This article discusses Ken Thompson's Turing award lecture titled "Reflections on Trusting Trust" where he explains how to modify a C compiler to insert a backdoor when compiling the "login" program. It also explores the running of the backdoored compiler using Ken's actual code.
Table of contents
Step 1: Write a Self-Reproducing ProgramStep 2: Compilers LearnStep 3: Learn a BackdoorRunning the CodeTimelineControlled DeploymentA Buggy VersionA Modern VersionReflections on ReflectionsShare this post