SaTC: CORE: Small: Preventing Web Side-channel Attacks via Atomic Determinism

Web浏览器容易受到侧信道攻击，这通常在启动攻击链中扮演重要的第一步角色。 例如，Web级精确时钟可以帮助攻击者破坏操作系统级内存保护机制，例如地址空间布局随机化（ASLR）。 浏览器指纹是网络侧渠道的一种变体，可用于获取用户的隐私信息以发动社会工程攻击。 此外，网络侧渠道攻击本身也可以泄露私人信息，例如患者的疾病和药物以及社交网络用户的朋友数量。 该项目旨在设计、实现和评估一种新的防御体系结构，该体系结构集成了原子确定性（Atomic Determinism），这是一种为Web浏览器量身定制的全新确定性概念，可以有效地防止Web侧信道攻击，从而保护Web用户的安全和隐私。原子确定性的核心思想是，Web浏览器可以被看作是由多个原子单元组成的，称为参考框架（RFs），从物理学中借用的抽象概念。 Web浏览器的原子决定论定义了每个RF仅包含一个时钟和至多一个观察者，例如，一个由对手控制的图灵完备程序 从观察者的角度来看，RF中的时钟确定性地滴答作响，即，在每个运行时都是相同的;相比之下，从Oracle的观点来看，例如，浏览器的用户，RF中的时钟正常地滴答作响而没有性能降低。 该项目采用两种策略将原子确定性纳入Web浏览器，即，设计浏览器插件和修改现代Web浏览器。 前者翻译现有程序，覆盖现有功能定义，短期内方便了普通网络用户;后者从根本上改变了浏览器架构，方便了有特殊需求的用户，从长远来看可以集成到主流浏览器中。 该项目的最大影响是新颖，有效的方法，系统和技术，以提高浏览器的安全性和隐私，使学术界和公众的网络用户受益。 主要研究者（PI）还涉及本科生，妇女，K-12学生和少数民族的项目。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

Web browsers are vulnerable to side-channel attacks, which usually play an important, first-step role in jump-starting a chain of attacks. For example, a web-level precise clock can help adversaries to break operating system level memory protection mechanisms, such as address-space layout randomization (ASLR). Browser fingerprinting, a variation of web side channels, can be used to obtain users' private information for launching social engineering attacks. In addition, web side-channel attacks alone can also reveal private information, such as illnesses and medications of patients and the number of social network users' friends. The project is to design, implement and evaluate a novel defense architecture integrating atomic determinism, a brand-new concept of determinism tailored-made for web browsers, to provably prevent web side-channel attacks, thus protecting web users' security and privacy.The key insight of atomic determinism is that a web browser can be considered as a composition of several atomic units, called reference frames (RFs), an abstract concept borrowed from physics. The atomic determinism of web browsers defines that each RF contains only one clock and at most one observer, e.g., a Turing-complete program controlled by the adversary. From the viewpoint of the observer, the clock in the RF ticks deterministically, i.e., being the same in every runtime; by contrast, from the viewpoint of an oracle, e.g., a user of the browser, the clock in the RF ticks normally without performance slowdown. The project adopts two tactics to incorporate atomic determinism into web browsers, i.e., designing a browser add-on and modifying a modern web browser. The former, which translates existing programs and overwrites existing function definitions, facilitates the general web users in short-term; the latter, which fundamentally changes the browser architecture, facilitates users with special needs and can be integrated into a mainstream browser in a longer term. The greatest impact of this project is novel, effective approaches, systems, and technologies to improving the security and privacy of browsers, benefiting web users from both the academia and the general public. The principal investigator (PI) also involves undergraduates, women, K-12 students and minorities in the project.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.