[llvm-objdump] Create fake sections for a ELF core file

[namhyung]

Summary

The linux perf tools use /proc/kcore for disassembly kernel functions.
Actually it copies the relevant parts to a temp file and then pass it to
objdump. But it doesn't have section headers so llvm-objdump cannot
handle it.

Let's create fake section headers for the program headers. It'd have a
single section for each segment to cover the entire range. And for this
purpose we can consider only executable code segments.

With this change, I can see the following command shows proper outputs.

perf annotate --stdio --objdump=/path/to/llvm-objdump

[namhyung]

Hello,

I'm new to the project and not familiar with the code base and C++. Please advise me for improvements.

[MaskRay]

Thanks for the patch! I have thought about this problem previously. Having createFakeSections in ELFFile seems the simplest approach and does not bring intrusive changes to llvm-objdump's (already involved) disassembly code.

I don't think we should magically call

if (getHeader().e_type == ELF::ET_CORE)
  createFakeSections();

in the constructor. Some users may not expect the magic behavior. . createFakeSections should be called by llvm-objdump (for not just -d, also -h, etc).
Some features are still missing (e.g. -d -r) but the patch as-is may be a good enough start.

This needs a test. I suggest llvm/test/tools/llvm-objdump/X86/disassemble-no-section.test. Consider adding a -h test too just to show the effect.

Use ninja check-llvm-tools-llvm-objdump (during development) to run tests in llvm/test/tools/llvm-objdump.

Use check-llvm (before updating a patch) to run all llvm tests, as sometimes code may affect faraway component in a non-intuitive way.

Context not available.

See https://llvm.org/docs/Phabricator.html#requesting-a-review-via-the-web-interface "as much context as possible"

llvm/include/llvm/Object/ELF.h

772

In binutils, BFD synthesizes more sections, but for disassembly purpose just the executable ones are sufficient. I think the code is fine.

The comment I am thinking is:

Used by llvm-objdump -d (which needs sections for disassembly) to disassemble objects without a section header table (e.g. ET_CORE objects analyzed by linux perf).

787

pre-increment

[MaskRay]

But it doesn't have section headers so llvm-objdump cannot handle it.
...
With this change, I can see perf annotate shows proper outputs.

From the description it's unclear how llvm-objdump is used. People doing archaeology at this commit just want to know the exact perf command which uses llvm-objdump.
Please just give reproducible instructions (something with --objdump path/to/llvm-objdump).

[namhyung]

Thanks for the detailed review! I'll address your comments in the next spin.

[jhenderson]

llvm/include/llvm/Object/ELF.h

187–189

As I understand it, the only reason you have these members is so that you only need to create them once, even if there are multiple calls to sections. Is that right? If so, are there actually cases where there are multiple such calls that make sense to have fake sections? (I know little about ET_CORE files or how BFD creates fake sections, so this may be fine).

Unrelated, but I feel like it'd be cleaner to use a std::vector rather than an array and a separate number. This would also allow you to create the fake sections in a single loop rather than needing to calculate the array size and then populate it (just use vector.push_back each time you encounter a relevant Phdr, and voila, you have an array of the right size with the right elements with only one loop). Furthermore, I believe this would allow you to avoid the explicit copy constructor, since the fake section vector would be inherently copyable, unlike the unique_ptr array.

188

I think this would be better spelt "FakeSections" without the abbreviation, primarily since it is plural.

782

This loop could become std::count(PhdrsOrErr->begin(), PhdrsOrErr->end(), [](const Elf_Phdr &) { return (Phdr.p_type & ELF::PT_LOAD) && (Phdr.p_flags & ELF::PF_X); });

Personally, I'd find it neater (but it may be superfluous - see above re. std::vector usage).

796–799

You could factor this check into a simple function to avoid repeating it.

[namhyung]

This needs a test. I suggest llvm/test/tools/llvm-objdump/X86/disassemble-no-section.test.

