Identifying arbitrary memory access vulnerabilities in privilege-separated software

Hong Hu; Zheng Leong Chua; Zhenkai Liang; Prateek Saxena

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-24177-7_16

Identifying arbitrary memory access vulnerabilities in privilege-separated software

Hong Hu, Zheng Leong Chua, Zhenkai Liang, Prateek Saxena

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Privilege separation is a widely used technique to secure complex software systems. With privilege separation, software components are divided into several partitions and these partitions can only communicate through limited interfaces. However, the interfaces still provide a channel for one partition to influence code in other partitions. As a result, certain memory access patterns can be leveraged by attackers to perform arbitrary memory access. We refer to this type of memory access errors by the acronym DUI (Dereference Under the Influence). In this paper, we present a systematic method to detect vulnerabilities leading to DUI through binary analysis, and to estimate the capability attackers can obtain through DUI exploits. The evaluation shows that our approach can accurately identify vulnerable code that leads to arbitrary memory access in real-world software components and programs, when they are transformed to privilege-separated designs.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	Computer Security – ESORICS 2015 - 20th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, Proceedings
Editors	Günther Pernul, Peter Y.A. Ryan, Edgar Weippl
Publisher	Springer Verlag
Pages	312-331
Number of pages	20
ISBN (Print)	9783319241760
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24177-7_16
State	Published - 2015
Event	20th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2015 - Vienna, Austria Duration: Sep 21 2015 → Sep 25 2015

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume	9327
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)	1611-3349

Other

Other	20th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2015
Country	Austria
City	Vienna
Period	9/21/15 → 9/25/15

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Theoretical Computer Science
Computer Science(all)

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-319-24177-7_16

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Hu, H., Chua, Z. L., Liang, Z., & Saxena, P. (2015). Identifying arbitrary memory access vulnerabilities in privilege-separated software. In G. Pernul, P. Y. A. Ryan, & E. Weippl (Eds.), Computer Security – ESORICS 2015 - 20th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, Proceedings (pp. 312-331). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 9327). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24177-7_16

Hu, Hong ; Chua, Zheng Leong ; Liang, Zhenkai ; Saxena, Prateek. / Identifying arbitrary memory access vulnerabilities in privilege-separated software. Computer Security – ESORICS 2015 - 20th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, Proceedings. editor / Günther Pernul ; Peter Y.A. Ryan ; Edgar Weippl. Springer Verlag, 2015. pp. 312-331 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)).

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abstract = "Privilege separation is a widely used technique to secure complex software systems. With privilege separation, software components are divided into several partitions and these partitions can only communicate through limited interfaces. However, the interfaces still provide a channel for one partition to influence code in other partitions. As a result, certain memory access patterns can be leveraged by attackers to perform arbitrary memory access. We refer to this type of memory access errors by the acronym DUI (Dereference Under the Influence). In this paper, we present a systematic method to detect vulnerabilities leading to DUI through binary analysis, and to estimate the capability attackers can obtain through DUI exploits. The evaluation shows that our approach can accurately identify vulnerable code that leads to arbitrary memory access in real-world software components and programs, when they are transformed to privilege-separated designs.",

author = "Hong Hu and Chua, {Zheng Leong} and Zhenkai Liang and Prateek Saxena",

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Hu, H, Chua, ZL, Liang, Z & Saxena, P 2015, Identifying arbitrary memory access vulnerabilities in privilege-separated software. in G Pernul, PYA Ryan & E Weippl (eds), Computer Security – ESORICS 2015 - 20th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), vol. 9327, Springer Verlag, pp. 312-331, 20th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2015, Vienna, Austria, 9/21/15. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24177-7_16

Identifying arbitrary memory access vulnerabilities in privilege-separated software. / Hu, Hong; Chua, Zheng Leong; Liang, Zhenkai; Saxena, Prateek.

Computer Security – ESORICS 2015 - 20th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, Proceedings. ed. / Günther Pernul; Peter Y.A. Ryan; Edgar Weippl. Springer Verlag, 2015. p. 312-331 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 9327).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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AB - Privilege separation is a widely used technique to secure complex software systems. With privilege separation, software components are divided into several partitions and these partitions can only communicate through limited interfaces. However, the interfaces still provide a channel for one partition to influence code in other partitions. As a result, certain memory access patterns can be leveraged by attackers to perform arbitrary memory access. We refer to this type of memory access errors by the acronym DUI (Dereference Under the Influence). In this paper, we present a systematic method to detect vulnerabilities leading to DUI through binary analysis, and to estimate the capability attackers can obtain through DUI exploits. The evaluation shows that our approach can accurately identify vulnerable code that leads to arbitrary memory access in real-world software components and programs, when they are transformed to privilege-separated designs.

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Hu H, Chua ZL, Liang Z, Saxena P. Identifying arbitrary memory access vulnerabilities in privilege-separated software. In Pernul G, Ryan PYA, Weippl E, editors, Computer Security – ESORICS 2015 - 20th European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, Proceedings. Springer Verlag. 2015. p. 312-331. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24177-7_16