Collaborate Disseminate
It sounds like the start of a joke, but what’s the difference between taking Cornell’s CS6120 online and in-person? The instructor, [Adrian Samspon] notes that the real class has deadlines, an end-of-semester project, and a discussion board that is only open to real-life students. He also notes that you only …read more
In Cryptography Engineering Ferguson, Schneier and Kohno put a big emphasis on quality of code in order to prevent it from leaking information and from being vulnerable to memory corruption exploits.
Re-implementing cryptography, especiall… Continue reading Compiler-induced information leaks/side-channels in cryptography implementations
Numerous websites allow us to build and execute C code from web browsers (repl.it, onlinegdb.com, ideone.com…). For my own application (education purposes) I would like to do the same on my web backend.
My current solution is to use an A… Continue reading Build and execute code on a sandboxed environment?
I was wondering when people compile malware and use the compiled files for engagements or nefarious purposes, what evidence do they leave behind in the compiled Windows executables? I have heard that the OS usernames of the compilers can b… Continue reading What evidence does a compiled file leave behind?
I’m using a Linux system and cross-compiling to Win32. The most trivial Windows source code (“Hello world” by Petzold), when compiled using i686-w64-mingw32-gcc (gcc version 7.3-win32 20180312), generates a valid Windows executable; this e… Continue reading Program compiled with mingw32 is reported as infected
Software libraries targetting resource constrained environments like embedded systems use conditional compilation to allow consumers to shave space and thus increase performance by removing unused features from the final binaries distribut… Continue reading Does removing features from a library increase or reduce security risks?
They say that in order to understand recursion, you must first understand recursion. Once you master that concept, you might decide that it’s time to write your own compiler that can compile itself as a fun side project. According to [Warren] aka [DoctorWkt], who documented every step of writing this …read more
Continue reading All You’ve Ever Wanted to Know about Compilers
I know you need position independent code to write shellcode. Do any compilers compile to position independent code?
Continue reading Do any compilers allow for truly position independent code to be written?
The field of computer science has undeniably changed the world for virtually every single person by now. Certainly for you as Hackaday reader, but also for everyone around you, whether they’re working in the field themselves, or are simply enjoying the fruits of convenience it bears. What was once a …read more
Continue reading Tony Brooker And Autocode – The First High-level Language
I was wondering about how compilers like GCC compile themselves after each release but that got me thinking:
Are compilers safe?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but even if at one step along the way a version of the compiler was … Continue reading Are compilers safe?