How I Fixed BinDiff and BinExport in IDA Pro

I ran into this in IDA:

dlopen(.../bindiff8_ida.so): undefined symbol: root_node
dlopen(.../binexport12_ida.so): undefined symbol: root_node

Both plugins were present, but they were not built for my local IDA setup. This post is exactly how I fixed it.

I wanted this workflow:

• IDA opens with no plugin load errors
• BinExport works in ida64
• BinDiff plugin also loads in ida64

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What was broken

In my case ~/.idapro/plugins had symlinks to old prebuilt binaries:

ls -la ~/.idapro/plugins

They pointed to /opt/bindiff/plugins/idapro/*.so.

Quick confirmation:

nm -D /opt/bindiff/plugins/idapro/bindiff8_ida.so | rg root_node
nm -D /opt/bindiff/plugins/idapro/binexport12_ida.so | rg root_node

If root_node shows as undefined, that plugin build is from an older API expectation and may fail on modern IDA.

I also confirmed those were old symlinked binaries from /opt/bindiff/..., not fresh local builds.

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My fix strategy

I rebuilt both plugins as native ida64 plugins against my local SDK/toolchain:

• Rebuild binexport12_ida64.so
• Rebuild bindiff8_ida64.so
• Install into ~/.idapro/plugins
• Remove stale *_ida.so (32-bit) entries

Important: I use ida64, so I only care about *_ida64.so.

Simple rule: if you use IDA 64-bit, avoid mixing random old *_ida.so files from old bundles.

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Rebuild BinExport IDA64

I used source build because prebuilt plugin was clearly mismatched.

Clone command pattern (template + real):

git clone https://github.com/google/binexport.git /tmp/binexport-src
cd /tmp/binexport-src
git checkout main
rm -rf build_ida93 && mkdir build_ida93 && cd build_ida93
cmake .. -G Ninja \
  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
  -DBINEXPORT_ENABLE_IDAPRO=ON \
  -DBINEXPORT_ENABLE_BINARYNINJA=OFF \
  -DBINEXPORT_BUILD_TESTING=OFF \
  -DBINEXPORT_IDASDK_OSS=OFF \
  -DIdaSdk_ROOT_DIR=/home/fury/ida-sdk/src
cmake --build . -j"$(nproc)"

Output:

• build_ida93/ida/binexport12_ida64.so

Quick check:

ls -la /tmp/binexport-src/build_ida93/ida | rg binexport12_ida64.so

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Rebuild BinDiff IDA64

BinDiff expects a sibling binexport tree, so I built inside a temp workspace containing both repos:

rm -rf /tmp/bindiff-work
mkdir -p /tmp/bindiff-work
cp -a /home/fury/bindiff_build/bindiff /tmp/bindiff-work/bindiff
cp -a /home/fury/bindiff_build/binexport /tmp/bindiff-work/binexport

cd /tmp/bindiff-work/bindiff
rm -rf build_ida91 && mkdir build_ida91 && cd build_ida91
cmake .. -G Ninja \
  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
  -DBINDIFF_ENABLE_IDAPRO=ON \
  -DBINDIFF_ENABLE_BINARYNINJA=OFF \
  -DBINDIFF_ENABLE_TESTS=OFF \
  -DIdaSdk_ROOT_DIR=/home/fury/ida-pro-9.1
cmake --build . -j"$(nproc)"

Output:

• build_ida91/ida/bindiff8_ida64.so

Quick check:

ls -la /tmp/bindiff-work/bindiff/build_ida91/ida | rg bindiff8_ida64.so

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Install cleaned plugins

cp -f /tmp/bindiff-work/bindiff/build_ida91/ida/bindiff8_ida64.so ~/.idapro/plugins/
cp -f /tmp/binexport-src/build_ida93/ida/binexport12_ida64.so ~/.idapro/plugins/
rm -f ~/.idapro/plugins/bindiff8_ida.so ~/.idapro/plugins/binexport12_ida.so

I remove *_ida.so intentionally to avoid 32-bit loader noise and keep startup clean.

Then verify plugin folder:

ls -la ~/.idapro/plugins | rg "bindiff8_ida|binexport12_ida"

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Verify before launching IDA

No more root_node dependency:

nm -D ~/.idapro/plugins/bindiff8_ida64.so | rg root_node
nm -D ~/.idapro/plugins/binexport12_ida64.so | rg root_node

If both commands print nothing, that specific symbol mismatch is gone.

Then start ida64, not ida.

You can also quickly confirm plugin symbols are there:

nm -D ~/.idapro/plugins/bindiff8_ida64.so | rg "PLUGIN"
nm -D ~/.idapro/plugins/binexport12_ida64.so | rg "PLUGIN"

If IDA still shows old errors, check if there are duplicate plugin copies in another plugin path.

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Common mistakes I hit

• Building with wrong SDK path
• Keeping old symlinked plugin files in ~/.idapro/plugins
• Running ida (32-bit path) instead of ida64
• Assuming “plugin file exists” means “plugin is compatible”

Quick debug checklist:

1. ls -la ~/.idapro/plugins
2. ensure only *_ida64.so are active
3. run nm -D ... | rg root_node
4. run ida64
5. re-check Output window lines

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Final note

Prebuilt plugin bundles are convenient, but if they were compiled against a different IDA SDK/runtime expectation, rebuilding locally is the fastest path to stability.