Elevator: A Deterministic Static Binary Translator for x86-64 to AArch64 Without Heuristics
By
matt_d
Crispy enough to crunch, soft enough to enjoy. A good bake.
Summary
Elevator is the first binary translator that can statically translate entire x86-64 executables to AArch64 without debug information, source code, or assumptions about code layout. Unlike existing systems that rely on heuristics or runtime fallbacks, Elevator considers all possible interpretations of every byte and produces separate translations for each feasible one ahead of time. It generates complete, self-contained binaries with no runtime component, enabling testing, validation, certification, and cryptographic signing before deployment. Evaluated on the SPECint 2006 suite, Elevator achieves performance comparable to or better than QEMU's user-mode JIT emulation, though with substantial code size expansion.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledWe present Elevator, the first binary translator that statically translates entire x86-64 executables to AArch64 without debug information, source code, or assumptions about code layout.
Unlike existing systems, which rely on heuristics or runtime fallbacks to handle code-versus-data decoding errors, Elevator considers all possible interpretations of every byte and produces a separate translation for each feasible one ahead of time.
The approach is deterministic and produces complete, self-contained binaries with no runtime component in the trusted code base.
The key benefit is that the output is the actual code that will run, enabling testing, validation, certification, and cryptographic signing prior to deployment, reducing risk compared to emulators or JIT compilers.
Elevator achieves performance on par with or better than QEMU's user-mode JIT emulation.
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