On Kernel's Safety in the Spectre Era (Extended Version)

arXiv:2406.07278v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: The efficacy of address space layout randomization has been formally demonstrated in a shared-memory model by Abadi et al., contingent on specific assumptions about victim programs. However, modern operating systems, implementing layout randomization in the kernel, diverge from these assumptions and operate on a separate memory model with communication through system calls. In this work, we relax Abadi et al.'s language assumptions while demonstrating that layout randomization offers a comparable safety guarantee in a system …

address arxiv cs.cr era kernel layout memory operating systems randomization safety shared space spectre systems version victim