# How does inline assembly and the physical machine fit into the abstract machine model, or exist outside of it?

**URL:** <https://internals.rust-lang.org/t/how-does-inline-assembly-and-the-physical-machine-fit-into-the-abstract-machine-model-or-exist-outside-of-it/22545>\
**Category:** language design\
**Created:** [March 6, 2025, 5:51pm UTC](https://internals.rust-lang.org/t/how-does-inline-assembly-and-the-physical-machine-fit-into-the-abstract-machine-model-or-exist-outside-of-it/22545 "2025-03-06T17:51:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 41

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**Author:** ![binarycat](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/internals.rust-lang.org/binarycat/32/12210_2.png) [@binarycat](https://internals.rust-lang.org/u/binarycat)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 4:28am UTC](https://internals.rust-lang.org/t/how-does-inline-assembly-and-the-physical-machine-fit-into-the-abstract-machine-model-or-exist-outside-of-it/22545/41 "2025-05-09T04:28:36Z")

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/proc/self/mem is outside the scope of rust's safety guarantees. otherwise this would open a can of worms that could not be closed except by forbidding debuggers from poking memory or marking every impure function as unsafe.

like, what if you invoke gdb to poke memory? what if you modify .bash\_profile to poke memory? what if you send an http request to a hypervisor to poke memory? what if you run a spin loop, and the noise of the fans whirring up activates a beam of ionizing radiation pointed directly at the CPU? what if opening the disk drive makes the computer fall off a cliff?

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