Decompiling Rust: An Empirical Study of Compiler Optimizations and Reverse Engineering Challenges

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the challenges of decompiling Rust binaries, highlighting how language features and compiler optimizations impact decompilation quality, and provides insights for improving decompilation tools.

Contribution

It offers a benchmark-driven analysis of Rust decompilation difficulties, identifying key language features that hinder reverse engineering and suggesting directions for Rust-aware decompilation strategies.

Findings

Generic types and trait methods reduce decompilation accuracy

Release builds significantly lower decompilation quality

Specific language constructs affect control flow and type recovery

Abstract

Decompiling Rust binaries is challenging due to the language's rich type system, aggressive compiler optimizations, and widespread use of high-level abstractions. In this work, we conduct a benchmark-driven evaluation of decompilation quality across core Rust features and compiler build modes. Our automated scoring framework shows that generic types, trait methods, and error handling constructs significantly reduce decompilation quality, especially in release builds. Through representative case studies, we analyze how specific language constructs affect control flow, variable naming, and type information recovery. Our findings provide actionable insights for tool developers and highlight the need for Rust-aware decompilation strategies.