Microsoft patents digital stamp to prove code is safe before it runs
Microsoft describes a system that checks computer code for safety during the building process and attaches a digital certificate to the final file. This certificate acts as a portable proof, allowing users to verify the code is safe without needing to see the original source code or run complex checks themselves.
In the filing’s own words
The techniques disclosed herein enable systems to provide a portable proof of verification that enables an external entity (e.g., a consumer) to examine the safety of the computer program. In general, the external entity does not have access to prior representations of a computer program (e.g., source code). Consequently, the external entity that receives a final executable version of a computer program (e.g., a native image) may be unable to verify its safety using standard tools such as static analysis. Accordingly, the present system implements a build pipeline that includes a certificate signature with a native image attesting that the computer program is safe to execute. The build pipeline includes the certificate signature if and only if the computer program passes a safety verification during compilation. In this way, the holder of the certificate signature can verify the safety of the computer program prior to loading and execution.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method for generating a portable proof of verification for a computer program comprising: receiving, at a build pipeline, the computer program from a responsible entity associated with the computer program; compiling, by the build pipeline, the computer program into an intermediate representation comprising a sequence of instructions; executing, by a static analysis tool, a safety verification of the intermediate representation of the computer program, wherein the static analysis tool classifies the computer program as a safe program based on an analysis of the sequence of instructions; in response to the static analysis tool classifying the computer program as the safe program, generating a native image of the computer program from the intermediate representation, wherein the native image includes a certificate signature comprising a cryptographic key and the certificate signature enables a verification of program safety without re-execution of the safety verification by the static analysis tool.
Facts
- Company
- Microsoft (MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC)
- Official title
- PORTABLE PROOF OF VERIFICATION TO GATE LOADING OF CODE AT RUNTIME
- Publication number
- US20260300490A1
- Application number
- 19096543
- Filed
- Mar 31, 2025
- Published
- Oct 1, 2026
- Inventors
- 2
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06F 21/57 Physics & computingMore from Microsoft in Security & privacy
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.