LLVM CFI support in the Rust compiler provides forward-edge control flow protection for both Rust-compiled code only and for C or C++ and Rust-compiled code mixed-language binaries, also known as “mixed binaries” (i.e., for when C or C++ and Rust-compiled code share the same virtual address space) by aggregating function pointers in groups identified by their return and parameter types.
LLVM CFI can be enabled with -Zsanitizer=cfi and requires LTO (i.e.,
-Clinker-plugin-lto or -Clto). Cross-language LLVM CFI can be enabled with
-Zsanitizer=cfi, requires the -Zsanitizer-cfi-normalize-integers option to
be used with the Clang -fsanitize-cfi-icall-experimental-normalize-integers
option for cross-language LLVM CFI support, and proper (i.e., non-rustc) LTO
(i.e., -Clinker-plugin-lto).
It is recommended to rebuild the standard library with CFI enabled by using the
Cargo build-std feature (i.e., -Zbuild-std) when enabling CFI.
#[unsafe(naked)]
pub extern "C" fn add_two(_x: i32) -> ! {
// x + 2 preceded by a landing pad/nop block
core::arch::naked_asm!(
r#"
nop
nop
nop
nop
nop
nop
nop
nop
nop
lea eax, [rdi + 2]
ret
"#,
);
}
fn do_twice(f: fn(i32) -> i32, arg: i32) -> i32 {
f(arg) + f(arg)
}
fn main() {
let answer = do_twice(add_one, 5);
println!("The answer is: {}", answer);
println!("With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer");
let f: fn(i32) -> i32 = unsafe {
// Offset 0 is a valid branch/call destination (i.e., the function entry
// point), but offsets 1-8 within the landing pad/nop block are invalid
// branch/call destinations (i.e., within the body of the function).
mem::transmute::<*const u8, fn(i32) -> i32>((add_two as *const u8).offset(5))
};
let next_answer = do_twice(f, 5);
println!("The next answer is: {}", next_answer);
}Fig. 1. Redirecting control flow using an indirect branch/call to an invalid destination (i.e., within the body of the function).
$ cargo run --release
Compiling rust-cfi-1 v0.1.0 (/home/rcvalle/rust-cfi-1)
Finished release [optimized] target(s) in 0.43s
Running `target/release/rust-cfi-1`
The answer is: 12
With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer
The next answer is: 14
$
Fig. 2. Build and execution of Fig. 1 with LLVM CFI disabled.
$ RUSTFLAGS="-Clinker-plugin-lto -Clinker=clang -Clink-arg=-fuse-ld=lld -Zsanitizer=cfi" cargo run -Zbuild-std -Zbuild-std-features --release --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
...
Compiling rust-cfi-1 v0.1.0 (/home/rcvalle/rust-cfi-1)
Finished release [optimized] target(s) in 1m 08s
Running `target/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/release/rust-cfi-1`
The answer is: 12
With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer
Illegal instruction
$
Fig. 3. Build and execution of Fig. 1 with LLVM CFI enabled.
When LLVM CFI is enabled, if there are any attempts to redirect control flow using an indirect branch/call to an invalid destination, the execution is terminated (see Fig. 10).
Example 2: Redirecting control flow using an indirect branch/call to a function with a different number of parameters
use std::mem;
fn add_one(x: i32) -> i32 {
x + 1
}
fn add_two(x: i32, _y: i32) -> i32 {
x + 2
}
fn do_twice(f: fn(i32) -> i32, arg: i32) -> i32 {
f(arg) + f(arg)
}
fn main() {
let answer = do_twice(add_one, 5);
println!("The answer is: {}", answer);
println!("With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer");
let f: fn(i32) -> i32 =
unsafe { mem::transmute::<*const u8, fn(i32) -> i32>(add_two as *const u8) };
let next_answer = do_twice(f, 5);
println!("The next answer is: {}", next_answer);
}Fig. 4. Redirecting control flow using an indirect branch/call to a function with a different number of parameters than arguments intended/passed in the call/branch site.
$ cargo run --release
Compiling rust-cfi-2 v0.1.0 (/home/rcvalle/rust-cfi-2)
Finished release [optimized] target(s) in 0.43s
Running `target/release/rust-cfi-2`
The answer is: 12
With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer
The next answer is: 14
$
Fig. 5. Build and execution of Fig. 4 with LLVM CFI disabled.
$ RUSTFLAGS="-Clinker-plugin-lto -Clinker=clang -Clink-arg=-fuse-ld=lld -Zsanitizer=cfi" cargo run -Zbuild-std -Zbuild-std-features --release --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
...
