Stack entry overwrite protection

• US 9,262,626 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2014
• Issued: 02/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Deutschle, Joerg, Gellerich, Wolfgang, Kick, Bernhard, Koch, Gerrit
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAW, PETER C
• Application Number:
  US14/307,527
• Publication Number:
  US 20150169869A1
• Time in Patent Office: 608 Days
• Field of Search: 726/22
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/52 during program execution, e.g. stack integrity ; Preventing unwanted data erasure; Buffer overflow

Abstract

A computer processor receives a plurality of execution items corresponding to a computer process. The computer processor allocates a first memory portion corresponding to a first stack, wherein the first stack corresponds to a first class of execution items. The computer processor allocates a second memory portion corresponding to a second stack, wherein the second stack corresponds to a second class of execution items. The computer processor identifies a first execution item of the plurality of execution items and determining a class corresponding to the first execution item.

Claims

1. A method for protecting against stack overflow events, the method comprising:

receiving, at a computer processor, a plurality of execution items corresponding to the computer process; and

allocating a plurality of memory portions, wherein the plurality of memory portions includes;

(i) a first memory portion corresponding to a first stack, the first stack corresponding to a first class of execution items, and the first stack being associated with a first access key; and

(ii) a second memory portion corresponding to a second stack, the second stack corresponding to a second class of execution items, and the second stack being associated with a second access key,

wherein the first class corresponds to extendable data types and the second class corresponds to non-extendable data types.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

identifying, by the computer processor, a first execution item of the plurality of execution items;

determining, by the computer processor, that the first execution item corresponds to the first class; and

storing, by the computer processor, the first execution item to the first stack.

3. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

identifying, by the computer processor, a first execution item of the plurality of execution items;

determining, by the computer processor, that the first execution item corresponds to the second class; and

storing, by the computer processor, the first execution item to the second stack.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each memory portion of the plurality of memory portions corresponds to a memory stack associated with an access key.

5. The method of claim 2, the method further comprising:

storing, by the computer processor, the first execution item to the first stack based, at least in part, on a determination that (i) a first execution item of the plurality of execution items corresponds to the first class and (ii) the first execution item includes a key that corresponds to the access key of the first memory portion.

6. The method of claim 3, the method further comprising:

storing, by the computer processor, the first execution item to the second stack based, at least in part, on a determination that (i) a first execution item of the plurality of execution items corresponds to the second class and (ii) the first execution item includes a key that corresponds to the access key of the second memory portion.

7. The method of claim 4, the method further comprising:

receiving, by the computer processor, one or more instructions, wherein the one or more instructions include a command key, and wherein the one or more instructions identify one of the first stack and the second stack; and

determining, by the computer processor, that the command key does not match the access key of the stack identified by the command key and, in response, generating an error message.