Renef

Dynamic instrumentation toolkit for Android ARM64

---

Renef lets you hook native and Java functions, scan and patch memory, and inject into running processes on Android ARM64, all through a Lua scripting interface. No ptrace required.

For comprehensive information, see renef.io.

Install

Prebuilt binaries

Download the latest release from GitHub Releases.

Build from source

Prerequisites: CMake 3.16+, C++17 compiler, Android NDK r25+

# Setup dependencies (first time)
make setup

# Build client, server, and agent
make all

# Build, deploy to device, and start server
make install

Client only (Windows)

Requires WSL with Ubuntu.

git clone https://github.com/ahmeth4n/renef.git
cd renef
build_wsl.bat

This installs dependencies, configures, and builds automatically. Run the binary with wsl ./build/renef.

Connecting to a device from WSL

ADB runs on Windows, so set up the connection from PowerShell/cmd first:

adb tcpip 5555
adb connect <device-ip>:5555

Then use ADB from WSL via the Windows binary:

adb.exe push ...
adb.exe shell ...

Once the renef server is running on the device, the client connects directly over TCP -no ADB needed:

wsl ./build/renef

Client only (Linux / WSL)

No Android NDK needed -only builds the host client. Dependencies (capstone, asio) are downloaded automatically during cmake configure.

# Install build tools (Ubuntu/Debian/WSL)
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y build-essential cmake libreadline-dev git

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/ahmeth4n/renef.git
cd renef
mkdir -p build && cd build
cmake ..
make -j$(nproc)

Client only (macOS)

brew install cmake readline
git clone https://github.com/ahmeth4n/renef.git
cd renef
mkdir -p build && cd build
cmake ..
make -j$(sysctl -n hw.ncpu)

Learn more

Visit renef.io for docs, guides, and API reference.

Hooks

Browse and share community hooks at hook.renef.io -SSL pinning bypass, root detection bypass, debugger detection bypass, and more.

Community Projects

Project	Description
magisk-renef	Magisk/KernelSU/APatch module for auto-deploying renef on rooted devices

Community

License

Apache-2.0 License - see LICENSE for details.