Preventing Type Confusion with CastGuard

Built into the Microsoft C++ compiler and runtime, CastGuard is a pivotal security enhancement designed to significantly reduce the number of exploitable Type Confusion vulnerabilities in applications. Joe Bialek gave a talk about CastGuard at BHUSA2022 (slides) that explains the overall goals of the feature, how it was developed, and how it works at a high level. This article offers a journey into my discovery CastGuard – delving into a technical evaluation of its mechanics, exploring illustrative examples, …

applications compiler feature forensics goals microsoft runtime security slides type confusion vulnerabilities