CRII: CSR: Understanding and Enhancing Unsafe Rust Code in Resource-constrained Systems

CRII：CSR：理解和增强资源受限系统中的不安全 Rust 代码

• 批准号: 2245753
• 负责人: Chen Cao
• 金额: $ 15.15万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-06-01 至 2025-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2245753&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CRII; CSR; Understanding; Enhancing; Unsafe

Resource-constrained systems run on resource-constrained devices, which have low computation power, and limited memory and storage with the advantage of low-electrical-power consumption. They are increasingly used nowadays, including IoT (Internet of Things) devices (e.g., smart home devices) and embedded devices (e.g., Bluetooth/Wi-Fi modules in the desktop/mobile platform). However, the advantage comes with the expense of no or limited software and hardware protections. As a result, new vulnerabilities are being discovered in resource-constrained systems. To mitigate this problem, Rust is gaining popularity in implementing these systems due to its safety and close performance to C/C++, while a Rust compiler enforces restrictive rules and leverages the unsafe keyword to bypass them. Unfortunately, the introduction of unsafe Rust code also introduces potential safety issues defeating the purpose of using Rust to enhance resource-constrained systems. This project addresses this challenge by exploring, designing and experimenting with various tools and frameworks in the context of resource-constrained systems, and provides insights on unsafe Rust code in these systems. In this way, this project targets reducing the negative effect of using the unsafe keyword and support developers with more confidence in safety guarantee. This project aims to improve using Rust in resource-constrained systems by eliminating unnecessary usage of the unsafe keyword or preventing the potential issues caused by unsafe Rust code. As a result, resource-constrained systems written in Rust would be more secure, even if the unsafe keyword is used. Furthermore, tools and frameworks developed in this project will be open-source. They will not only be helpful to resource-constrained system developers, but also contribute to the Rust community. The best practices concluded and lessons learned during this project will also be open to the community. The goal is to elaborate the result as RFC (Request for Comments) documents and make them the standard. As part of the outreach effort, the data and the results of this project will be incorporated into undergraduate courses in both computer science and cybersecurity.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.

资源受限系统运行在资源受限设备上，这些设备计算能力低，内存和存储有限，具有低功耗的优点。如今它们的使用越来越多，包括物联网（IoT）设备（例如智能家居设备）和嵌入式设备（例如桌面/移动平台中的蓝牙/Wi-Fi 模块）。然而，这种优势的代价是没有或有限的软件和硬件保护。结果，在资源受限的系统中发现了新的漏洞。为了缓解这个问题，Rust 由于其安全性和接近 C/C++ 的性能而在实现这些系统中越来越受欢迎，而 Rust 编译器则强制执行限制性规则并利用 unsafe 关键字来绕过它们。不幸的是，不安全 Rust 代码的引入也带来了潜在的安全问题，违背了使用 Rust 增强资源受限系统的目的。该项目通过在资源受限系统的背景下探索、设计和试验各种工具和框架来应对这一挑战，并提供有关这些系统中不安全 Rust 代码的见解。通过这种方式，该项目旨在减少使用unsafe关键字的负面影响，让开发者对安全保障更有信心。该项目旨在通过消除不必要的 unsafe 关键字的使用或防止不安全的 Rust 代码引起的潜在问题来改进 Rust 在资源受限的系统中的使用。因此，即使使用了 unsafe 关键字，用 Rust 编写的资源受限系统也会更加安全。此外，该项目中开发的工具和框架将是开源的。它们不仅对资源有限的系统开发人员有帮助，还能为 Rust 社区做出贡献。该项目期间得出的最佳实践和吸取的经验教训也将向社区开放。目标是将结果详细阐述为 RFC（征求意见）文档并使其成为标准。作为推广工作的一部分，该项目的数据和结果将被纳入计算机科学和网络安全的本科课程中。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。