Transparent dynamic instrumentation

Process virtualization provides a virtual execution environment within which an unmodified application can be monitored and controlled while it executes. The provided layer of control can be used for purposes ranging from sandboxing to compatibility to profiling. The additional operations required for this layer are performed clandestinely alongside regular program execution. Software dynamic instrumentation is one method for implementing process virtualization which dynamically instruments an application such that the application’s code and the inserted code are interleaved together. DynamoRIO is a process virtualization system implemented using software code cache techniques that allows users to build customized dynamic instrumentation tools. There are many challenges to building such a runtime system. One major obstacle is transparency. In order to support executing arbitrary applications, DynamoRIO must be fully transparent so that an application cannot distinguish between run...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2012
• Where: VEE
• Authors: Derek Bruening, Qin Zhao, Saman P. Amarasinghe
• Keywords: Dynamic Instrumentation, Instrumentation Tools, Programming Languages Processors, VEE 2012, Virtualization