Yes, I'd like to add a test but it requires a specific binary file (ET_CORE extracted by perf tools). I'm seeing that most of the test uses a text input. Could you please provide an example how to use a binary file in the test?

llvm/include/llvm/Object/ELF.h

187–189

As I understand it, the only reason you have these members is so that you only need to create them once, even if there are multiple calls to sections. Is that right? If so, are there actually cases where there are multiple such calls that make sense to have fake sections? (I know little about ET_CORE files or how BFD creates fake sections, so this may be fine).

llvm-objdump calls Obj->sections() multiple times even only for disassembly. It's to check section addresses, to print outputs and other cases.

Unrelated, but I feel like it'd be cleaner to use a std::vector rather than an array and a separate number.

Yeah, I'd also love to do that. I was unsure if std::vector provides a contiguous memory for ArrayRef but it seems C++ guarantees it. Will change!

188

Ok, will change.

772

Thanks, I will update the comment as you wrote.

782

Looks good.

787

Will change.

796–799

Sure, will do.

[MaskRay]

In D128705#3619651, @namhyung wrote:

This needs a test. I suggest llvm/test/tools/llvm-objdump/X86/disassemble-no-section.test.

Yes, I'd like to add a test but it requires a specific binary file (ET_CORE extracted by perf tools). I'm seeing that most of the test uses a text input. Could you please provide an example how to use a binary file in the test?

We generally avoid precanned binary. (Difficult to update, difficult to read, contains too many details which are unneeded for testing purposes).

Most tests are created from yaml using yaml2obj. Run ninja obj2yaml. You can use obj2yaml bin to get a yaml from a binary, then manually scrub it to have just the needed details.

[namhyung]

Consider adding a -h test too just to show the effect.

I'm not sure if it's ok to show fake section headers for -h because it can confuse users that there are actual headers. Also it doesn't have section names..

[namhyung]

Most tests are created from yaml using yaml2obj. Run ninja obj2yaml. You can use obj2yaml bin to get a yaml from a binary, then manually scrub it to have just the needed details.

Thanks for the info. But it seems obj2yaml doesn't show size info in the phdr and because of that yaml2obj sets them to 0. So there's no output... I think it should be fixed first.

[namhyung]

Also there's no way to specify contents of segment without sections.

[namhyung]

it seems obj2yaml doesn't show size info in the phdr and because of that yaml2obj sets them to 0. So there's no output... I think it should be fixed first.

Hmm.. ok. I can manually set the file size and mem size and yaml2obj honors it.

But I found another problem that yaml2obj always generates some section headers (for string tables) even if there's no section. It annoys fake section handling.. I think yaml2obj should not generate sections for core files as it has no sections.

[namhyung]

I've changed it to use std::vector and call createFakeSections() in the llvm-objdump. I'm waiting for D128883 to update the test using yaml2obj.

[jhenderson]

In D128705#3620539, @namhyung wrote:

Also there's no way to specify contents of segment without sections.

As noted in the yaml2obj review, you can use a special section type of "Fill" in your YAML to suppress the section header, whilst still getting contents. This is the canonical way of writing data that isn't covered by a section header.

In D128705#3621084, @namhyung wrote:

But I found another problem that yaml2obj always generates some section headers (for string tables) even if there's no section. It annoys fake section handling.. I think yaml2obj should not generate sections for core files as it has no sections.

You can suppress the section header table entirely by adding the following snippet to the YAML, inside the Sections block:

- Type: SectionHeaderTable
  NoHeaders: true

See https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/main/llvm/test/tools/yaml2obj/ELF/section-headers.yaml for more details on how to customise the section header table.

