4.10. Verification of class Files
Even though a compiler for the Java programming language must only produce class files that satisfy all the static and structural constraints in the previous sections, the Java Virtual Machine has no guarantee that any file it is asked to load was generated by that compiler or is properly formed. Applications such as web browsers do not download source code, which they then compile; these applications download already-compiled class files. The browser needs to determine whether the class file was produced by a trustworthy compiler or by an adversary attempting to exploit the Java Virtual Machine.
An additional problem with compile-time checking is version skew. A user may have successfully compiled a class, say ...
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