Binary Rewriting without Relocation Information

Binary rewriting softwares transform executables by maintaining the original binary’s functionality, while improving it in one or more metrics, such as runtime performance, energy use, memory use, security, and reliability. Existing static binary rewriters are unable to rewrite binaries that do not contain relocation information, which is typically discarded by linkers unless specifically instructed otherwise. Unfortunately, most deployed binaries lack such information; hence they cannot be statically rewritten at all. We present a new approach to binary rewriting capable of rewriting binaries statically without relocation information. This is the first technology that allows for application of complex static transformations to any binary. This technology extends the power of binary rewriting technology past developers and into the hands of end-users. This technology has been incorporated into a working prototype known as SecondWrite, which has been used to rewrite and apply optimizations to a subset of SPEC benchmarks. Tests yielded reasonable overheads, with an average speedup of 27% for non-optimized binaries, and an average slowdown of 7% for optimized versions. Our tool can be used as a platform for complex optimization and security enhancements of any binary for the first time ever.