<s>
The	O
Global	B-General_Concept
Offset	I-General_Concept
Table	I-General_Concept
,	O
or	O
GOT	O
,	O
is	O
a	O
section	O
of	O
a	O
computer	B-Application
program	I-Application
's	O
(	O
executables	B-Application
and	O
shared	B-Library
libraries	I-Library
)	O
memory	O
used	O
to	O
enable	O
computer	B-Application
program	I-Application
code	I-Application
compiled	B-Language
as	O
an	O
ELF	O
file	O
to	O
run	B-General_Concept
correctly	O
,	O
independent	B-Operating_System
of	O
the	O
memory	B-General_Concept
address	I-General_Concept
where	O
the	O
program	B-Language
's	I-Language
code	I-Language
or	O
data	O
is	O
loaded	B-Operating_System
at	O
runtime	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
maps	O
symbols	O
in	O
programming	O
code	O
to	O
their	O
corresponding	O
absolute	B-General_Concept
memory	I-General_Concept
addresses	I-General_Concept
to	O
facilitate	O
Position	B-Operating_System
Independent	I-Operating_System
Code	I-Operating_System
(	O
PIC	O
)	O
and	O
Position	B-Operating_System
Independent	I-Operating_System
Executables	I-Operating_System
(	O
PIE	O
)	O
which	O
are	O
loaded	B-Operating_System
to	O
a	O
different	O
memory	B-General_Concept
address	I-General_Concept
each	O
time	O
the	O
program	O
is	O
started	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
runtime	O
memory	B-General_Concept
address	I-General_Concept
,	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
absolute	O
memory	B-General_Concept
address	I-General_Concept
of	O
variables	O
and	O
functions	O
is	O
unknown	O
before	O
the	O
program	O
is	O
started	O
when	O
PIC	O
or	O
PIE	O
code	O
is	O
run	B-General_Concept
so	O
cannot	O
be	O
hardcoded	O
during	O
compilation	B-Language
by	O
a	O
compiler	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Global	B-General_Concept
Offset	I-General_Concept
Table	I-General_Concept
is	O
represented	O
as	O
the	O
.got	O
and	O
.got.plt	O
sections	O
in	O
an	O
ELF	O
file	O
which	O
are	O
loaded	B-Operating_System
into	O
the	O
program	O
's	O
memory	O
at	O
startup	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
operating	O
system	O
's	O
dynamic	B-Application
linker	I-Application
updates	O
the	O
global	B-General_Concept
offset	I-General_Concept
table	I-General_Concept
relocations	B-Library
(	O
symbol	O
to	O
absolute	B-General_Concept
memory	I-General_Concept
addresses	I-General_Concept
)	O
at	O
program	O
startup	O
or	O
as	O
symbols	O
are	O
accessed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
the	O
mechanism	O
that	O
allows	O
shared	B-Library
libraries	I-Library
(	O
.so	O
)	O
to	O
be	O
relocated	O
to	O
a	O
different	O
memory	B-General_Concept
address	I-General_Concept
at	O
startup	O
and	O
avoid	O
memory	B-General_Concept
address	I-General_Concept
conflicts	O
with	O
the	O
main	O
program	O
or	O
other	O
shared	B-Library
libraries	I-Library
,	O
and	O
to	O
harden	O
computer	B-Application
program	I-Application
code	I-Application
from	O
exploitation	O
.	O
</s>
