gchq/CyberChef

Feature request: Add YARA-X Operations

Open

#2,622 opened on Jul 1, 2026

View on GitHub
 (2 comments) (0 reactions) (1 assignee)JavaScript (3,944 forks)batch import
featurehelp wanted

Repository metrics

Stars
 (34,843 stars)
PR merge metrics
 (Avg merge 57d 13h) (62 merged PRs in 30d)

Description

I cannot write or test YARA-X rules in CyberChef, like using the "with" statement. It is also faster, which will enhance the user experience.

Add a YARA-X Operation that uses a webasm module compiled directly from the YARA-X codebase instead of a third party integration.

Current Alternatives:

  • Use legacy YARA in CyberChef: This forces analysts to avoid new YARA-X features and maintains slower execution times on large datasets. The legacy YARA operation is not updated regularly.
  • Test with YARA-X locally: Running the YARA-X CLI tool locally against downloaded payloads breaks worflows that CyberChef provides.
  • Use external web testers: Copying payloads to other online YARA testing sandboxes introduces friction and potential operational security (OPSEC) risks if the data is sensitive.

YARA-X is the official successor to YARA, built by VirusTotal. Since it is designed with a strong focus on developer experience and modern architecture, the YARA-X project already includes support for WASM bindings. Leveraging these existing Rust-to-WASM capabilities should significantly reduce the development friction required to implement this operation in CyberChef.

Contributor guide

Research direction
Examine YARA X's WASM bindings (likely in Rust) and study how CyberChef integrates operations via WASM. Look at existing examples of WASM based operations in CyberChef, then implement a new operation that loads the YARA X WASM module and exposes rule matching functionality.
Tech stack
javascriptrustwasm
Domain
securitytoolingdeveloper experience
Issue type
Feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-2 days
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
JavaScriptWebAssemblyRust basicsYARA rules
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
40