Content area

Abstract

Memory-unsafe programming languages such as C and C++ are the preferred languages for systems programming, embedded systems, and performance-critical applications. The widespread use of these languages makes the risk of memory-related attacks very high. There are well-known detection mechanisms, but they do not address software resilience. An earlier approach proposes the Secure Domain Rewind and Discard (SDRaD) of isolated domains as a method to enhance the resilience of software targeted by runtime attacks on x86 architecture, based on hardware-enforced Memory Protection Key (MPK). In this work, SDRaD has been adapted to work with the Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions (CHERI) architecture to be more lightweight and performant. The results obtained in this thesis show that CHERI-SDRaD, the prototype adaption that leverages the memory-safety properties inherent to the CHERI architecture, results in a solution with less performance degradation (2.2% in Nginx benchmarks) compared to earlier results obtained with the original SDRaD prototype on an Intel-based architecture. The adaption to CHERI additionally allowed limitations inherent to the MPK-based approach to be resolved.

Details

1009240
Identifier / keyword
Title
Secure Rewind and Discard on ARM Morello
Publication title
arXiv.org; Ithaca
Publication year
2024
Publication date
Jul 5, 2024
Section
Computer Science
Publisher
Cornell University Library, arXiv.org
Source
arXiv.org
Place of publication
Ithaca
Country of publication
United States
University/institution
Cornell University Library arXiv.org
e-ISSN
2331-8422
Source type
Working Paper
Language of publication
English
Document type
Working Paper
Publication history
 
 
Online publication date
2024-07-09
Milestone dates
2024-07-05 (Submission v1)
Publication history
 
 
   First posting date
09 Jul 2024
ProQuest document ID
3077529265
Document URL
https://www.proquest.com/working-papers/secure-rewind-discard-on-arm-morello/docview/3077529265/se-2?accountid=208611
Full text outside of ProQuest
Copyright
© 2024. This work is published under http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.
Last updated
2024-07-10
Database
ProQuest One Academic