ctfnote
  • /home/ret2basic.eth
  • Game Hacking
    • ✅C++
    • Ghidra
    • Cheat Engine
    • Proxy
    • DLL injection
    • Keygen
    • Aimbot
  • Web3 Security Research
    • 👑Web3 Security Research Trivia
    • ✅Solidity
      • ✅Mastering Ethereum
      • ✅Storage
      • ✅Memory
      • ✅Calldata
      • ✅ABI
    • ✅Foundry
      • ✅Introduction
      • ✅How to Write Basic Tests
      • ✅Set Soliditiy Compiler Version
      • ✅Remappings
      • ✅Auto Format Code
      • ✅Console Log
      • ✅Authentication
      • ✅Error
      • ✅Event
      • ✅Time
      • ✅Send ETH
      • ✅Signature
      • ✅Fork
      • ✅Mint 1 Million DAI on Mainnet Fork
      • ✅FFI
      • ✅Fuzz
      • ✅Invariant Testing - Part 1
      • Invariant Testing - Part 2
      • Invariant Testing - Part 3
      • Differential Test
    • ✅Secureum
      • ✅Epoch 0
        • ✅Slot 1: Ethereum 101
          • ✅Notes
          • ✅Ethereum Whitepaper
          • ✅Extra Study: What happens when you send 1 DAI
          • ✅Quiz
        • ✅Slot 2: Solidity 101
          • ✅Notes
          • ✅OpenZeppelin ERC20
          • ✅OpenZeppelin ERC721
          • ✅OpenZeppelin Ownable
          • ✅OpenZeppelin Pausable
          • ✅OpenZeppelin ReentrancyGuard
          • ✅Quiz
        • ✅Slot 3: Solidity 201
          • ✅Notes
          • ✅OpenZeppelin SafeERC20
          • ✅OpenZeppelin ERC-777
          • ✅OpenZeppelin ERC-1155
          • ✅OpenZeppelin ERC-3156
          • ✅OpenZeppelin - Proxy Upgrade Pattern
          • ✅Quiz
        • ✅Slot 4: Pitfalls and Best Practices 101
          • ✅Notes
          • ✅Intro to Security First Development
          • ✅Quiz
        • ✅Slot 5: Pitfalls and Best Practices 201
          • ✅Notes
          • So you want to use a price oracle
          • The Dangers of Surprising Code
          • ✅Quiz
        • ✅Slot 6: Auditing Techniques & Tools 101
          • ✅Notes
          • ✅Quiz
        • ✅Slot 7: Audit Findings 101
          • Notes
          • ✅Fei Protocol - ConsenSys
          • ✅Uniswap V3 - Trail of Bits
          • ✅Chainlink - Sigma Prime
          • ✅Opyn Gamma - OpenZeppelin
          • ✅Quiz
        • ✅Slot 8: Audit Findings 201
          • Notes
          • 1inch Liquidity - Consensus
          • Original Dollar - Trail of Bits
          • Synthetix EtherCollateral - Sigma Prime
          • Holdefi - OpenZeppelin
          • Quiz
      • ✅Epoch ∞
        • ✅RACE #4 - ERC20 Implementation
        • ✅RACE #5 - ERC1155 Implementation
        • ✅RACE #6 - ERC721 Application
        • ✅RACE #7 - Bored Ape
        • ✅RACE #8 - ERC721 Roles
        • ✅RACE #9 - Proxy
        • ✅RACE #10 - Test Cases
        • ✅RACE #11 - Staking
        • ✅RACE #12 - ERC20 Permit
        • ✅RACE #13 - ERC20 with Callback
        • ✅RACE #14 - Lending
        • ✅RACE #15 - DEX
        • ✅RACE #16 - Flash Loan
        • ✅RACE #17
    • DeFi
      • Glossary
        • TWAP vs. VWAP
        • Tranches
      • DeFi MOOC
        • Lecture 2: Introduction to Blockchain Technologies
        • Lecture 5: DEX
        • Lecture 6: Decentralized Lending
        • Lecture 10: Privacy on the Blockchain
        • Lecture 12: Practical Smart Contract Security
        • Lecture 13: DeFi Security
      • Uniswap V2
      • Compound V3
        • ✅Whitepaper
        • ✅Interacting with Compound
          • ✅Supply and Redeem
          • ✅Borrow and Repay
          • ✅Liquidation
          • ✅Long and Short
        • ✅Interest Model
        • CToken
      • Aave
      • Chainlink
        • ✅Getting Started
        • ✅Data Feeds
        • ✅VRF
      • Optimism
        • Bedrock
      • LayerZero
      • Opensea
        • Seaport
    • EVM
      • ✅Andreas Antonopoulos - The Ethereum Virtual Machine
      • ✅Program The Blockchain - Smart Contract Storage
      • ✅EVM Codes - EVM Playground for Opcodes
      • ✅Fvictorio - EVM Puzzles
      • ✅Daltyboy11 - More EVM Puzzles
      • ✅EVM Through Huff
