Security Beyond Memory Safety - Using Modern C++ to Avoid Vulnerabilities by Design
Talkat CppCon 2024 · on Monday, 2024-09-16· at 11:00· Adams A, 6700 North Gaylord Rockies Boulevard·
summary
Claims that memory safety fixes only about one third of real-world vulnerabilities and that C++ can prevent many remaining classes by design. Shows a working friendly billboard demo: firmware + Wi‑Fi + shared‑memory receiver, code compiles and runs and includes exploi ts on GitHub. Uses concrete tools: untrusted<T>, sensitive<T>, a write‑only status wrapper, std::optional, CI diffing of generated headers, and references to memset_explicit / memset_s. Demonstrates TOCTOU races, pointer/length deserialization bugs, secure‑erase pitfalls, and practical fixes that actually work.
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chapters (11)
- 0:00Introduction
- 0:38Memory safety and security
- 7:03Understanding security design
- 11:13Modern C++ security strategies
- 14:00Case study: Secure secrets
- 20:11Friendly billboard case study
- 24:51Input validation techniques
- 29:32Addressing output and race risks
- 35:01Final security architecture
- 43:52Conclusion and takeaways
- 47:04Q&A session
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