[PATCH v3 0/1] Fix IAT (Import Address Table) alignment on AArch64

Project / Subsystem

binutils / binutils

Date

2026-05-05

Proposer

Evgeny Karpov <evgeny.karpov@arm.com>

Source type

public_inbox

Consensus

Proposed

Sentiment

/10

Technical tradeoffs

  • Ensures correct memory access and prevents relocation errors on AArch64.
  • Adds a small amount of padding to the IAT to enforce alignment.
  • No significant performance impact expected.

All attributes

project
binutils
subsystem
binutils
patch_id
discussion_id
20260505083445.4558-1-evgeny.karpov@arm.com
source_type
public_inbox
title
[PATCH v3 0/1] Fix IAT (Import Address Table) alignment on AArch64
headline
Fix IAT (Import Address Table) alignment on AArch64
tldr
This patch aligns the Import Address Table (IAT) to 8 bytes for PE32+ on AArch64 to prevent relocation issues.
proposer
Evgeny Karpov <evgeny.karpov@arm.com>
consensus
Proposed
outcome
proposed
sentiment_score
technical_tradeoffs
  • Ensures correct memory access and prevents relocation errors on AArch64.
  • Adds a small amount of padding to the IAT to enforce alignment.
  • No significant performance impact expected.
series_id
binutils:fix iat (import address table) alignment on aarch64
series_role
cover
series_parts
  • {"title":"Fix IAT (Import Address Table) alignment on AArch64","url":"https://inbox.sourceware.org/binutils/afmmy2XjxoHlhiqx@arm.com"}
tags
  • binutils
  • aarch64
  • iat
  • alignment
  • pe32+
bugzilla_url
date
2026-05-05T00:00:00.000Z

[PATCH v3 0/1] Fix IAT (Import Address Table) alignment on AArch64

This patch aligns the Import Address Table (IAT) to 8 bytes for PE32+ binaries on AArch64. This ensures that addresses placed in the IAT are properly aligned for ldr (load register) instructions, preventing potential relocation issues. The patch modifies binutils/dlltool.c to implement the alignment.