The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 17, 2026
Filed:
Aug. 08, 2023
Nxp B.v., Eindhoven, NL;
Marcel Medwed, Graz, AT;
Erik Kraft, Graz, AT;
Jan Hoogerbrugge, Helmond, NL;
Tobias Schneider, Graz, AT;
NXP B.V., Eindhoven, NL;
Abstract
A method is provided to protect a stack of return addresses from manipulation. The return address indicates where to return in a computer program after a subroutine is called. In the method, an encryption key and an initial tweak value is selected. For a return address to be stored on the stack, a first chained address is generated by encrypting the return address with the encryption key and the initial tweak value. The first chained address is provided to the stack instead of the return address. For a subsequent return address that is subsequent to the return address, a second chained address is generated by encrypting the subsequent return address with the encryption key and the first chained address. The second chained address is provided to the stack instead of the subsequent return address. The method provides effective protection without requiring additional memory in a memory limited system.