Crash: Crash on Write None to Globals `bv.file.database.write_global('foo', None)`

[utkonos]

Version and Platform (required):

• Binary Ninja Version: 5.0.7248-dev
• OS: macOS
• OS Version: 15.4
• CPU Architecture: x64

Bug Description: Crashes when this line of code is run in Python console: bv.file.database.write_global('foo', None)

Steps To Reproduce:

1. Open binary
2. Type this is Python console: bv.file.database.write_global('foo', 'bar')
3. Type this is Python console: bv.file.database.write_global('foo', None)
4. Observe crash Expected Behavior: No crash

Screenshots/Video Recording:

[utkonos]

Report: red moon writes happily

[utkonos]

Crash happens in project: wise river climbs gracefully

[CouleeApps]

Yep that straight up dereferences a null pointer, fix is just assert value is not None in the api.

[utkonos]

@CouleeApps I am trying to delete that global, but I don't see an API for that, so I tried this and found the crash.

[CouleeApps]

There... actually there is no API for deleting a global. Just straight up not implemented, even in the core. Seems like we've never had a need for that.

[utkonos]

My use case is storing persistent data for a plugin. Globals appear to be the place to do that. Is there another place?

[CouleeApps]

Database globals are a bit of a weird place to use, considering they exist outside of the snapshot / undo system. I would recommend trying BinaryView Metadata, which gets saved in snapshots and can be undone if desired.

[utkonos]

I noticed that when I add a database global, the indicator that the database has changes and should be saved does not appear.

[CouleeApps]

Yeah, in the future we should probably add a big warning notice to the Database family of APIs saying "this is probably not what you expect, try BinaryView metadata instead."

[utkonos]

I kindof felt like I was in a bad part of town.

[utkonos]

@CouleeApps Aha, yes. store_metadata and query_metadata and remove_metadata are the ones I need. Thanks

[CouleeApps]

Good to hear. I will still leave this issue open to track the database api changes, which are low priority but easy to fix and should still be done.

[utkonos]

The warning you mentioned should probably go on these two locations. Here's what you mentioned plus a little more: "This is probably not what you expect, try BinaryView metadata instead. Use store_metadata for permanent and session_data for ephemeral."

[utkonos]

These two are the same category:

bv.project.create_file(b'\x00', None, 'foo', None)

bv.store_metadata(None, 'foo')

From Related: https://github.com/Vector35/binaryninja-api/issues/6655