Execute never is a technology that can be enabled on the ARM architecture to prevent malware from inserting itself in another process memory location and executing code. Execute never is a feature that allows each memory region to be tagged as not containing executable code by setting the execute never (XN) bit in the translation table entry. If the XN bit is set to 1, then any attempt to execute an instruction in that region results in a permission fault. If the XN bit is cleared to 0, then code can execute from that memory region.
Execute never also prevents speculative instruction fetches from memory regions that are marked as non- executable, which can avoid undesirable side-effects or vulnerabilities. By enabling execute never, the developer can protect the process memory from being hijacked by malware. Verified References:
* https://developer.arm.com/documentation/ddi0360/f/memory-management-unit/memory-access-control
/execute-never-bits
* https://developer.arm.com/documentation/den0013/d/The-Memory-Management-Unit/Memory- attributes/Execute-Never
* https://developer.arm.com/documentation/ddi0406/c/System-Level-Architecture/Virtual-Memory- System-Architecture-VMSA-/Memory-access-control/Execute-never-restrictions-on-instruction- fetching