Title
Exploiting the Hard-Working DWARF: Trojan and Exploit Techniques Without Native Executable Code
Date of Award
6-2-2011
Document Type
Thesis (Undergraduate)
Department or Program
Department of Computer Science
First Advisor
Sergey Bratus
Abstract
The study of vulnerabilities and exploitation is one of finding mechanisms affecting the flow of computation and of finding new means to perform unexpected computation. In this paper we show the extent to which exception handling mechanisms as implemented and used by \gcc can be used to control program execution. We show that the data structures used to store exception handling information on UNIX-like systems actually contain Turing-complete bytecode, which is executed by a virtual machine during the course of exception unwinding and handling. We discuss how a malicious attacker could gain control over these structures and how such an attacker could utilize them once control has been achieved.
Recommended Citation
Oakley, James M.H., "Exploiting the Hard-Working DWARF: Trojan and Exploit Techniques Without Native Executable Code" (2011). Dartmouth College Undergraduate Theses. 74.
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/senior_theses/74
Comments
Originally posted in the Dartmouth College Computer Science Technical Report Series, number TR2011-688.