Core dump privacy during application failure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9251339-B2
Application number	US-96715307-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 29, 2007
Priority date	Dec 29, 2007
Publication date	Feb 2, 2016
Grant date	Feb 2, 2016

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to core dump generation during application fault handling and provide a method, system and computer program product for privacy preservation of core dump data during application fault handling. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for privacy preservation of core dump data during application fault handling can be provided. The method can include receiving a crash signal for an application and generating a core dump with object data for the application. The method further can include obfuscating the object data in the core dump and writing the core dump with obfuscated object data to a file. In this way, the privacy of the object data in the core dump can be preserved.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for privacy preservation of core dump data during application fault handling, the method comprising:
receiving a crash signal for an application;
generating a core dump with object data for the application in response to receiving the crash signal, the object data in the core dump indicating information related to different threads of the application and a state of the application;
obfuscating the object data in the core dump before writing the core dump to a file by utilizing symmetric key encryption to encrypt the object data in the core dump using an encryption key from the core dump, the obfuscation of the object data resulting in the information related to the different threads of the application and the state of the application remaining private; and,
writing the core dump with obfuscated object data to the file.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the crash signal for the application, comprises receiving the crash signal for the application executing in a virtual machine.

3. A computer data processing system for privacy preservation of core dump data during application fault handling, the system comprising:
a host computing platform comprising a memory, an operating system, and also at least one processor, the operating system supporting the operation of a virtual machine;
a signal handler executing in the memory of the host computer platform and coupled to the virtual machine and configured to generate a core dump for a faulting application in the virtual machine responsive to a crash signal, the core dump including object data indicating information related to different threads of the faulting application and a state of the faulting application; and,
a privacy preservation module executing in the memory of the host computer platform and comprising program code enabled to obfuscate the object data in the core dump before writing the core dump to a file by utilizing symmetric key encryption to encrypt the object data in the core dump using an encryption key from the core dump, the obfuscation of the object data resulting in the information related to the different threads of the faulting application and the state of the faulting application remaining private.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the privacy preservation module is coupled to the signal handler.

5. The system of claim 3 , wherein the privacy preservation module is included as part of the signal handler.

6. The system of claim 3 , wherein the program code of the privacy preservation is enabled to subsequent recovery of the object data through decryption.

7. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable storage medium embodying computer usable program code for privacy preservation of core dump data during application fault handling, the computer program product comprising:
computer usable program code for receiving a crash signal for an application;
computer usable program code for generating a core dump with object data for the application in response to receiving the crash signal, the object data in the core dump indicating information related to different threads of the application and a state of the application;
computer usable program code for obfuscating the object data in the core dump before writing the core dump to a file by utilizing symmetric key encryption to encrypt the object data in the core dump using an encryption key from the core dump, the obfuscation of the object data resulting in the information related to the different threads of the application and the state of the application remaining private; and,
computer usable program code for writing the core dump with obfuscated object data to the file.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the computer usable program code for receiving the crash signal for the application, comprises computer usable program code for receiving the crash signal for the application executing in a virtual machine.

Assignees

• Bullis Paul K
• Fox James E
• Julin Daniel P
• Trotter Martin J
• IBM

Inventors

• Bullis Paul K
• Fox James E
• Julin Daniel P
• Trotter Martin J

Classifications

• G06F21/50

  Monitoring users, programs or devices to maintain the integrity of platforms, e.g. of processors, firmware or operating systems · CPC title

• G06F21/62

  Protecting access to data via a platform, e.g. using keys or access control rules · CPC title

• G06F2221/2107

  File encryption · CPC title

• G06F21/554 Primary

  involving event detection and direct action · CPC title