research-article

Cache Refinement Type for Side-Channel Detection of Cryptographic Software

Authors:

Tianwei ZhangAuthors Info & Claims

CCS '22: Proceedings of the 2022 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security

Pages 1583 - 1597

https://doi.org/10.1145/3548606.3560672

Published: 07 November 2022 Publication History

Abstract

Cache side-channel attacks exhibit severe threats to software security and privacy, especially for cryptosystems. In this paper, we propose CaType, a novel refinement type-based tool for detecting cache side channels in crypto software. Compared to previous works, CaType provides the following advantages: (1) For the first time CaType analyzes cache side channels using refinement type over x86 assembly code. It reveals several significant and effective enhancements with refined types, including bit-level granularity tracking, distinguishing different effects of variables, precise type inferences, and high scalability. (2) CaType is the first static analyzer for crypto libraries in consideration of blinding-based defenses. (3) From the perspective of implementation, CaType uses cache layouts of potential vulnerable control-flow branches rather than cache states to suppress false positives. We evaluate CaType in identifying side channel vulnerabilities in real-world crypto software, including RSA, ElGamal, and (EC)DSA from OpenSSL and Libgcrypt. CaType captures all known defects, detects previously-unknown vulnerabilities, and reveals several false positives of previous tools. In terms of performance, CaType is 16X faster than CacheD and 131X faster than CacheS when analyzing the same libraries. These evaluation results confirm the capability of CaType in identifying side channel defects with great precision, efficiency, and scalability.

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Cited By

Cai LSong FChen T(2024)Towards Efficient Verification of Constant-Time Cryptographic ImplementationsProceedings of the ACM on Software Engineering10.1145/36437721:FSE(1019-1042)Online publication date: 12-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643772
Geimer AVergnolle MRecoules FDaniel LBardin SMaurice CMeng WJensen CCremers CKirda E(2023)A Systematic Evaluation of Automated Tools for Side-Channel Vulnerabilities Detection in Cryptographic LibrariesProceedings of the 2023 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security10.1145/3576915.3623112(1690-1704)Online publication date: 15-Nov-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3576915.3623112

Index Terms

Cache Refinement Type for Side-Channel Detection of Cryptographic Software
1. Security and privacy

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cover image ACM Conferences

CCS '22: Proceedings of the 2022 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security

November 2022

3598 pages

ISBN:9781450394505

DOI:10.1145/3548606

General Chairs:
Heng Yin
University of California, Riverside
,
Angelos Stavrou
Virginia Tech
,
Program Chairs:
Cas Cremers
CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security
,
Elaine Shi
Carnegie Mellon University

Copyright © 2022 ACM.

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Published: 07 November 2022

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Cited By

Cai LSong FChen T(2024)Towards Efficient Verification of Constant-Time Cryptographic ImplementationsProceedings of the ACM on Software Engineering10.1145/36437721:FSE(1019-1042)Online publication date: 12-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643772
Geimer AVergnolle MRecoules FDaniel LBardin SMaurice CMeng WJensen CCremers CKirda E(2023)A Systematic Evaluation of Automated Tools for Side-Channel Vulnerabilities Detection in Cryptographic LibrariesProceedings of the 2023 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security10.1145/3576915.3623112(1690-1704)Online publication date: 15-Nov-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3576915.3623112

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