Live Migration Integrity via Trusted Micro-Processor Signatures
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Solution Overview
Problem
The hypervisor does not provide a scheme to guarantee the integrity of data migrated from a source co-processing unit (e.g., GPU, APU, compute processor, tensor, neural network processor) to the target co-processing unit during live migration, leading to potential data corruption or tampering that can cause GPU hang and security attacks.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a trusted micro-processor on both the source and destination co-processing units to collect data blobs, generate integrity signatures, and inject them into a live migration data package, with the destination unit performing integrity checks to ensure valid data restoration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If live migration is implemented without integrity verification, then migration speed and productivity are improved, but data integrity and reliability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The source co-processing unit generates integrity signatures for data blobs before migration occurs. These signatures are calculated in advance and attached to the data, enabling verification at the destination without delaying the migration process itself. This preliminary action ensures data integrity is established before transfer while maintaining migration speed.
Solution Approach 2:
The destination co-processing unit verifies the integrity signatures against the migrated data blobs and provides feedback on whether the data is valid. This feedback mechanism allows the system to detect and reject corrupted or tampered data, ensuring reliability while allowing legitimate migrations to proceed uninterrupted.
2Reliability
If integrity verification is added to live migration, then data integrity and reliability are improved, but device complexity and processing overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The integrity verification function is extracted and implemented in dedicated hardware circuits within the co-processing units rather than being handled by the main processing logic. This separation allows the verification mechanism to operate independently and efficiently, reducing the complexity burden on the migration process while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The co-processing units perform self-verification of data integrity using built-in trusted micro-processors and integrity signature circuits. Each unit verifies its own received data without requiring external intervention or complex coordination, simplifying the overall migration process while ensuring data integrity.
3Reliability
If integrity signatures are generated for all data blobs, then data integrity is improved, but processing time and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
Integrity signatures are generated only for critical data blobs that require verification, rather than uniformly processing all data. The system identifies and signs only the essential data elements, reducing the total processing energy required while maintaining data integrity for the most important information.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses efficient cryptographic parameters and optimized signature generation algorithms that balance security requirements with energy consumption. By selecting appropriate hash functions and signature methods, the system achieves adequate data integrity protection with minimal processing energy expenditure.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method for ensuring processing unit hardware state integrity in live migration can include participating as a source, by a processing unit, in a live migration procedure by injecting, into a live migration data package containing a state of the processing unit, a signature verifying the state. The method can additionally include participating as a target, by the processing unit, in an additional live migration procedure migrating an additional live migration data package containing an additional state of an additional processing unit by performing an integrity check based on an additional signature, in the additional live migration data package, verifying the additional state. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.