Class Schedule

Here is a tentative schedule for the semester. You are expected to read the papers assigned for each class before you come to class. You may not understand everything in a paper when you first read it. That is okay; the class discussion will fill gaps in your understanding.

There will be no postponements of the exam dates. Please do not ask. These dates have been announced at the beginning of the semester. Plan your semester accordingly

Many links on this page (papers, homeworks, slides, etc.) will be accessible only from within the IISc network. Please log in via VPN and access the papers. There are some video links available for lectures from when this course was offered online during the covid years in 2020-2021. These are provided for reference, but I might cover things differently in class.

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  • Topic
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  • Readings
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  • Slides
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  • YouTube
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  • Code-reuse attacks
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  • [ROP]
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  • (contd.)
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  • video link
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  • Design space of defenses
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  • (contd.)
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  • video link
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  • System Call Sandboxes
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  • [Dyck]
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  • Sometime in September 2026
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  • Mid-term exam
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  • Mid-term
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  • Mid-term
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  • Mid-term
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  • Capabilities and Access Control
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  • [ConfDep], [AccessControl], [MLS]
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  • Slides
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  • video link
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  • Injection Attacks and Defenses
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  • [XSSDefenses] [XSRFDefenses]
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  • Slides
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  • video link
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  • Unmapped speculation contract
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  • [USC/Ward]
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  • Slides
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  • Virtualization: VMI and Applications
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  • [VMI1] [VMI2] [VMI3]
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  • Slides
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  • video link


Syllabus and Readings

The syllabus is roughly follows. This is subject to change and I may add/delete papers. We will cover a broad spectrum of topics, ranging from attacks to defenses. The readings assigned for each topic appear below, and are also referenced in the schedule. I might occassionally use slides for class presentations, and will post those slides to Sakai. Many of the links to readings below point to files that sit behind a paywall. IISc has subscriptions to these paid sites. To access such readings for free, please click on the links from a machine on the iisc.ac.in domain or, if you're outside campus, using IISc VPN. Many authors also post their papers to their Web pages. Just Google the title of the paper and you will likely find a free copy.

  • Topic
  • Required Readings