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\section{\Glsdesc*{wasm}}\label{sec:wasm}

The open \Acrfull{wasm} standard defines a portable virtual instruction set architecture, binary code format and text format for execution inside a virtual (stack) machine~\autocite{wasm3spec}.
It is developed and maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)\footnote{\url[2026-07-01]{https://w3.org/}} to support high-performance applications in web-based environments.
While the initial implementations of \Gls{wasm} runtime environments were confined to web browsers\footnote{In 2016, experimental \Gls{wasm} runtimes were implemented in Firefox, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge: \url[2026-07-01]{https://hacks.mozilla.org/2016/03/a-webassembly-milestone/}}, \Gls{wasm} does not make any web-specific assumptions, so many different standalone runtimes like \textquote{Wasmtime}\footnote{\url[2026-07-01]{https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime/}} or the \Acrfull{wamr} (see \autoref{sec:wamr}) have emerged since.

Besides instructions or execution behavior, two file formats are defined by the \Gls{wasm} standard: the \Gls{wasm} \textquote{Binary Format} \iffalse{}(see \autoref{lst:wasmexample})\fi for space-efficient representation and fast transmission, and the Lisp-like \Gls{wasm} \textquote{Text Format} for human readability (see \autoref{lst:watexample}).
Both formats are equivalent, they represent the same underlying content differently for alternate purposes.

% \begin{codeblock}[label=lst:wasmexample]{\Gls{wasm} Binary Format}{.wasm}
%   \inputminted{hex}{\subfix{listings/wat_example.hex}}
% \end{codeblock}

\begin{codeblock}[label=lst:watexample]{\Gls{wasm} Text Format}{.wat}
  \inputminted{wat}{\subfix{listings/wat_example.wat}}
\end{codeblock}

In a typical workflow, a program written in a high-level language like C or Rust gets compiled to the \Gls{wasm} binary format using an LLVM-based toolchain, the binary is then executed in a web-based or standalone runtime environment.
The binaries mainly consist of \textit{values}, \textit{instructions}, \textit{functions} and \textit{memory}, bundled into \textit{modules}.
To execute a program, the module is loaded from its binary format representation, \textit{decoded}, \textit{validated}, \textit{instantiated} and lastly, \textit{invoked}.

During runtime, \Gls{wasm} provides memory safety, control flow integrity and independent execution (sandboxing)\footnote{\url[2026-07-01]{https://webassembly.org/docs/security/}}.
Memory safety is achieved through a bounds-checked linear memory with an inaccessible call stack\footnote{The call stack is not part of \Gls{wasm}'s linear memory but the execution environment: \url[2026-07-01]{https://bytecodealliance.github.io/wamr.dev/blog/the-wamr-memory-model/}}, preventing arbitrary memory accesses and buffer overflows.
Control flow integrity stems from structured control flow: branches target verifiable positions and function calls are index-based and verified against the function table\footnote{\url[2026-07-01]{https://clang.llvm.org/docs/ControlFlowIntegrity.html}}.
Additionally, the running program cannot observe its (immutable) source code to prevent control flow hijacking.
Sandboxing is enforced by isolating each module's state: a module can only interact with the outside world through explicitly imported functions and resources provided by its host runtime.

Its safety features, portability, language/hardware independence and well-definedness make \Gls{wasm} an interesting platform even for resource-constrained and security-critical systems.

% \subsection{\Glsdesc*{wasm} Binary Format}\label{ssec:wasmbinaryformat}
% \subsection{\Glsdesc*{wasm} Text Format}\label{ssec:wasmtextformat}
% \subsection{\Glsdesc*{wasm} Memories}\label{ssec:wasmmemories}
% \subsection{\Glsdesc*{wasm} Control Flow}\label{ssec:wasmcontrolflow}

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