bugtraq - Re: Buffer overflow prevention

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Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2003 12:13:27 -0700
From: Nicholas Weaver <nweaver@...berkeley.edu>
To: "Eygene A. Ryabinkin" <rea@....mbslab.kiae.ru>
Subject: Re: Buffer overflow prevention

On Wed, Aug 13, 2003 at 02:28:33PM +0400, Eygene A. Ryabinkin composed:

>  I have an idea on buffer overflow prevention. I doubt that it's
> new, but I haven't seen an implementation of it in any freely
> distributable Un*x system.  So, I hardly need your comments on it.

Then why post this to a public list?  Sorry, you are going to get
comments.

>  Preliminary: I'm talking about Intel x86 architecture, but maybe it will be
> applicable to others as well.

>  The idea itself: all (correct me if I'm wrong) buffer overflows are
> based on the fact that we're using the stack, referenced by SS:ESP
> pair, both for procedure return address and for local variables. It
> seems to me, that would we have two stacks -- one for real stack and
> one for variables -- it will solve a bunch of problems. So, my
> suggestion: let us organise two segments: one for normal stack,
> growing downwards, referenced by SS:ESP pair and the second one, for
> local variables, referenced by GS:EBP pair, with either upwards or
> downwards growing. Now, if we use first segment for passing
> variables and procedure return addresses (normal stack usage), and
> second segment only for local procedure variables, we will have the
> following advantages:

>  1) Local variables and return address will be physically (by means
>  of CPU) divided and it will not be possible to touch the return
>  address by overflowing local buffer.

>  2) The procedure introduces only one extra register -- GS, since EBP is
>  very often used for the stack frame.

On the x86, introducing ONE extra reserved register into the calling
convention is a performance killer: the ISA is far too register poor
already.

> Of course, this two segments can be made non-executable, just in case.

>  What we need to implement the idea: first, rewrite kernel to organise two
> segments for every process and to place proper values into the segment
> registers upon the program startup. Second, rewrite the compiler to support
> the new scheme of local variables addresation. So, the changes are minimal,
> in some sence.
> 
>  As I said, I hardly need your criticism, suggestions, etc. of any type.

This only stops attacks which overwrite the return address pointers on
the stack, it doesn't stop heap overflows or other control-flow
attacks.

As such, it seems like this only stops the same class of attacks which
StackGuard-style checking halts: manipulation of the return address
pointer through data overflows.  

Since stackguard-techniques already exist, are very mature, and is
included as "On By Default" on OpenBSD and potentially on other
platforms (including possibly Windows, it is in Microsoft's latest
compiler and I think that all new code from Microsoft turns on this
compiler flag [1]), there is no sense inventing new structures, which
require substantially more changes to the infrastructure, which don't
offer any more protection.

[1] If microsoft doesn't have this flag turn on on their own products,
this would be a lawsuit waiting to happen.

-- 
Nicholas C. Weaver                                 nweaver@...berkeley.edu