Input Handling Done Right: Building Hardened Parsers using Language-theoretic Security

Anantharaman, P., Millian, M.C., Bratus, S., and Patterson, M.L.


Citation

2017 IEEE Cybersecurity Development (SecDev), Cambridge, MA, USA, 2017, pp. 4-5.

Abstract

Input-handling vulnerabilities have been a constant source of security problems for decades. Many famous recent bugs are in fact input-handling bugs. We argue that the techniques for writing parsers in its present form are insufficient, and hence we propose a new pattern. In this tutorial, we will show participants a new design pattern for designing and implementing parsers using this new method. Participants will witness how this new method leads to more readable code that is easier to audit - while also inherently preventing many input-handling mistakes and having a small CPU footprint.

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