NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra · error · ValueError

Address {address} is not in process {proc}

Error message

Address {address} is not in process {proc}

What it means

Thrown by DefaultMemoryMapper.map_back() when the Address object's space does not match the mapper's defaultSpace. During reverse-mapping (from Ghidra address space back to debugger offset), the address belongs to a different address space than expected, so the offset cannot be extracted. This ValueError signals an address-space mismatch in the debugger bridge.

Source

Thrown at Ghidra/Debug/Debugger-agent-dbgeng/src/main/py/src/ghidradbg/arch.py:220

def compute_ghidra_lcsp() -> Tuple[str, str]:
    lang = compute_ghidra_language()
    comp = compute_ghidra_compiler(lang)
    return lang, comp


class DefaultMemoryMapper(object):

    def __init__(self, defaultSpace: str) -> None:
        self.defaultSpace = defaultSpace

    def map(self, proc: int, offset: int) -> Tuple[str, Address]:
        space = self.defaultSpace
        return self.defaultSpace, Address(space, offset)

    def map_back(self, proc: int, address: Address) -> int:
        if address.space == self.defaultSpace:
            return address.offset
        raise ValueError(f"Address {address} is not in process {proc}")


DEFAULT_MEMORY_MAPPER = DefaultMemoryMapper('ram')

memory_mappers: Dict[str, DefaultMemoryMapper] = {}


def compute_memory_mapper(lang: str) -> DefaultMemoryMapper:
    if not lang in memory_mappers:
        return DEFAULT_MEMORY_MAPPER
    return memory_mappers[lang]


class DefaultRegisterMapper(object):

    def __init__(self, byte_order: str) -> None:
        if not byte_order in ['big', 'little']:
            raise ValueError("Invalid byte_order: {}".format(byte_order))

View on GitHub (pinned to d5f144c24d)

Solutions

1. Register a custom memory mapper for the target language in the memory_mappers dictionary that handles the correct spaces.
2. Ensure addresses passed to map_back are from the expected address space.
3. Check that compute_memory_mapper(lang) returns the right mapper for the target architecture.
4. If the architecture needs multi-space support, subclass DefaultMemoryMapper and override map_back.

Example fix

# Before: default mapper only handles 'ram' space
# arch.memory_mappers['x86:LE:64:default'] = MyMultiSpaceMapper(['ram', 'code'])
#
# class MyMultiSpaceMapper(arch.DefaultMemoryMapper):
#     def map_back(self, proc, address):
#         if address.space in self.valid_spaces:
#             return address.offset
#         raise ValueError(f"Address {address} not in known spaces")

# Before calling map_back, check the address space:
if address.space == mapper.defaultSpace:
    offset = mapper.map_back(proc, address)
else:
    # handle alternative space or use correct mapper

# Check if address is in the mapper's space before reverse-mapping
def is_in_default_space(address: Address, mapper: DefaultMemoryMapper) -> bool:
    return address.space == mapper.defaultSpace

try:
    offset = mapper.map_back(proc, address)
except ValueError as e:
    if 'is not in process' in str(e):
        # address is in a different space; handle or use space-specific mapper
    else:
        raise

When it happens

Trigger: DefaultMemoryMapper.map_back(proc, address) checks address.space == self.defaultSpace; if they differ, ValueError is raised. The default mapper is initialized with 'ram' as the space, so any address in a different space (e.g., 'register', 'stack', a segment space) triggers the error. Called when the debugger bridge tries to translate a Ghidra-space address back to a debugger offset.

Common situations: The target architecture uses multiple address spaces (e.g., Harvard architecture with separate code/data spaces). The memory mapper wasn't configured for the correct language — the default 'ram' mapper is used when no architecture-specific mapper is registered in memory_mappers. An address from the register space or a custom space is passed to the memory mapper.

Related errors

• Cannot convert {}'s value: '{}', type: '{}'
• Invalid byte_order: {}
• No memory mapper
• No register mapper
• Not connected

AI-assisted analysis of NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra@d5f144c24d (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/20a43b53292a758b. Report an issue: GitHub.