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Foundations of Linux ARM64: Debug, Disassemble, and Reverse

Function Parameters and Stack

Explore how ARM64 handles function parameters using registers and the stack. Understand the typical stack frame layout, function prolog and epilog sequences, and how local variables are managed during function execution and debugging.

We'll cover the following...

Function parameters example

This lesson discusses how a caller function passes its parameters via registers and how a callee (the called function) accesses them.

Here is the source code for the example:

C++
// FunctionParameters.cpp
int arithmetic (int a, int b);
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
       int result = arithmetic (1, 1);
       return 0;
}
// Arithmetic.cpp
int arithmetic (int a, int b)
{
       b = b + a;
       ++a;
       b = b * a;
       
       return b; 
}

Stack structure

The registers, x0–x29, are used to address stack memory locations. Here, we provide a typical example of the stack memory layout for the following function where the x29 register is used: ...