(Yes, the name Sections is somewhat misleading, since it now contains information about things other than just the sections directly, but we haven't got around to renaming it due to the mass turbulence it would cause).

llvm/include/llvm/Object/ELF.h

790

This is more "modern" C++ style, I believe. (Functionally, it's the same thing, unless FakeSections is empty)

llvm/include/llvm/Object/ELFObjectFile.h

264

I think this boolean is probably superfluous: you coudl check within createFakeSections whether the FakeSections vector is empty and just end early if it is.

llvm/tools/llvm-objdump/llvm-objdump.cpp

1131–1132

Is this clang-formatted? Seems like it's wrapped a bit prematurely.

[namhyung]

Thanks for your review, now I can add a test case for this.

llvm/include/llvm/Object/ELFObjectFile.h

264

But the fake section vector is a private member of ELFFile so we cannot check it here. Do you want me to add a public function in ELFFile to check it?

[namhyung]

llvm/include/llvm/Object/ELFObjectFile.h

264

I'll just move the check to ELFFile.

[namhyung]

Updates:

• add a test case
• remove a variable to check fake section
• handle llvm-objdump -h use case

[jhenderson]

llvm/include/llvm/Object/ELFObjectFile.h

264

Yes, that's what I meant.

463

I believe this check is now redundant?

llvm/test/tools/llvm-objdump/X86/disassemble-no-section-kcore.test

1 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

What's special about kcore files as opposed to any other ET_CORE files?

1–2 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Newer tests use ## for comments to help distinguish them from lit and FileCheck directives.

Comments should end with a full stop.

4–6 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Is there any particular reason to do two separate llvm-objdump invocations?

Do you actually need the explicit --start-address and --stop-address options?

10 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Does the GNU equivalent have no section name here?

12 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

We usually add additional spacing to ensure lines without -NEXT suffixes line up with those that do (see inline edit).

Again, does this style match GNU?

[jhenderson]

llvm/test/tools/llvm-objdump/X86/disassemble-no-section-kcore.test

35 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

To reduce test noise, this could be just PF_X.

36 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Is the high VAddr actually important to the test?

37 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Is this relevant? If not, I believe it can be omitted.

38–41 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

I believe the Align field is unnecessary for the test. I believe the Offset and FileSize are derived by the associated "section" too, so those should be omittable too. It's potentially the same for MemSize, but I'm not certain.

45 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Nit: too many blank lines at EOF (the file should end with exactly one \n).

llvm/tools/llvm-objdump/llvm-objdump.cpp

1921

Is it possible to just remove the const from the input parameter, to avoid the const_cast, or does that require further changes in the call tree?

[MaskRay]

llvm/include/llvm/Object/ELF.h

768

This should not be restricted to ET_CORE. llvm-strip --strip-sections processed files can be disassembled by objdump -d

[MaskRay]

perf annotate --stdio --objdump=/path/to/llvm-objdump

This command does not say how perf finds core

[namhyung]

Thanks for your detailed review! Really appreciated!

llvm/include/llvm/Object/ELF.h

768

Hmm.. ok.

llvm/include/llvm/Object/ELFObjectFile.h

463

Right, will remove.

llvm/test/tools/llvm-objdump/X86/disassemble-no-section-kcore.test

1 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

I guess normal core files don't have the contents (code) since it's in the binary. But linux perf tools generate a core file with binary to disassemble a kernel function easily. That's why I need to add content to phdr (now it works with section fill though).

1–2 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Ok, will change.

4–6 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Is there any particular reason to do two separate llvm-objdump invocations?

@MaskRay asked to test it with -h option too.

Do you actually need the explicit --start-address and --stop-address options?

No, but that's how the liinux perf tools run it. I'd like to make it as same as the actual use case.

10 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

No, they generate section name based on p_type and index. Probably I can add it as a follow up.

12 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

We usually add additional spacing to ensure lines without -NEXT suffixes line up with those that do (see inline edit).

Thanks, will change.

Again, does this style match GNU?

Do you mean symbol name? They just show the same name of the section. Not sure it's from a (fake) symbol or falls back to section name.

35 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

It's the same as kcore extracted by linux perf tools and I'd like have the same environment as much as possible.