      • Noxx - EVM Deep Dives
      • ✅Jordan McKinney - EVM Explained
      • Openzepplin - Deconstructing a Solidity Contract
      • Jeancvllr - EVM Assembly
      • Peter Robinson - Solidity to Bytecode, Memory & Storage
      • Marek Kirejczyk - Ethereum Under The Hood
      • ✅Official Solidity Docs
      • Dissecting EVM using go-ethereum Eth client implementation - deliriusz.eth
    • Vulnerabilities
      • Rounding Issues
        • Kyberswap
      • Bridges
      • Governance / Voting Escrows
      • Bizzare Bug Classes
        • TIME - ERC2771Context + Multicall calldata manipulation
    • Fancy Topics
      • Vulnerabilities SoK
        • ✅Demystifying Exploitable Bugs in Smart Contracts
        • Blockchain Hacking Techniques 2022 Top 10 - Todo
      • yAcademy
        • Proxies
          • yAcademy - Proxy Basics
          • yAcademy - Proxies Deep Dive
          • yAcademy - Security Guide to Proxy Vulns
        • defi-fork-bugs
      • Spearbit
        • ✅Community Workshop: Riley Holterhus
        • Economic Security with fmrmf
        • Numerical Analysis for DeFi Audits: A TWAMM Case Study by Kurt Barry
  • Red Teaming
    • ✅Enumeration
      • Service Enumeration
        • SMTP (Port 25)
        • Samba (Port 139, 445)
        • SNMP (Port 161,162,10161,10162)
        • rsync (Port 873)
        • NFS (Port 2049)
        • Apache JServ Protocol (Port 8081)
        • NetBIOS
      • Nmap
      • Gobuster / Feroxbuster / FUFF / Wfuzz
      • Drupal
    • ✅Exploitation
      • Public Exploits
      • PHP Webshells
      • Reverse Shell
      • TTY
      • File Transfer
      • Metasploit
      • Password Spray
    • ✅Buffer Overflow
      • Step 0: Spiking (Optional)
      • Step 1: Fuzzing
      • Step 2: Finding the Offset
      • Step 3: Overwriting the EIP
      • Step 4: Finding Bad Characters
      • Step 5: Finding the Right Module
      • Step 6: Generating Shellcode and Gaining Root
    • ✅Privilege Escalation
      • Linux Privilege Escalation
        • Linux Permissions
        • Manual Enumeration
        • Automated Tools
        • Kernel Exploits
        • Passwords and File Permissions
        • SSH Keys
        • Sudo
        • SUID
        • Capabilities
        • Cron Jobs
        • NFS Root Squashing
        • Docker
        • GNU C Library
        • Exim
        • Linux Privilege Escalation Course Capstone
      • Windows Privilege Escalation
        • Manual Enumeration
        • Automated Tools
        • Kernel Exploits
        • Passwords and Port Forwarding
        • WSL
        • Token Impersonation and Potato Attacks
        • Meterpreter getsystem
        • Runas
        • UAC Bypass
        • Registry
        • Executable Files
        • Startup Applications
        • DLL Hijacking
        • Service Permissions (Paths)
        • CVE-2019-1388
        • HiveNightmare
        • Bypass Space Filter
    • ✅Post Exploitation
      • Linux Post Exploitation
        • Add a User
        • SSH Key
      • Windows Post Exploitation
        • windows-resources
        • Add a User
        • RDP
    • ✅Pivoting
      • Windows: Chisel
      • Linux: sshuttle
    • Active Directory (AD)
      • Initial Compromise
        • HTA Phishing
        • VBA Macro Phishing
        • LLMNR Poisoning
        • SMB Relay
        • GPP / cPassword
      • Domain Enumeration
        • Manual Enumeration
        • PowerView
        • BloodHound
      • Lateral Movement
        • PsExec
        • WMI
        • Runas
        • Pass the Hash
        • Overpass the Hash
        • Pass the Ticket
      • Kerberos
        • Kerberoast
        • AS-REP Roast
      • MS SQL Server
    • Command & Control (C2)
      • Cobalt Strike
        • Bypassing Defences
          • Artifact Kit
          • Resource Kit
          • AMSI Bypass
          • PowerPick
        • Extending Cobalt Strike
          • Elevate Kit
          • Malleable C2 Profile
