SoK: A Practical Guideline and Taxonomy to LLVM’s Control Flow Integrity

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Memory corruption vulnerabilities remain one of the most severe threats to software security. They often allow attackers to achieve arbitrary code execution by redirecting a vulnerable program’s control flow. While Control Flow Integrity (CFI) has gained traction to mitigate this exploitation path, developers are not provided with any direction on how to apply CFI to real-world software. In this work, we establish a taxonomy mapping LLVM’s forward-edge CFI variants to memory corruption vulnerability classes, offering actionable guidance for developers seeking to deploy CFI incrementally in existing codebases. Based on the Top 10 Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) list, we identify four high-impact vulnerability categories and select one representative CVE for each. We evaluate LLVM’s CFI against each CVE and explain why CFI blocks exploitation in two cases while failing in the other two, illustrating its potential and current limitations. Our findings support informed deployment decisions and provide a foundation for improving the practical use of CFI in production systems.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2025 IEEE Secure Development Conference, SecDev 2025
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages129-141
Number of pages13
ISBN (Electronic)9798331595951
DOIs
StatePublished - 2025
Event2025 IEEE Secure Development Conference, SecDev 2025 - Indianapolis, United States
Duration: Oct 14 2025Oct 16 2025

Publication series

NameProceedings - 2025 IEEE Secure Development Conference, SecDev 2025

Conference

Conference2025 IEEE Secure Development Conference, SecDev 2025
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityIndianapolis
Period10/14/2510/16/25

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Software
  • Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality

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