Augmenting Branch Predictor to Secure Program Execution

Although there are various ways to exploit software vulnerabilities for malicious attacks, the attacks always result in unexpected behavior in program execution, deviating from what the programmer/user intends to do. Program execution blindly follows the execution path specified by control flow transfer instructions with the targets generated at run-time without any validation. An enhancement is therefore proposed to secure program execution by introducing a validation mechanism over control flow transfer instructions at micro-architecture level. The proposed scheme, as a behavior-based protection, treats a triplet of the indirect branch's location, its target address, and the execution path preceding it as a behavior signature of program execution and validates it at run-time. The first two pieces of information can prevent an adversary from overwriting control data and introducing foreign code or impossible targets to redirect an indirect branch. The last one is necessary to de...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: DSN
• Authors: Yixin Shi, Gyungho Lee
• Keywords: Computer Networks, DSN 2007, Execution Path, Flow Transfer Instructions, Program Execution