      • Metasploit
        • Payloads
        • Post Exploitation
        • Automation
      • C2 Development
    • Malware Development
      • "Hot Dropper"
      • PE Format
        • Overview
      • Process Injection
      • Reflective DLL
      • x86 <=> x64
      • Hooking
      • VeraCry
      • Offensive C#
      • AV Evasion
        • AV Evasion with C# and PowerShell
        • AMSI Bypass
  • Cryptography
    • Hash Functions
    • MAC
    • AES
      • Byte at a Time
      • CBC CCA
      • CBC Bit Flipping
      • CBC Padding Oracle
    • Diffie-Hellman
    • RSA
      • Prime Factors
      • Multiple Ciphertexts
      • Low Public Exponent
      • Low Private Exponent
    • ECC
    • Digital Signature
    • JWT
    • PRNG
    • SSL/TLS
    • Research
      • ✅Lattice-based Cryptography (Lattice)
      • Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC)
      • Oblivious Transfer (OT)
      • Secure Multi-party Computation (MPC)
      • Learning with Error (LWE)
      • Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE)
      • Zero Knowledge Proof (ZKP)
      • Oblivious RAM (ORAM)
  • Computer Science
    • Linux
      • Setup
      • curl
      • Hard Link vs. Symlink
      • Man Page
      • /dev/null
    • Python
      • New Features
      • Operators, Expressions, and Data Manipulation
      • Program Structure and Control Flow
      • Objects, Types, and Protocols
      • Functions 101
      • Generators
      • Classes and Object-Oriented Programming
      • Memory Management
      • Concurrency and Parallelism
        • Multithreading and Thread Safety
        • Asynchronization
        • Multiprocessing
        • Global Interpreter Lock (GIL)
      • Built-in Functions and Standard Library
        • import collections
        • import itertools
        • import sys
        • import re
        • import pickle
        • import json
      • Third-party Library
        • from pwn import *
        • import requests
        • from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
        • from scapy.all import *
        • py2exe
    • HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and React
      • HTML
      • CSS
      • JavaScript
        • var vs. let
        • Objects
        • Arrays
        • Functions
        • Modules
        • Asynchronous JavaScript
      • React
    • Data Structures and Algorithms
      • Binary Search
    • The Linux Programming Interface
      • Processes
        • Memory Allocation
        • The Process API
        • Process Creation
        • Process Termination
        • Monitoring Child Processes
        • Program Execution
      • Signals
      • Threads
        • Thread Synchronization
        • Thread Safety and Pre-Thread Storage
      • IPC
        • Pipes and FIFOs
        • Memory Mappings
        • Virtual Memory Operations
      • Sockets
    • Computer Systems
      • Hexadecimal
      • Signedness
      • Registers
      • Instructions
      • Syscall
      • Process Memory
      • Stack Frame
      • Preemptive Multitasking
      • IPC
      • Threads
    • Databases
      • MySQL
        • Basic Syntax
        • Data Types
        • Modifying Tables
        • Duplicating and Deleting
        • SELECT
        • Transaction
      • GraphQL
    • Distributed Systems
      • Introduction
        • What is a Distributed System?
        • Design Goals
        • Scaling Techniques
        • Types of Distributed Systems
      • Architecture
        • System Architectures
        • Example Architectures
      • Communication
        • Foundations
        • Remote Procedure Call
        • Message-oriented Communication
      • Coordination
        • Clock Synchronization
        • Logical Clock
      • Consistency and Replication
        • Introduction
        • Data-centric Consistency
        • Client-centric Consistency
    • Static Analysis
      • Intermediate Representation
