Virtual Machine Register for Secure Address Space Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing computer systems lack efficient mechanisms to isolate and manage virtual machine resources and address spaces, leading to potential security vulnerabilities and inefficiencies in resource allocation, especially when hypervisors are present.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a virtual machine register in a computer processor that stores the identifier of the current virtual machine, combined with a domain register and hypervisor status register, to manage address translation and resource isolation across different domains and virtual machines, ensuring secure and efficient execution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If virtual machine resources and address spaces are not isolated, then system simplicity is maintained, but security vulnerabilities and resource allocation inefficiencies increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces separate registers (virtual machine register, domain register, hypervisor status register) to segment and isolate virtual machine resources and address spaces. This segmentation enables secure resource allocation and prevents interference between different virtual machines, directly addressing the security issue while maintaining manageable system structure through modular register design
2Productivity
If address translation is not managed across different domains, then device complexity is reduced, but resource allocation efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a hypervisor status register and domain register as intermediary components that mediate address translation between different domains and virtual machines. These registers enable efficient resource allocation by tracking and managing address space mappings across domains, improving productivity while organizing complexity through structured intermediary structures
3Reliability
If access restrictions are not enforced, then ease of operation is maintained, but security vulnerabilities increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service security through automatic access restriction enforcement via the virtual machine register and domain register. The system automatically isolates address spaces and enforces access controls without requiring manual intervention, maintaining ease of operation while significantly improving access security through automated register-based protection mechanisms
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, apparatuses, and methods related to a virtual machine register in a computer processor are described. For example, a memory coupled to the computer processor can store instructions of routines of predefined, non-hierarchical domains. The computer processor can store, in the virtual machine register, an identifier of a virtual machine for which the processor is currently executing instructions in a current domain in the set of domains. For example, the processor can implement resource restriction/mapping and/or perform address translation for the virtual machine based on the identifier stored in the virtual machine register.