Guest-Side Emulation for Hypervisor Security
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Solution Overview
Problem
Virtualized computer systems face security vulnerabilities due to hardware emulation provided by the hypervisor, which can be exploited to gain privileged access, increasing the attack surface.
Innovation Solution
Embedding hardware emulation features within the virtual machine instead of the hypervisor, reducing the code executed by the hypervisor and moving potential vulnerabilities into the virtual machine's execution space, thereby reducing the incentives for exploitation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If hardware emulation is provided by the hypervisor, then virtual machines can access hardware features, but the attack surface increases and security vulnerabilities are exposed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the hardware emulation code from the hypervisor and relocates it to the virtual machine's execution space. This separation removes the vulnerable emulation code from the hypervisor's address space, preventing exploits from gaining direct hypervisor privileges while maintaining hardware feature access functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the emulation functionality into a separate executable module that runs within the virtual machine's address space rather than the hypervisor's address space. This segmentation isolates potential security vulnerabilities to a contained environment, limiting the impact of any exploits to the virtual machine level.
2Ease of operation
If hardware emulation code is embedded in the hypervisor, then hardware features are accessible, but vulnerabilities in the emulation code can lead to privilege escalation
Solution Approach 1:
The emulation code is extracted from the hypervisor's core execution space and placed in a separate address space associated with the virtual machine. This extraction ensures that even if the emulation code contains vulnerabilities, exploitation cannot directly escalate to hypervisor privileges, thereby maintaining system reliability and security.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtual machine's address space acts as an intermediary layer between the hardware emulation functionality and the hypervisor. This intermediary containment allows hardware features to remain accessible while preventing direct privilege escalation paths from emulation vulnerabilities to the hypervisor.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the hypervisor executes emulation code, then hardware emulation is provided, but the code execution surface is expanded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the emulation code execution from the hypervisor's address space and relocates it to the virtual machine's address space. This extraction reduces the hypervisor's code execution surface to only essential hypervisor functions, while the emulation functionality operates in a separate, isolated execution environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments code execution into distinct address spaces: the hypervisor address space for core virtualization functions and the virtual machine address space for emulation code. This segmentation reduces the attack surface of the hypervisor while maintaining full emulation functionality within the virtualized environment.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for embedding emulation support for a hardware feature into a virtual machine to enhance the security of the hypervisor and host system. An example method may comprise: receiving, by a processing device executing a hypervisor, a message indicating a hardware feature is unavailable; determining, by the hypervisor, whether a virtual machine is capable of emulating the hardware feature; and causing, by the hypervisor, the virtual machine to emulate the hardware feature in response to determining the virtual machine is capable of emulating the hardware feature.