      • Data Flow Analysis
      • Interprocedural Analysis
      • Pointer Analysis
      • Static Analysis for Security
      • Datalog-Based Program Analysis
      • Soundness and Soundiness
      • CFL-Reachability and IFDS
  • Web
    • ✅Prerequisites
      • OWASP Top 10
        • 1. Broken Access Control
        • 2. Cryptographic Failures
        • 3. Injection
        • 4. Insecure Design
        • 5. Security Misconfiguration
        • 6. Vulnerable and Outdated Components
        • 7. Identification and Authentication Failures
        • 8. Software and Data Integrity Failures
        • 9. Security Logging and Monitoring Failures
        • 10. SSRF
      • HTTP
        • HTTP Status Codes
        • HTTP Headers
      • Burp Suite
        • Burp Intruder
        • Burp Extender
        • Burp Collaborator
      • Information Gathering
        • DNS
        • Git
        • Editor
        • Server
      • Bug Bounty Report Writing
    • File Upload
      • Webshell
      • IIS, Nginx, and Apache Vulnerabilities
      • .htaccess (Apache) / web.config (IIS)
      • Alternate Data Stream
      • Code Review: bWAPP Unrestricted File Upload
    • SQL Injection (SQLi)
      • Cheat Sheet
      • UNION Attacks
      • Examining the Database
      • Blind SQL Injection
      • WAF Bypass
      • Out-Of-Band (OOB)
      • Webshell and UDF
      • sqlmap
        • Code Review: Initialization
        • Code Review: tamper
    • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
      • Cheat Sheet
      • Reflected XSS
      • Stored XSS
      • DOM-Based XSS
      • XSS Contexts
      • CSP
    • CSRF and SSRF
      • Client-Side Request Forgery (CSRF)
        • XSS vs. CSRF
        • CSRF Tokens and SameSite Cookies
      • Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
        • Attacks
        • Bypassing Restrictions
        • SSRF + Redis
    • XML External Entities (XXE)
    • Insecure Deserialization
      • Python Deserialization
      • PHP Deserialization
      • Java Deserialization
        • Shiro
        • FastJSON
        • WebLogic
    • HTTP Request Smuggling
    • OS Command Injection
      • Whitespace Bypass
      • Blacklist Bypass
      • Blind OS Command Injection
      • Lab 1: HITCON 2015 BabyFirst
      • Lab 2: HITCON 2017 BabyFirst Revenge
      • Lab 3: HITCON 2017 BabyFirst Revenge v2
    • ✅Directory Traversal
    • HTTP Parameter Pollution
    • Server-Side Template Injection (SSTI)
    • LDAP Injection
    • Redis
      • Authentication
      • RCE
      • Mitigations
  • Pwn
    • Linux Exploitation
      • Protections
      • Shellcoding
        • Calling Convention
        • Null-free
        • Reverse Shell
        • ORW
      • ROP
        • Stack Alignment
        • ret2text
        • ret2syscall
        • ret2libc
        • ret2csu
        • BROP
        • SROP
        • Stack Pivot
      • ptmalloc
        • chunks
        • malloc() and free()
        • bins
        • tcache
      • UAF
      • Race Conditions
        • TOCTTOU
        • Dirty Cow
        • Meltdown
        • Spectre
      • Kernel
      • Appendix: Tools
        • socat
        • LibcSearcher-ng
        • OneGadget
    • Windows Exploitation
      • Classic
      • SEH
      • Egghunting
      • Unicode
      • Shellcoding
      • ROP
      • Appendix: Tools
        • ImmunityDbg
        • Mona.py
    • Fuzzing
      • AFL++
        • Quickstart
        • Instrumentation
        • ASAN
        • Code Coverage
        • Dictionary
        • Parallelization
        • Partial Instrumentation
        • QEMU Mode
        • afl-libprotobuf-mutator
      • WinAFL
      • Fuzzilli
  • Reverse
    • Bytecode
      • Python Bytecode
    • 👑Z3 solver
    • angr
      • angr Template
Powered by GitBook
On this page
  • Motivation: Function Call
  • Stack
  • Calling Convention
  • Caller vs. Callee
  • Prologue vs. Epilogue
  • Prologue
  • Epilogue
  • Reference

