You shall not (by)pass!
Alexios Voulimeneas, Jonas Vinck, Ruben Mechelinck, Stijn Volckaert
Abstract
Memory Protection Keys for Userspace (PKU) is a recent hardware feature that allows programs to assign virtual memory pages to protection domains, and to change domain access permissions using inexpensive, unprivileged instructions. Several in-process memory isolation approaches leverage this feature to prevent untrusted code from accessing sensitive program state and data. Typically, PKU-based isolation schemes need to be used in conjunction with mitigations such as CFI because untrusted code, when compromised, can otherwise bypass the PKU access permissions using unprivileged instructions or operating system APIs.
Topics & Concepts
Computer scienceOperating systemMemory protectionLeverage (statistics)Isolation (microbiology)Code (set theory)Embedded systemProgramming languageMemory managementVirtual memorySemiconductor memoryArtificial intelligenceSet (abstract data type)BiologyMicrobiologySecurity and Verification in ComputingCloud Data Security SolutionsAdvanced Memory and Neural Computing