Waraxe IT Security Portal

adammc · Beginner

Hi guys,

Is it possible to decode a zend encoded script?
If so, can you please explain?

thanks

lenny · Valuable expert

Currently this is impossible. The Zend encoder converts code into bytecode which the Zend engine can then execute without pharsing the file like with normal php scripts. Unfortunatley, bytecode (just like any other executable script) cannot be decoded easily. If you did manage to decode it (It is possible) the code would look nothing like the original. The code would still work, but it would be optimised in such a way that it would be unreadable to a human easily and therefore be almost as useless to you as the zend encoded script.

Some people claim to be able to decode it, but I *highly* doubt that. Zend is industrial grade and really Zended scripts are damn well secure.

There used to be an exploit that allowed you to capture the unencoded PHP script from the RAM during execution, but that was patched. In my opinion, you are wasting your time trying to decode it.