Function secure_vec 

pub fn secure_vec<T: Default + Clone>(size: usize) -> Result<SecureVec<T>>

Create a new secure vector with enhanced memory protection

This function creates a new SecureVec<T> with comprehensive memory protection features designed for storing sensitive cryptographic material.

Security Features

• Secure Allocation: Uses libsodium’s sodium_malloc() for memory allocation with guard pages
• Overflow Detection: Canary values and guard pages detect buffer overflows and underflows
• Memory Locking: Allocated memory is locked to prevent it from being swapped to disk
• Automatic Zeroing: Memory is automatically and securely zeroed when freed
• Use-after-free Protection: Helps mitigate use-after-free vulnerabilities

Performance Considerations

• Secure memory allocation has higher overhead than standard allocation
• Memory is page-aligned, which may use more memory than strictly necessary
• The memory locking feature may be subject to system-wide limits

Error Handling

This function returns an io::Result<SecureVec<T>> which will be an error if:

• The system has insufficient memory
• The process has reached its limit for locked memory
• The secure memory allocation fails for any other reason

Example

use libsodium_rs as sodium;
use libsodium_rs::utils::vec_utils;
use sodium::ensure_init;

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    ensure_init()?;

    // Create a secure vector
    let mut secure_vec = vec_utils::secure_vec::<u8>(32)?;

    // Use it like a regular vector
    for i in 0..secure_vec.len() {
        secure_vec[i] = i as u8;
    }

    // When it goes out of scope, memory is automatically zeroed and freed
    Ok(())
}

Arguments

• size - The initial size of the vector

Returns

• io::Result<SecureVec<T>> - A new secure vector or an error if allocation failed