How to execute an object file: Part 1

This article discusses the process of executing machine code directly from object files, skipping steps like linking and runtime linking. It explains how to load an object file into a program's memory and execute functions from it. The author also provides a detailed walkthrough of parsing ELF files, which are used by most Linux executables and shared libraries. They demonstrate how to find the .text section containing executable code, locate specific functions within that section, and make the code executable in memory. Finally, they provide an example of importing and executing functions from an object file using a loader program. The article concludes with a note on security considerations when processing external inputs like parsing ELF files from disk.