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Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security pp 984–986Cite as

Proof-Carrying Code

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Definition

Proof-Carrying Code (PCC) is a general mechanism for verifying that a code fragment can be executed safely on a host system. The key technical detail that makes PCC simple yet very powerful is that the code fragment is required to be accompanied by a detailed and precise explanation of why it satisfies the safety policy. This leaves the code receiver with the simple task of verifying that the explanation is correct and that it matches the code in question.

Background

More and more software systems are designed and built to be extensible and configurable dynamically. The extensions can be in the form of software upgrades, add-on modules, plugins, or applets. When the producer of the extension is not trusted, there is a need for a general mechanism that can be used to allow even untrusted system extensions to be integrated into an existing software system without compromising the stability and security of the host system.

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Recommended Reading

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California, 783 Soda Hall, 94720, Berkeley, CA, USA

    George Necula Professor

Authors
  1. George Necula Professor
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics and Computing Science, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Henk C. A. van Tilborg

  2. Center for Secure Information Systems, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 22030-4422, USA

    Sushil Jajodia

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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Necula, G. (2011). Proof-Carrying Code. In: van Tilborg, H.C.A., Jajodia, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5906-5_864

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