A brief evaluation of Intel®MPX

Abstract

MPX implements hardware accelerated support for detection and prevention of memory corruption. This paper will examine the effectiveness of MPX. Herein we attempt to find false positives and false negatives, and to determine what attacks may still be feasible. In particular we wish to see if a system protected by MPX is still exploitable. Intel MPX appears to provide a solid mitigation technique, but may be vulnerable in special circumstances related to how it depends on the surrounding framework to function.