Virtual Machine Secure Element Access with Context Switching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing virtual machine architectures fail to guarantee unawareness and full context separation for guest operating systems, particularly when accessing shared resources like secure elements, leading to potential violations of context isolation principles.
Innovation Solution
A virtual machine architecture with a hypervisor that manages context switching procedures by checking the current application context before sending commands to secure elements, using a dispatcher module to ensure context isolation and prioritize commands based on priority.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple guest operating systems access a shared secure element in a virtual machine architecture, then resource sharing and interoperability are improved, but context isolation and security are worsened due to potential unauthorized access between virtual machines
Solution Approach 1:
The hypervisor acts as an intermediary between guest operating systems and the secure element. It receives commands from guest OSs, checks context isolation requirements, and mediates access to the secure element. This mediator ensures that each guest OS can access the secure element without compromising context isolation or allowing unauthorized access between virtual machines.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the access path between guest operating systems and the secure element by introducing the hypervisor as a distinct control layer. This segmentation creates isolated communication channels where each guest OS interacts with the secure element through controlled hypervisor-mediated interfaces, preventing direct inter-access between virtual machines while maintaining resource sharing.
2Reliability
If the hypervisor implements context switching procedures to ensure context isolation, then security is improved, but system complexity increases due to additional checking and management overhead
Solution Approach 1:
The hypervisor implements self-service context switching by automatically managing context isolation based on command characteristics. When a command arrives, the hypervisor autonomously checks whether context switching is required, selects the appropriate context, and executes the switching procedure without external intervention. This self-service approach reduces the need for complex manual context management while maintaining security.
Solution Approach 2:
The hypervisor performs preliminary context checking and switching preparation before processing commands from guest operating systems. By pre-establishing context isolation boundaries and preparing context switching mechanisms in advance, the system reduces runtime complexity and ensures that context isolation is maintained without adding significant overhead to the command processing path.
Data Source
AI summary
An architecture includes a plurality of guest virtual machines managed by a hypervisor running on a host computer, on which respective instances of a guest operating system are executed, and at least a secure element accessible by the plurality of virtual machines. The hypervisor is configured to receive a command from a guest operating system, check whether the current context corresponds to a context the command, and, if the result of the check is negative, perform a context switching procedure. The hypervisor is further configured to subsequently send the command to a corresponding application in the secure element, and send a response from the application to the guest operating system.