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VBox 3a: vboxapi crate: attach to a VM and read guest memory #274
Description
Parent
What to build
A minimal Rust crate (vboxapi, unpublished, under ~/vmi) binding VirtualBox's C API glue, loaded at runtime from the installed VirtualBox, able to attach a shared session to a running VM by name and read guest physical memory through IMachineDebugger.
Acceptance criteria
- Example program dumps a guest physical page; bytes match the core dump
- Clear error when VirtualBox libraries are not found or the VM is not running
- Binding surface limited to what the MachineDebugger method needs
Activity
Wenzel commentedon Oct 11, 2026
Implemented in local repo
~/vmi/vboxapi(unpublished per the spec, no remote, so no PR): commits08cc563,120b810.Vm::attach(name)(shared session, process-wideIVirtualBoxClientloaded once via dlopen ofVBoxXPCOMC.so;VBOX_APP_HOMEor/opt/VirtualBox,/usr/lib/virtualbox),Vm::read_physical(paddr, buf)(1 MiB chunks, checked arithmetic).LibraryNotFound,LibraryIncompatible(C API version check),VmNotFound,VmNotRunning,AddressOutOfRange,Api { call, rc, text }.vmi/machinedebugger): 8 pages + a 3 MiB block byte-identical to adumpvmcorecore; the three error cases give clear messages; twoVms at once, attach/drop/attach and attach from another thread work.virtualbox-apiWindows CI build from VirtualBox driver: MachineDebugger and VBoxVMI access methods (phase 1: VM state access) #269 needs follow-up.Left open for maintainer review.
Wenzel commentedon Oct 11, 2026
Done (see comment above); closing as the work is verified and in use by later tickets.