POPL 2026
Sun 11 - Sat 17 January 2026 Rennes, France
Sun 11 Jan 2026 16:18 - 16:36 at Salle 19 - Hardware Security Chair(s): Jérémy Thibault

This paper addresses the challenges of secure compilation in the face of speculative execution attacks like Spectre. We explore the integration of speculative semantics into CompCert, a formally verified compiler, to counter transient execution leaks. Key challenges include undefined behaviors during transient execution, which arise from transient memory access and function calls/returns. To mitigate these, we propose a protection pass inserting speculation barriers after branch instructions, ensuring constant time conservation. Additionally, a strict calling convention is introduced to decouple speculation analysis between functions, preventing cross-function interference. Our work highlights the necessity of formalizing speculation models in the case of real compiler, where inter-procedural analysis is not possible.

Sun 11 Jan

Displayed time zone: Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris change

16:00 - 17:30
Hardware SecurityPriSC at Salle 19
Chair(s): Jérémy Thibault EPFL
16:00
18m
Talk
FSLH: Flexible Mechanized Speculative Load Hardening
PriSC
Jonathan Baumann Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy (MPI-SP), Roberto Blanco Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy (MPI-SP), Léon Ducruet Aarhus University, Sebastian Harwig MPI-SP and Ruhr University Bochum, Cătălin Hriţcu MPI-SP
File Attached
16:18
18m
Talk
Towards Robust Secure Compilation in Presence of Speculative Execution
PriSC
Léopold Clément Télécom Paris, Ulrich Kühne Télécom Paris, Florian Brandner Télécom Paris, Renaud Pacalet Télécom Paris
16:36
18m
Talk
Compiling countermeasures against fault attacks with “Tracing LLVM”
PriSC
Sébastien Michelland Inria Rennes, Christophe Deleuze Université Grenoble-Alpes - Grenoble INP - LCIS, Laure Gonnord Université Grenoble-Alpes - Grenoble INP - LCIS
File Attached
16:54
18m
Talk
Modular and automatic formal verification of a RISC-V processor with security mechanisms
PriSC
Pierre Wilke CentraleSupélec, Cyprien Jules CentraleSupélec, Inria, CNRS, Univ. Rennes, Guillaume Hiet CentraleSupélec, Inria, CNRS, Univ. Rennes
17:12
18m
Talk
Fun with flags: How Compilers Break and Fix Constant-Time Code
PriSC
Antoine Geimer Univ. Lille, CNRS, Inria, Clémentine Maurice Univ. Lille, Inria, CNRS