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arXiv:2105.02124cs.CR

Intrinsic Propensity for Vulnerability in Computers? Arbitrary Code Execution in the Universal Turing Machine

Pontus Johnson

Early discovery. Linked by one identifiable commenter. This paper is outside the main ranking; a mention is not an endorsement.

Abstract

The universal Turing machine is generally considered to be the simplest, most abstract model of a computer. This paper reports on the discovery of an accidental arbitrary code execution vulnerability in Marvin Minsky's 1967 implementation of the universal Turing machine. By submitting crafted data, the machine may be coerced into executing user-provided code. The article presents the discovered vulnerability in detail and discusses its potential implications. To the best of our knowledge, an arbitrary code execution vulnerability has not previously been reported for such a simple system.

arXiv comments
Journal reference
DOI
Subjects
cs.CRCryptography and Security

On Hacker News

Linked by 1 identifiable commenter in 1 comment across 1 thread, from May 2021 to May 2021. Found in 1 HN submission from May 2021 to May 2021. Open submission discussions.

Comments linking this paper, per year.

Discussed in comments1 thread

  1. CVE-2021-32471 – Input validation in Marvin Minsky 1967 Turing Machine 1 comment

    • A better link is the research paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.02124 > The universal Turing machine is generally considered to be the simplest, most abstract model of a computer. This paper reports on the discovery of an accidental arbitrary code execution vulnerability in…

      segfaultbuserrView on HNParent context

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