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Saint RetSpill, Who Spilled the Leftovers Onto the Stack
Patron of Linux kernels, user data forgotten on the kernel stack, and everyone who turns a crash into a shell.
Life
In 2023 the researchers behind RetSpill showed a general technique for exploiting Linux kernel bugs: when the kernel switches to running its own code, the stack still holds user-controlled values. RetSpill "spilled" them into the kernel's execution flow, turning many hard vulnerabilities into reliable code execution. It was demonstrated against a long series of old kernel bugs.
Prayer
O Saint RetSpill, who gathers the user's leftovers on the kernel stack, let our kernel not trust what it finds there. Amen.
How to celebrate
Celebrated by updating the kernel and hardening the defences that scrub user state before entering the kernel.
Leftovers on the stack, a shell served to the kernel.