Return-Oriented Programming Detection and Prevention Utilizing a Hardware and Software Adaptation

This publication describes techniques aimed at detecting and preventing return-oriented programming (ROP) attacks. The techniques consist of a software adaptation which enables supplemental hardware, specifically a system on a chip (SoC), to chronologically log return (ret) addresses of pushed stack frames and compare those logged ret addresses to ret commands executed by a central processing unit (CPU) of a computing system. When the SoC determines that ret commands executed by the CPU have deviated from the logged ret addresses, then the SoC can take action to thwart a ROP attack