Compiling rust-cfi-2 v0.1.0 (/home/rcvalle/rust-cfi-2)
Finished release [optimized] target(s) in 1m 08s
Running `target/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/release/rust-cfi-2`
The answer is: 12
With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer
Illegal instruction
$
Fig. 6. Build and execution of Fig. 4 with LLVM CFI enabled.
When LLVM CFI is enabled, if there are any attempts to redirect control flow using an indirect branch/call to a function with a different number of parameters than arguments intended/passed in the call/branch site, the execution is also terminated (see Fig. 13).
Example 3: Redirecting control flow using an indirect branch/call to a function with different return and parameter types
use std::mem;
fn add_one(x: i32) -> i32 {
x + 1
}
fn add_two(x: i64) -> i64 {
x + 2
}
fn do_twice(f: fn(i32) -> i32, arg: i32) -> i32 {
f(arg) + f(arg)
}
fn main() {
let answer = do_twice(add_one, 5);
println!("The answer is: {}", answer);
println!("With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer");
let f: fn(i32) -> i32 =
unsafe { mem::transmute::<*const u8, fn(i32) -> i32>(add_two as *const u8) };
let next_answer = do_twice(f, 5);
println!("The next answer is: {}", next_answer);
}Fig. 7. Redirecting control flow using an indirect branch/call to a function with different return and parameter types than the return type expected and arguments intended/passed at the call/branch site.
$ cargo run --release
Compiling rust-cfi-3 v0.1.0 (/home/rcvalle/rust-cfi-3)
Finished release [optimized] target(s) in 0.44s
Running `target/release/rust-cfi-3`
The answer is: 12
With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer
The next answer is: 14
$
Fig. 8. Build and execution of Fig. 7 with LLVM CFI disabled.
$ RUSTFLAGS="-Clinker-plugin-lto -Clinker=clang -Clink-arg=-fuse-ld=lld -Zsanitizer=cfi" cargo run -Zbuild-std -Zbuild-std-features --release --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
...
Compiling rust-cfi-3 v0.1.0 (/home/rcvalle/rust-cfi-3)
Finished release [optimized] target(s) in 1m 07s
Running `target/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/release/rust-cfi-3`
The answer is: 12
With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer
Illegal instruction
$
Fig. 9. Build and execution of Fig. 7 with LLVM CFI enabled.
When LLVM CFI is enabled, if there are any attempts to redirect control flow using an indirect branch/call to a function with different return and parameter types than the return type expected and arguments intended/passed at the call/branch site, the execution is also terminated (see Fig. 16).
Example 4: Redirecting control flow using an indirect branch/call to a function with different return and parameter types across the FFI boundary using integer normalization for cross-language LLVM CFI
int
do_twice(int (*fn)(int), int arg)
{
return fn(arg) + fn(arg);
}Fig. 10. Example C library.
use std::mem;
#[link(name = "foo")]
extern "C" {
fn do_twice(f: unsafe extern "C" fn(i32) -> i32, arg: i32) -> i32;
}
unsafe extern "C" fn add_one(x: i32) -> i32 {
x + 1
}
unsafe extern "C" fn add_two(x: i64) -> i64 {
x + 2
}
fn main() {
let answer = unsafe { do_twice(add_one, 5) };
println!("The answer is: {}", answer);
println!("With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer");
let f: unsafe extern "C" fn(i32) -> i32 = unsafe {
mem::transmute::<*const u8, unsafe extern "C" fn(i32) -> i32>(add_two as *const u8)
};
let next_answer = unsafe { do_twice(f, 5) };
println!("The next answer is: {}", next_answer);
}Fig. 11. Redirecting control flow using an indirect branch/call to a function with different return and parameter types than the return type expected and arguments intended/passed in the call/branch site, across the FFI boundary using integer normalization for cross-language LLVM CFI.
$ make
mkdir -p target/release
clang -I. -Isrc -Wall -c src/foo.c -o target/release/libfoo.o
llvm-ar rcs target/release/libfoo.a target/release/libfoo.o
RUSTFLAGS="-L./target/release -Clinker=clang -Clink-arg=-fuse-ld=lld" cargo build --release
Compiling rust-cfi-4 v0.1.0 (/home/rcvalle/rust-cfi-4)
Finished release [optimized] target(s) in 0.49s
$ ./target/release/rust-cfi-4
The answer is: 12
With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer
The next answer is: 14
$
Fig. 12. Build and execution of Figs. 10–11 with LLVM CFI disabled.
