Stop that Hacker! CHERI for Hardware-Enforced Runtime Memory Safety

17 May 2024, 15:00, CSIT Level 2 - Systems Area
Zoom Meeting ID: 894 9877 3516 / Password: 325860
Speaker: Jeremy Singer (University of Glasgow)

Abstract#

Memory safety bugs account for a large proportion of critical IT vulnerabilities. Recent advances in CPU design, including tagged memory and capabilities, enable better runtime support for preventing memory exploits like buffer overflows, use-after-frees, etc. In this presentation I will review the UK-based CHERI/Morello initiative and explain how we take advantage of hardware capabilities for improving a legacy garbage collector (BoehmGC) and an embedded Python interpreter (MicroPython). I will also discuss current research challenges in runtime cyber security.

Speaker Bio#

Jeremy Singer is a reader in programming language implementation at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, where he has been working for the past 15 years. He has a PhD from the University of Cambridge. His research interests include compilers, programming languages, managed runtimes, cyber security and computing history.
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