36 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Not really, but again, I just wanted to have a similar binary.

37 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Then it'd have the same value as VAddr. FYI, kcore files have 0 for PAddr. But for tests, it doesn't matter.

38–41 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

For this test, they don't matter. It follows values in a kcore.

45 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Will remove.

llvm/tools/llvm-objdump/llvm-objdump.cpp

1921

Not really, dumpObject already has a non-const ObjectFile pointer. I'll make the change.

[namhyung]

In D128705#3625477, @MaskRay wrote:

perf annotate --stdio --objdump=/path/to/llvm-objdump

This command does not say how perf finds core

In fact, perf internally creates a kcore file for a kernel function and pass it to objdump, after that it's removed. So users don't know about the kcore.

[jhenderson]

llvm/test/tools/llvm-objdump/X86/disassemble-no-section-kcore.test

1 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Okay, thanks for the explanation. As @MaskRay points out, llvm-strip can result in binaries without section headers, which could also benefit from being disassembled. Consequently, this isn't a feature specific to kcore files. I'd suggest renaming the test to simply disassemble-no-section-headers.test. You should also update the comment to say something like: "This test checks -d disassembles an ELF file without section headers. Such files include kcore files extracted by linux perf tools, or executables with section headers stripped by e.g. llvm-strip --strip-sections." (The second sentence is entirely optional, but it's nice to have the original motivating example).

4–6 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Is there any particular reason to do two separate llvm-objdump invocations?

@MaskRay asked to test it with -h option too.

Yeah, I understand that. I meant you could do something like llvm-objdump -d -h ... rather than two separate executions of llvm-objdump. This would help the test performance. On the other hand, there's an argument for splitting out the -h case into an entirely separate file, because it's not about disassembly.

Do you actually need the explicit --start-address and --stop-address options?

No, but that's how the liinux perf tools run it. I'd like to make it as same as the actual use case.

Okay, fair enough. In that case, I think it would be good to have test cases both with and without those options. This is to show that llvm-objdump will dump the all the relevant bytes, but also that it can be restricted by address for kcore files. What do you think?

10 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Sounds good.

12 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

I guess my main objection is to the <>: format, which just looks weird. I guess we should either completely omit it or synthesize a name for it. It might be that the section name addition above will cover this though automatically.

35 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

The risk is that by having extra stuff in the file, you obscure what's actually important for the test case. We try to keep things as minimal as possible in general in our testing. PF_R and PF_W have no bearing on how llvm-objdump operates, so they are unnecessary and just obscure the important bit (PF_X), meaning people may not realise that the PF_X is actually the important bit.

As a spin-off thought, should we have some content covered by a phdr without PF_X, to show that this isn't disassembled? Also, what should happen with -D (which disassembles non-executable stuff too)?

36 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Same sort of response, although here it's less of an issue, but it would be nice if the VAddr was some easy-to-parse value, e.g. 0xFFFFFFFF00000000 or similar.

37 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Yeah, exactly - it doesn't matter, so let's omit it.

38–41 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Again, same points as above - reduce the noise in the test to make it easy to see what's important.

[namhyung]

llvm/test/tools/llvm-objdump/X86/disassemble-no-section-kcore.test

1 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Ok, I'll update the test as you suggested.

4–6 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Is there any particular reason to do two separate llvm-objdump invocations?

@MaskRay asked to test it with -h option too.

Yeah, I understand that. I meant you could do something like llvm-objdump -d -h ... rather than two separate executions of llvm-objdump. This would help the test performance. On the other hand, there's an argument for splitting out the -h case into an entirely separate file, because it's not about disassembly.

Yeah, I'd like to split the -h case as there might be more to come later.

Do you actually need the explicit --start-address and --stop-address options?

No, but that's how the liinux perf tools run it. I'd like to make it as same as the actual use case.

Okay, fair enough. In that case, I think it would be good to have test cases both with and without those options. This is to show that llvm-objdump will dump the all the relevant bytes, but also that it can be restricted by address for kcore files. What do you think?

