# test_zeroize.gdb # # This file is part of mbed TLS (https://tls.mbed.org) # # Copyright (c) 2017, ARM Limited, All Rights Reserved # # Purpose # # Run a test using the debugger to check that the mbedtls_zeroize() function in # utils.h is not being optimized out by the compiler. To do so, the script # loads the test program at programs/test/zeroize.c and sets a breakpoint at # the last return statement in the main(). When the breakpoint is hit, the # debugger manually checks the contents to be zeroized and checks that it is # actually cleared. # # The mbedtls_zeroize() test is debugger driven because there does not seem to # be a mechanism to reliably check whether the zeroize calls are being # eliminated by compiler optimizations from within the compiled program. The # problem is that a compiler would typically remove what it considers to be # "unecessary" assignments as part of redundant code elimination. To identify # such code, the compilar will create some form dependency graph between # reads and writes to variables (among other situations). It will then use this # data structure to remove redundant code that does not have an impact on the # program's observable behavior. In the case of mbedtls_zeroize(), an # intelligent compiler could determine that this function clears a block of # memory that is not accessed later in the program, so removing the call to # mbedtls_zeroize() does not have an observable behavior. However, inserting a # test after a call to mbedtls_zeroize() to check whether the block of # memory was correctly zeroed would force the compiler to not eliminate the # mbedtls_zeroize() call. If this does not occur, then the compiler potentially # has a bug. # # Note: This test requires that the test program is compiled with -g3. # # WARNING: There does not seem to be a mechanism in GDB scripts to set a # breakpoint at the end of a function (probably because there are a lot of # complications as function can have multiple exit points, etc). Therefore, it # was necessary to hard-code the line number of the breakpoint in the zeroize.c # test app. The assumption is that zeroize.c is a simple test app that does not # change often (as opposed to the actual library code), so the breakpoint line # number does not need to be updated often. set confirm off file ./programs/test/zeroize break zeroize.c:99 set args ./programs/test/zeroize.c run set $i = 0 set $len = sizeof(buf) set $buf = buf while $i < $len if $buf[$i++] != 0 echo The buffer at was not zeroized\n quit 1 end end echo The buffer was correctly zeroized\n continue if $_exitcode != 0 echo The program did not terminate correctly\n quit 1 end quit 0