Luci - Loader-based Dynamic Software Updates for Off-the-shelf Shared Objects

Explore a conference talk from USENIX ATC '23 that introduces Luci, a lightweight linker/loader technique for dynamically updating shared libraries during runtime. Learn how this innovative approach exploits position-independent code indirection mechanisms to prevent downtimes and service unavailability caused by frequent vulnerability patches. Discover how Luci adapts to current build and package-update mechanisms of common Linux distributions, requiring no source modifications or infrastructure changes. Examine the demonstration of this technique on popular libraries like Expat and libxcrypt, using unmodified binaries from Debian and Ubuntu packages, and understand how it enables updating the majority of releases without process restarts.

USENIX ATC '23 - Luci: Loader-based Dynamic Software Updates for Off-the-shelf Shared Objects