execve() argv in GAS AT&T assembler

Question

My code:

.section .data
name: .string "/bin/sh"
args:
        .string "-c"
        .string "ls"

.section .text
.globl _start
_start:
        pushq $0
        pushq name

        movq $59, %rax
        movq %rsp, %rdi

        pushq $0
        pushq args

        movq %rsp, %rsi
        movq $0, %rdx

        syscall

I know that the second argument of execve is array of chars.

How to do this in assembly avoiding this:

execve("./payload", ["./payload"], 0x7ffc291fd160 /* 40 vars */) = 0
execve("/bin/sh", [0x736c00632d], NULL) = -1 EFAULT (Bad address)
--- SIGSEGV {si_signo=SIGSEGV, si_code=SEGV_MAPERR, si_addr=0xfffffffffffffff2} ---
+++ killed by SIGSEGV +++
Segmentation fault

Answer 1

The execve system call has signature

execve(const char *path, char *const argv[], char *const envp[]);

The argument vector is an array of strings, that is, a pointer to an array of pointers to arrays of characters. You however supplied a pointer to an array of characters, which is incorrect and will not work. To fix this, add an array of pointers referring to your arguments:

        .section .data
name:   .string "/bin/sh"
arg1:   .string "-c"
arg2:   .string "ls"

args:   .quad name
        .quad arg1
        .quad arg2
        .quad 0

        .section .text
        .globl _start
_start: movq $59, %rax
        leaq name(%rip), %rdi
        leaq args(%rip), %rsi
        movq $0, %rdx

        syscall

See how now args is a NULL-terminated array of pointers to the arguments. Also note that the first argument (at index 0) is conventionally the program name itself. It won't work as expected to pass an actual option there.

I have also simplified the code by loading the addresses of the strings directly using a lea instruction instead of the roundabout way you used.