BackFlow: Backward Edge Control Flow Enforcement for Low End ARM Microcontrollers

Cyril Bresch, Roman Lysecky, David Hely

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper presents BackFlow, a compiler-based toolchain that enforces indirect backward edge control flow integrity for low-end ARM Cortex-M microprocessors. BackFlow is implemented within the Clang/LLVM compiler and supports the ARM instruction set and its subset Thumb. The control flow integrity generated by the compiler relies on a bitmap, where each set bit indicates a valid pointer destination. The efficiency of the framework is benchmarked using an STM32 NUCLEO F446RE microcontroller. The obtained results show that the control flow integrity solution incurs an execution time overhead ranging from 1.5 to 4.5%.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 2020 Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition, DATE 2020
EditorsGiorgio Di Natale, Cristiana Bolchini, Elena-Ioana Vatajelu
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages1606-1609
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)9783981926347
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2020
Event2020 Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition, DATE 2020 - Grenoble, France
Duration: Mar 9 2020Mar 13 2020

Publication series

NameProceedings of the 2020 Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition, DATE 2020

Conference

Conference2020 Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition, DATE 2020
Country/TerritoryFrance
CityGrenoble
Period3/9/203/13/20

Keywords

  • CFI
  • Compiler
  • Memory Safety

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality
  • Modeling and Simulation
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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