Verification of loadable objects

• US 20080301712A1
• Filed: 05/31/2007
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Schneider, James P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,239,878 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/316
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/64 Protecting data integrity, e.g. using checksums, certificates or signatures

Abstract

A method and apparatus for verifying loadable objects. A request is received from an application to load a first loadable object into memory. A first signature value is calculated for the first loadable object. The first loadable object is loaded into memory if the first signature value matches one of a plurality of signature values, each of the plurality of signature values being associated with a distinct loadable object.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request from an application to load a first loadable object into memory;

calculating a first signature value for the first loadable object; and

loading the first loadable object into memory if the first signature value matches one of a plurality of signature values, each of the plurality of signature values being associated with a distinct loadable object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first signature value matches one of the plurality of signature values if the first loadable object is an unmodified one of the plurality of distinct loadable objects.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the first signature value does not match one of the plurality of signature values, notifying a user that the first loadable object cannot be loaded.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

generating a log of loadable objects that failed to load.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first loadable object is at least one of a program, an application dynamic link library (dll), and a device driver.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating the plurality of signature values.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the plurality of signature values in a storage device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of signature values is one of a cyclic redundancy check, a checksum, and a cryptographic hash of a loadable object.

9. A machine-accessible storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method, comprising:

receiving a request from an application to load a first loadable object into memory;

calculating a first signature value for the first loadable object; and

loading the first loadable object into memory if the first signature value matches one of a plurality of signature values, each of the plurality of signature values being associated with a distinct loadable object.

10. The machine-accessible storage medium of claim 9, wherein the first signature value matches one of the plurality of signature values if the first loadable object is an unmodified one of the plurality of distinct loadable objects.

11. The machine-accessible storage medium of claim 9, the method further comprising:

if the first signature value does not match one of the plurality of signature values, notifying a user that the first loadable object cannot be loaded.

12. The machine-accessible storage medium of claim 11, the method further comprising:

generating a log of loadable objects that failed to load.

13. The machine-accessible storage medium of claim 9, wherein the first loadable object is at least one of a program, an application dynamic link library (dll), and a device driver.

14. The machine-accessible storage medium of claim 9, the method further comprising:

storing the plurality of signature values in a storage device.

15. A computing apparatus comprising:

a signature value generator to calculate a plurality of signature values, each of the plurality of signature values being calculated for one of a plurality of distinct loadable objects, and to store the plurality of signature values in a storage device;

a comparator connected with the signature value generator, the comparator to compare a first signature value associated with a first loadable object to the plurality of signature values stored in the storage device; and

a loader connected with a main memory and the comparator, the loader to receive a request to load the first loadable object into the main memory, and to load the first loadable object into the main memory if a first signature value associated with the first loadable object matches one of the plurality of signature values.

16. The computing apparatus of claim 15, wherein the first signature value matches one of the plurality of signature values if the first loadable object is an unmodified one of the plurality of distinct loadable objects.

17. The computing apparatus of claim 15, wherein the comparator is configured to notify a user that the first loadable object cannot be loaded if the first signature value does not match one of the plurality of signature values.

18. The computing apparatus of claim 15, wherein the comparator is configured to generate a log of loadable objects that failed to load.

19. The computing apparatus of claim 15, wherein the first loadable object is at least one of a program, an application dynamic link library (dll), and a device driver.

20. The computing apparatus of claim 15, wherein the signature value generator to calculate the first signature value for the first loadable object.