CAREER: Principled and Practical Software Shielding against Advanced Exploits

利用流行软件中的内存损坏漏洞是导致系统破坏和恶意软件感染的主要原因之一。尽管可利用漏洞的激增背后有几个原因，但对不安全编程语言（如C和c++）的依赖以及现代软件的复杂性发挥了主要作用。在浏览器、文档查看器和其他广泛使用的软件中不断发现以前未知的（零日）漏洞，并且缺乏对利用内存披露漏洞的最新利用技术的有效防御，因此有必要开发额外的防御机制。该项目的主要目标是软件屏蔽技术的设计及其在商品软件和系统中的实际适用性。所研究技术的关键创新方面包括：1)考虑到最新开发进展所施加的强对抗模型的原则性设计，即披露辅助开发和仅数据攻击，有效的对策仍然是一个开放的问题；Ii)新颖的代码专门化和数据保护技术，引入过程级别的不可预测性并限制关键数据的暴露；Iii)硬件辅助实施，利用最近和即将到来的处理器功能，以尽量减少应用保护的性能影响；iv)关注实际考虑，例如操作兼容性和非破坏性部署。这项研究工作的结果有望提高防御高级漏洞的技术水平，并通过屏蔽现有的易受攻击的应用程序来实现实质性的实际影响，从而使最终用户和安全研究人员都受益。该项目还为学生提供了进行网络安全研究的机会，并通过为学生提供实践讲习班和为科学教师提供研讨会，促进网络安全融入高中教育。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The exploitation of memory corruption vulnerabilities in popular software is among the leading causes of system compromise and malware infection. While there are several reasons behind this proliferation of exploitable bugs, the reliance on unsafe programming languages such as C and C++ and the complexity of modern software play a major role. The continuous discovery of previously unknown (zero-day) vulnerabilities in browsers, document viewers, and other widely used software, and the lack of effective defenses against recent exploitation techniques that leverage memory disclosure vulnerabilities, necessitate the development of additional defense mechanisms.The main objective of this project is the design of software shielding techniques and their practical applicability to commodity software and systems. The key innovative aspects of the investigated techniques include: i) principled design that considers the strong adversarial models imposed by the latest exploitation advancements, i.e., disclosure-aided exploitation and data-only attacks, against which effective countermeasures remain an open problem; ii) novel code specialization and data protection techniques, to introduce process-level unpredictability and limit the exposure of critical data; iii) hardware-assisted implementation by leveraging recent and upcoming processor features to minimize the performance impact of the applied protections; and iv) focus on practical considerations, such as operational compatibility and non-disruptive deployment. The outcomes of this research effort are expected to improve the state of the art in defenses against advanced exploits, and achieve substantial practical impact by shielding existing vulnerable applications against exploitation, benefiting both end users and security researchers. The project also provides students the opportunity to conduct research in cybersecurity, and fosters the integration of cybersecurity into high school education through hands-on workshops for students and seminars for science teachers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.