Instruction Prefix Encoding for Cryptographic Memory Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing computer systems face challenges in ensuring memory safety and security, particularly against vulnerabilities such as buffer overflows and hardware attacks, which can compromise confidential information.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of instruction prefix encoding combined with cryptographic operations, using relative enumeration in pointers and cryptographic tweaks based on instruction prefixes and memory addresses, to provide fine-grain cryptographic protection for memory objects and their member variables.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If fine-grain cryptographic protection is implemented for memory objects and member variables, then memory security against software and hardware attacks is improved, but device complexity and overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines cryptographic protection mechanisms with existing memory management structures by integrating encryption/decryption operations into pointer dereferencing and memory access operations. The cryptographic context is merged with memory address translation, allowing security protection to be implemented without adding separate complex security hardware layers.
Solution Approach 2:
The cryptographic protection system is designed to provide multiple security functions through a unified mechanism that protects against buffer overflows, use-after-free errors, and hardware-based attacks simultaneously. The same cryptographic infrastructure serves both software vulnerability protection and hardware Trojan detection, reducing overall system complexity.
2Reliability
If additional metadata and instructions are added for memory protection, then memory safety is improved, but processing overhead and performance decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges cryptographic context information with existing memory address structures, particularly by incorporating encryption context into page table entries and pointer representations. This integration allows the system to provide fine-grain cryptographic protection without adding separate metadata structures that would increase memory overhead and processing burden.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs cryptographic context setup in advance during memory allocation and object creation phases. Encryption contexts are pre-computed and stored with memory objects, so that during actual memory access operations, the cryptographic protection can be applied directly without requiring complex real-time computation, thereby reducing processing overhead.
3Reliability
If cryptographic operations are performed on every memory access, then protection against hardware trojans is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements selective cryptographic protection based on the sensitivity and classification of memory objects. Not all memory accesses require full cryptographic verification - the system applies different levels of cryptographic scrutiny depending on the object type, access pattern, and security context, thereby reducing unnecessary energy consumption while maintaining protection against hardware attacks.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs cryptographic validation at strategically chosen points in the memory access chain rather than on every single access. By validating cryptographic contexts at critical boundaries (such as page table walks and pointer dereferencing points), the system achieves adequate protection against hardware trojans without the excessive energy cost of encrypting every byte access.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for instruction prefix encoding for cryptographic computing capability data types are described. In an embodiment, an apparatus includes an instruction decoder to decode a first instruction including a first prefix; and cryptography circuitry to perform a cryptographic operation on data, the cryptographic operation to be based at least in part on the first prefix and a relative enumeration in a pointer to the data.