Then I can update the disassemble test with and without the addresses restrictions.

12 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

I'll omit it for now and add it back when I work on the section name, ok?

35 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

The risk is that by having extra stuff in the file, you obscure what's actually important for the test case. We try to keep things as minimal as possible in general in our testing. PF_R and PF_W have no bearing on how llvm-objdump operates, so they are unnecessary and just obscure the important bit (PF_X), meaning people may not realise that the PF_X is actually the important bit.

Ok, will remove unnecessary bits.

As a spin-off thought, should we have some content covered by a phdr without PF_X, to show that this isn't disassembled? Also, what should happen with -D (which disassembles non-executable stuff too)?

I'm not sure if it worth adding the test now. In the current implementation, it only creates fake sections if the phdr has PF_X so non-executable phdrs won't work. When I add proper section headers for all types of phdr, I can add the tests.

36 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Fair enough, will change.

37 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Sure.

38–41 ↗

(On Diff #441512)

Ok.

[namhyung]

Updates:

• split test cases and improve comments
• remove unnecessary info in the test yaml
• remove const from obj to remove the const_cast

[jhenderson]

Your patch (probably) is causing llvm/test/Object/objdump-no-sectionheaders.test to fail. Please fix!

llvm/test/tools/llvm-objdump/X86/disassemble-no-section.test

8 ↗

(On Diff #442133)

Sorry, when I said omit the <>: entirely, I meant prevent llvm-objdump from producing it at all. If that's not practical (I suspect it isn't for various reasons), I'd suggest leaving it in, so that the check will fail and points out to whoever populates the name where to update a test.

Also, minor nit, but in the tests I'm usually involved in, we have a single blank line between RUN and CHECK directives, to make it easier to identify the different blocks.

15 ↗

(On Diff #442133)

Nit: I usually indent continuation lines a little, as per the inline edit.

16 ↗

(On Diff #442133)

Same as above.

19 ↗

(On Diff #442133)

This is a little bit fragile, as it wouldn't be unreasonable for the format of the instruction and operands to change somewhat, which would mean this check would no longer be valid. It might be best simply to do something like RANGE-EMPTY: to show that the next line is empty.

41 ↗

(On Diff #442133)

Nit: too many blank lines at EOF (files should end with exactly one \n).

[namhyung]

Updates:

• small formatting issues on the test files

[namhyung]

llvm/test/tools/llvm-objdump/X86/disassemble-no-section.test

8 ↗

(On Diff #442133)

Ok, then I'll leave the part as is and add a blank line.

15 ↗

(On Diff #442133)

Will change.

16 ↗

(On Diff #442133)

Ok.

19 ↗

(On Diff #442133)

Right, will change.

41 ↗

(On Diff #442133)

Will remove.

[namhyung]

Updated, please take a look!

[MaskRay]

LGTM when @jhenderson feels ok.

llvm/include/llvm/Object/ELF.h

188

Move this together with the other member variable StringRef Buf.

llvm/test/tools/llvm-objdump/X86/disassemble-no-section.test

8 ↗

(On Diff #442966)

Consider adding the two lines

# CHECK:       Disassembly of section :
# CHECK-EMPTY:

18 ↗

(On Diff #442966)

There is a warning (may be spurious) but you don't need to fix it in this patch.

Use 2>&1 | and test the warning to catch changes when someone fixes it.

22 ↗

(On Diff #442966)

Better to add needed anchor lines (like <>: you added for the test above) before 55 pushq %rbp.

It may not look great, but the intention is to catch display change which others may improve.

llvm/tools/llvm-objdump/llvm-objdump.cpp

1146

For non-null pointers, the convention in llvm-project is to use references. The llvm-objdump code traditionally did not follow the best practice. I just pushed a commit to migrate a bunch of functions. You will need to rebase and change these to references.

