Re: How to protect a file from debugging

Oliver Welter
2007-06-11T09:38:19Z

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>> I have an application, lets say a simple text editor, that is used to
>> read/write sensitive information.
>> Now I start gdb, attach it to the process and call "gcore" which - for
>> my understanding - dumps the entire memory of the process to a file. So
>> the core dump reveals my secret data.
>
> Why is that a problem? You are one only reading the same secret data
> that you just entered yourself in the editor.
>

Before the editor can access the data, its integrity is checked and the
editor has certain properties, e.g. not allowing to store the data
outside of an encrypted filesystem. So if an unchecked application can
gather the data, it might leave the system.