Was this helpful?

  1. Computer Science
  2. Computer Systems

Stack Frame

Motivation: Function Call

Before functionA calls functionB, we have to save some information of functionA in order to recover its context when it returns:

  • Function arguments

  • Return address (the next RIP address when functionA returns)

  • Register values

In OS, this functionality is implemented using stack.

Stack

The stack is typically structured as a linear sequence of memory allocations known as stack frames. Each time a function is called, the stack will automatically allocate a new stack frame. As the function executes, it will use the given stack frame to store and operate upon its local variables. Once the function returns, this memory will automatically get released back to the stack.

The stack fulfils four main uses:

  • Track the "callstack" of a program. return values are "pushed" to the stack during a call and "popped" during a ret

  • Contain local variables of functions.

  • Provide scratch space (to alleviate register exhaustion).

  • Pass function arguments (always on x86, only for functions with "many" arguments on other architectures).

Relevant registers (amd64):

  • rsp

  • rbp

Relevant instructions (amd64)

  • push

  • pop

Calling Convention

The cdecl (which stands for C declaration) is a calling convention that originates from Microsoft's compiler for the C programming language and is used by many C compilers for the x86 architecture. In cdecl, subroutine arguments are passed on the stack.

Key Ideas:

  • Arguments are pushed onto the stack from right to left.

  • Return value is stored in $rax.

Also, the calling convention specifies stack alignment. Read this section to learn more:

Caller vs. Callee

Consider a vulnerable C code snippet:

int foo(int arg1, int arg2, int arg3)
{
    char buffer[64] = {0};
    gets(buffer);
    return 0;
}

Suppose the main function calls foo(), then the main function is the caller and foo() is the callee. When function call is happening, the caller is going to:

  1. Push arg3 onto the stack.

  2. Push arg2 onto the stack.

  3. Push arg1 onto the stack.

  4. Push return address (the address of the next instruction when the callee returns) onto the stack, so the CPU knows what to do next when the callee returns.

  5. Push old rbp (the rbp of the caller) onto the stack, so that the caller can reconstruct its stack frame when the callee returns.

Pictorially:

|      ...       | Low address
|     buffer     |
|      ...       |
|     old rbp    |
| return address |
|     arg1       |
|     arg2       |
|     arg3       | High address

Prologue vs. Epilogue

Prologue

Epilogue

Reference

PreviousProcess MemoryNextPreemptive Multitasking

Last updated 3 years ago

Was this helpful?

Stack Alignment
x86 calling conventionsWikipedia
x86 calling convention - Wikipedia
Logo