[namhyung]

llvm/include/llvm/Object/ELF.h

188

Will do.

llvm/test/tools/llvm-objdump/X86/disassemble-no-section.test

8 ↗

(On Diff #442966)

Ok, will add.

18 ↗

(On Diff #442966)

Sure.

22 ↗

(On Diff #442966)

Will add.

llvm/tools/llvm-objdump/llvm-objdump.cpp

1146

I see, I will make the change.

[namhyung]

llvm/test/tools/llvm-objdump/no-section-headers.test

6 ↗

(On Diff #442966)

Hmm.. it seems we already have a test in llvm/test/Object/objdump-no-sectionheaders.test with an binary input file. That means we can drop this test?

[MaskRay]

llvm/test/tools/llvm-objdump/no-section-headers.test

6 ↗

(On Diff #442966)

If so, yes.

[namhyung]

Updates:

• drop tools/llvm-objdump/no-section-header.test
• fix test failure in Object/objdump-no-sectionheaders.test
• rebase onto main branch
• a few formatting changes

[jhenderson]

Looks good, once the remaining nits have been addressed.

Do you need assistance merging this patch into the main branch?

llvm/test/Object/objdump-no-sectionheaders.test

5–7 ↗

(On Diff #443077)

Use CHECK-NEXT, rather than simply CHECK, since these lines should be in order. Probably still want the CHECK-NOT at the end though, to catch further sections being added.

llvm/test/tools/llvm-objdump/X86/disassemble-no-section.test

19 ↗

(On Diff #443077)

Nit: Since this comment is relevant to the test case immediately following, rather than a batch of test cases, I'd typically not include a blank line between the comment and run lines.

18 ↗

(On Diff #442966)

I think @MaskRay suggested also checking the contents of the printed out warning.

[namhyung]

Updates:

• address reviews on test formatting

[namhyung]

Do you need assistance merging this patch into the main branch?

Yes, I don't have the commit right. Please use "Namhyung Kim <[e-mail]>" as author. Thanks!

[namhyung]

Hi, I've addressed all the comments from the previous one. Could you please review it again and commit with "Namhyung Kim <[e-mail]>"?

[jhenderson]

Apologies, I'm not sure how I missed your last comments. I'll go ahead and land this for you.

[jhenderson]

I've landed the change. Please keep an eye out for build bot failure notifications to see if any might have been caused by your change.

llvm/include/llvm/Object/ELF.h

public:
 
   size_t getBufSize() const { return Buf.size(); }
 
 private:
   StringRef Buf;
 
   ELFFile(StringRef Object);
 
+  std::vector<Elf_Shdr> FakeSections;
+
 public:
   const Elf_Ehdr &getHeader() const {
     return *reinterpret_cast<const Elf_Ehdr *>(base());
   }
 
   template <typename T>
   Expected<const T *> getEntry(uint32_t Section, uint32_t Entry) const;
   template <typename T>
   Expected<const T *> getEntry(const Elf_Shdr &Section, uint32_t Entry) const;
getSectionName(const Elf_Shdr &Section,
                  WarningHandler WarnHandler = &defaultWarningHandler) const;
   Expected<StringRef> getSectionName(const Elf_Shdr &Section,
                                      StringRef DotShstrtab) const;
   template <typename T>
   Expected<ArrayRef<T>> getSectionContentsAsArray(const Elf_Shdr &Sec) const;
   Expected<ArrayRef<uint8_t>> getSectionContents(const Elf_Shdr &Sec) const;
   Expected<ArrayRef<uint8_t>> getSegmentContents(const Elf_Phdr &Phdr) const;
   Expected<std::vector<BBAddrMap>> decodeBBAddrMap(const Elf_Shdr &Sec) const;
+
+  void createFakeSections();
 };
 
 using ELF32LEFile = ELFFile<ELF32LE>;
 using ELF64LEFile = ELFFile<ELF64LE>;
 using ELF32BEFile = ELFFile<ELF32BE>;
 using ELF64BEFile = ELFFile<ELF64BE>;
 
 template <class ELFT>

 Expected<ELFFile<ELFT>> ELFFile<ELFT>::create(StringRef Object) {
   if (sizeof(Elf_Ehdr) > Object.size())
     return createError("invalid buffer: the size (" + Twine(Object.size()) +
                        ") is smaller than an ELF header (" +
                        Twine(sizeof(Elf_Ehdr)) + ")");
   return ELFFile(Object);
 }
 
