In 2007, Shacham first described return-oriented programming, which is a powerful systems security exploit that generates malicious behavior by combining short

In 2007, Shacham first described return-oriented programming, which is a powerful systems security exploit that generates malicious behavior by combining short snippets of benign code already present in the system. The only references I can find to return-oriented programing are either by Shacham (who "invented" it) or his grad students. Is this another name for a technique that's been around for a while, an academic who's making it sound revolutionary to get grants, a legitimate new tool for analyzing exploits, or just some PR crap?