Lifting Compiler Security Properties to Stronger Attackers: The Speculation Case

Explore a comprehensive analysis of compiler security properties in the context of speculative execution attacks during this 20-minute conference talk from ACM SIGPLAN's PriSC'24. Delve into the challenges of developing secure compiler passes against Spectre-like vulnerabilities, examining how different speculation mechanisms can be exploited by attackers. Investigate the limitations of current countermeasures that focus on specific attacker models, and learn about the need for more robust security guarantees. Discover a new formal framework designed to identify well-formedness conditions that enable compiler security even against stronger attacker models. Gain insights into the potential for extending these concepts beyond Spectre attacks, paving the way for more resilient compiler security in the face of evolving threats.