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What does "code gadget" mean in this context?
by morpheuskafka 5y ago
What does "code gadget" mean in this context?
- rodgerd 5y agoIf you're very clever (unlike me) and you break into a modern running system, you'll find that there are a lot of protections to stop you just inserting your own code and running it. Smart people will look at the current executable code in the system, and work out how to manipulate the existing executable code to build the attacker's programs (return oriented programming); the identified chunks are called gadgets.
- gpderetta 5y agoA code gadget is any pre-existing string of binary code in an executable that by chance happens to have some specific properties that make it possible to be repurposed by an attacker, usually by jumping in the middle of it. IIRC the term was introduced with the Return Oriented Programming style of attacks and reused for spectre-like speculation attacks.