+/// Used by llvm-objdump -d (which needs sections for disassembly) to
+/// disassemble objects without a section header table (e.g. ET_CORE objects
+/// analyzed by linux perf).
+template <class ELFT> void ELFFile<ELFT>::createFakeSections() {
+  auto PhdrsOrErr = program_headers();
+  if (!PhdrsOrErr)
+    return;
+
+  for (auto Phdr : *PhdrsOrErr) {
+    if (!(Phdr.p_type & ELF::PT_LOAD) || !(Phdr.p_flags & ELF::PF_X))
+      continue;
+    Elf_Shdr FakeShdr = {};
+    FakeShdr.sh_type = ELF::SHT_PROGBITS;
+    FakeShdr.sh_flags = ELF::SHF_ALLOC | ELF::SHF_EXECINSTR;
+    FakeShdr.sh_addr = Phdr.p_vaddr;
+    FakeShdr.sh_size = Phdr.p_memsz;
+    FakeShdr.sh_offset = Phdr.p_offset;
+    FakeSections.push_back(FakeShdr);
+  }
+}
+
 template <class ELFT>
 Expected<typename ELFT::ShdrRange> ELFFile<ELFT>::sections() const {
   const uintX_t SectionTableOffset = getHeader().e_shoff;
-  if (SectionTableOffset == 0)
+  if (SectionTableOffset == 0) {
+    if (!FakeSections.empty())
+      return makeArrayRef(&FakeSections[0], FakeSections.size());
     return ArrayRef<Elf_Shdr>();
+  }
 
   if (getHeader().e_shentsize != sizeof(Elf_Shdr))
     return createError("invalid e_shentsize in ELF header: " +
                        Twine(getHeader().e_shentsize));
 
   const uint64_t FileSize = Buf.size();
   if (SectionTableOffset + sizeof(Elf_Shdr) > FileSize ||
       SectionTableOffset + (uintX_t)sizeof(Elf_Shdr) < SectionTableOffset)
     return createError(
         "section header table goes past the end of the file: e_shoff = 0x" +
         Twine::utohexstr(SectionTableOffset));
 
   // Invalid address alignment of section headers
   if (SectionTableOffset & (alignof(Elf_Shdr) - 1))
     // TODO: this error is untested.

llvm/include/llvm/Object/ELFObjectFile.h

public:
   bool IsContentValid() const { return ContentValid; }
 
 private:
   ELFObjectFile(MemoryBufferRef Object, ELFFile<ELFT> EF,
                 const Elf_Shdr *DotDynSymSec, const Elf_Shdr *DotSymtabSec,
                 const Elf_Shdr *DotSymtabShndxSec);
 
   bool ContentValid = false;
+  bool FakeSectionsUsed = false;
 
 protected:
   ELFFile<ELFT> EF;
 
   const Elf_Shdr *DotDynSymSec = nullptr; // Dynamic symbol table section.
   const Elf_Shdr *DotSymtabSec = nullptr; // Symbol table section.
   const Elf_Shdr *DotSymtabShndxSec = nullptr; // SHT_SYMTAB_SHNDX section.
 
