Exploiting Unix File-System Races via Algorithmic Complexity Attacks

We defeat two proposed Unix file-system race condition defense mechanisms. First, we attack the probabilistic defense mechanism of Tsafrir, et al., published at USENIX FAST 2008. We then show that the same attack breaks the kernel-based dynamic race detector of Tsyrklevich and Yee, published at USENIX Security 2003. We then argue that all kernel-based dynamic race detectors must have a model of the programs they protect or provide imperfect protection. The techniques we develop for performing these attacks work on multiple Unix operating systems, on uni- and multi-processors, and are useful for exploiting most Unix file-system races. We conclude that programmers should use provably-secure methods for avoiding race conditions when accessing the file-system.