Intel Interview Question
Software Engineer / DevelopersExecute Disable bit (XD- Bit)
- A system feature that assists the processor to differentiate between code that can be executed safely and code that can be a threat to the system.
The NX bit specifically refers to bit number 63 (i.e. the most significant bit) of a 64-bit entry in the page table. If this bit is set to 0, then code can be executed from that page; if set to 1, code cannot be executed from that page, and anything residing there is assumed to be data. It is only available with the long mode (64-bit mode) and legacy Physical Address Extension (PAE) page table formats, but not x86's original 32-bit page table format because page table entries in that format lack the 63rd bit used to disable/enable execution. - from wikipedia
Refer to wikipedia at endotwikipediadotorgslashwikislashXD_bit
- SG May 08, 2007