$ make
mkdir -p target/release
clang -I. -Isrc -Wall -flto -fsanitize=cfi -fsanitize-cfi-icall-experimental-normalize-integers -fvisibility=hidden -c -emit-llvm src/foo.c -o target/release/libfoo.bc
llvm-ar rcs target/release/libfoo.a target/release/libfoo.bc
RUSTFLAGS="-L./target/release -Clinker-plugin-lto -Clinker=clang -Clink-arg=-fuse-ld=lld -Zsanitizer=cfi -Zsanitizer-cfi-normalize-integers" cargo build -Zbuild-std -Zbuild-std-features --release --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
...
Compiling rust-cfi-4 v0.1.0 (/home/rcvalle/rust-cfi-4)
Finished release [optimized] target(s) in 1m 06s
$ ./target/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/release/rust-cfi-4
The answer is: 12
With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer
Illegal instruction
$
Fig. 13. Build and execution of Figs. 10–11 with LLVM CFI enabled.
When LLVM CFI is enabled, if there are any attempts to redirect control flow
using an indirect branch/call to a function with different return and parameter
types than the return type expected and arguments intended/passed in the
call/branch site, even across the FFI boundary and for extern "C" function
types indirectly called (i.e., callbacks/function pointers) across the FFI
boundary, the execution is also terminated (see Fig. 13).
Example 5: Redirecting control flow using an indirect branch/call to a function
with different return and parameter types across the FFI boundary using the
cfi_types crate for cross-language LLVM CFI
int
do_twice(int (*fn)(int), int arg)
{
return fn(arg) + fn(arg);
}Fig. 14. Example C library.
use cfi_types::{c_int, c_long};
use std::mem;
#[link(name = "foo")]
extern "C" {
fn do_twice(f: unsafe extern "C" fn(c_int) -> c_int, arg: i32) -> i32;
}
unsafe extern "C" fn add_one(x: c_int) -> c_int {
c_int(x.0 + 1)
}
unsafe extern "C" fn add_two(x: c_long) -> c_long {
c_long(x.0 + 2)
}
fn main() {
let answer = unsafe { do_twice(add_one, 5) };
println!("The answer is: {}", answer);
println!("With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer");
let f: unsafe extern "C" fn(c_int) -> c_int = unsafe {
mem::transmute::<*const u8, unsafe extern "C" fn(c_int) -> c_int>(add_two as *const u8)
};
let next_answer = unsafe { do_twice(f, 5) };
println!("The next answer is: {}", next_answer);
}Fig. 15. Redirecting control flow using an indirect branch/call to a function
with different return and parameter types than the return type expected and
arguments intended/passed in the call/branch site, across the FFI boundary
using the cfi_types crate for cross-language LLVM CFI.
$ make
mkdir -p target/release
clang -I. -Isrc -Wall -c src/foo.c -o target/release/libfoo.o
llvm-ar rcs target/release/libfoo.a target/release/libfoo.o
RUSTFLAGS="-L./target/release -Clinker=clang -Clink-arg=-fuse-ld=lld" cargo build --release
Compiling rust-cfi-5 v0.1.0 (/home/rcvalle/rust-cfi-5)
Finished release [optimized] target(s) in 0.49s
$ ./target/release/rust-cfi-5
The answer is: 12
With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer
The next answer is: 14
$
Fig. 16. Build and execution of Figs. 14–15 with LLVM CFI disabled.
$ make
mkdir -p target/release
clang -I. -Isrc -Wall -flto -fsanitize=cfi -fvisibility=hidden -c -emit-llvm src/foo.c -o target/release/libfoo.bc
llvm-ar rcs target/release/libfoo.a target/release/libfoo.bc
RUSTFLAGS="-L./target/release -Clinker-plugin-lto -Clinker=clang -Clink-arg=-fuse-ld=lld -Zsanitizer=cfi" cargo build -Zbuild-std -Zbuild-std-features --release --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
...
Compiling rust-cfi-5 v0.1.0 (/home/rcvalle/rust-cfi-5)
Finished release [optimized] target(s) in 1m 06s
$ ./target/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/release/rust-cfi-5
The answer is: 12
With CFI enabled, you should not see the next answer
Illegal instruction
$
Fig. 17. Build and execution of Figs. 14–15 with LLVM CFI enabled.
When LLVM CFI is enabled, if there are any attempts to redirect control flow
using an indirect branch/call to a function with different return and parameter
types than the return type expected and arguments intended/passed in the
call/branch site, even across the FFI boundary and for extern "C" function
types indirectly called (i.e., callbacks/function pointers) across the FFI
boundary, the execution is also terminated (see Fig. 17).