SECURITY CONCERNS OF REGISTERS IN LINUX HOSTS: USING DEBUG TO FIND MEMORY ADDRESSES OF SENSITIVE DATA

摘要

Security has never been more important in information technology. And often times the most important resource a company has is its data, the loss or deletion of which would be devastating. Especially with the advent of Cloud Computing and the use of shared physical hardware this has become an even greater concern. This paper looks at ways in which the LINUX operating system and various software tools can be used to show potential vulnerabilities in how memory is stored at the base layers of the operating system. It focuses on the registers, and how tools such as a debugger can be used to determine where memory resides and how it could potentially be attacked or disrupted. Finally, the paper discusses how these techniques and utilities could be used to provide students with a better understanding of how attacks could occur and the level of sophistication needed to deal with them.