
“Security reviewers need output they can audit,” said a security researcher at Symbiotic Security. “We built a deterministic pipeline so the same bundle yields the same output and every construct can be traced back to the binary.”
The tool which can be accessed here https://github.com/SymbioticSec/hermes-decomp has been used in penetration testing and capture-the-flag challenges, helping reviewers reach relevant code paths in large bundles.
About the research
The research addresses a long-standing gap in mobile app security review. Most React Native apps ship their JavaScript compiled into Hermes bytecode, a compact binary format that strips out variable names and file boundaries, leaving security reviewers with raw instructions instead of readable code. Symbiotic Security’s decompiler reconstructs that code: it rebuilds loops and conditionals, restores the original module structure, and recovers function names directly from the binary while clearly flagging any names it infers.
Because the approach is rule-based rather than AI-generated, the same app always produces the same output, and every line can be traced back to the binary, a property security audits depend on.
The tool spans 60 bytecode versions (React Native releases from 2019 to 2026) and is validated by a public test suite of 359 programs that all re-execute identically.
Resources
- Research paper download: https://hubs.ly/Q04pLtpM0
- GitHub repository: https://hubs.ly/Q04q0SwP0
Source: Symbiotic Security
Follow the full story here: https://przen.com/pr/33618978
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