public:
   static bool classof(const Binary *v) {
     return v->getType() == getELFType(ELFT::TargetEndianness == support::little,
                                       ELFT::Is64Bits);
   }
 
   elf_symbol_iterator_range getDynamicSymbolIterators() const override;
 
   bool isRelocatableObject() const override;
+
+  void createFakeSections() {
+    if (getEType() == ELF::ET_CORE && !FakeSectionsUsed) {
+      FakeSectionsUsed = true;
+      EF.createFakeSections();
+    }
+  }
 };
 
 using ELF32LEObjectFile = ELFObjectFile<ELF32LE>;
 using ELF64LEObjectFile = ELFObjectFile<ELF64LE>;
 using ELF32BEObjectFile = ELFObjectFile<ELF32BE>;
 using ELF64BEObjectFile = ELFObjectFile<ELF64BE>;
 
 template <class ELFT>

llvm/tools/llvm-objdump/llvm-objdump.cpp

if (!Comments.empty()) {
       FOS << MAI.getCommentString() << ' ' << Comment;
     }
     LVP.printAfterInst(FOS);
     FOS << '\n';
   } while (!Comments.empty());
   FOS.flush();
 }
 
+static void
+createFakeELFSections(ObjectFile *Obj) {
+  assert(Obj->isELF());
+  if (auto *Elf32LEObj = dyn_cast<ELF32LEObjectFile>(Obj))
+    Elf32LEObj->createFakeSections();
+  else if (auto *Elf64LEObj = dyn_cast<ELF64LEObjectFile>(Obj))
+    Elf64LEObj->createFakeSections();
+  else if (auto *Elf32BEObj = dyn_cast<ELF32BEObjectFile>(Obj))
+    Elf32BEObj->createFakeSections();
+  else if (auto *Elf64BEObj = cast<ELF64BEObjectFile>(Obj))
+    Elf64BEObj->createFakeSections();
+  else
+    llvm_unreachable("Unsupported binary format");
+}
+
 static void disassembleObject(const Target *TheTarget, const ObjectFile *Obj,
                               MCContext &Ctx, MCDisassembler *PrimaryDisAsm,
                               MCDisassembler *SecondaryDisAsm,
                               const MCInstrAnalysis *MIA, MCInstPrinter *IP,
                               const MCSubtargetInfo *PrimarySTI,
                               const MCSubtargetInfo *SecondarySTI,
                               PrettyPrinter &PIP,
                               SourcePrinter &SP, bool InlineRelocs) {
   const MCSubtargetInfo *STI = PrimarySTI;
static void disassembleObject(const Target *TheTarget, const ObjectFile *Obj,
   }
 
   if (AllSymbols.empty() && Obj->isELF())
     addDynamicElfSymbols(Obj, AllSymbols);
 
   if (Obj->isWasm())
     addMissingWasmCodeSymbols(cast<WasmObjectFile>(Obj), AllSymbols);
 
+  if (Obj->isELF() && Obj->sections().empty())
+    createFakeELFSections(const_cast<ObjectFile*>(Obj));
+
   BumpPtrAllocator A;
   StringSaver Saver(A);
   addPltEntries(Obj, AllSymbols, Saver);
 
   // Create a mapping from virtual address to section. An empty section can
   // cause more than one section at the same address. Sort such sections to be
   // before same-addressed non-empty sections so that symbol lookups prefer the
   // non-empty section.
if (HasLMAColumn)
     outs() << "Idx " << left_justify("Name", NameWidth) << " Size     "
            << left_justify("VMA", AddressWidth) << " "
            << left_justify("LMA", AddressWidth) << " Type\n";
   else
     outs() << "Idx " << left_justify("Name", NameWidth) << " Size     "
            << left_justify("VMA", AddressWidth) << " Type\n";
 
   uint64_t Idx;
   for (const SectionRef &Section : ToolSectionFilter(*Obj, &Idx)) {
     StringRef Name = unwrapOrError(Section.getName(), Obj->getFileName());
     uint64_t VMA = Section.getAddress();
     if (shouldAdjustVA(Section))
       VMA += AdjustVMA;
 
     uint64_t Size = Section.getSize();
 
     std::string Type = Section.isText() ? "TEXT" : "";