DASICS White Paper: Enhancing Memory Protection with Dynamic Compartmentalization

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Jin, Yue, Xu, Yibin, Yang, Chengyuan, Wang, Han, Huang, Tianyi, Lu, Tianyue, Chen, Mingyu
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2023
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author Jin, Yue
Xu, Yibin
Yang, Chengyuan
Wang, Han
Huang, Tianyi
Lu, Tianyue
Chen, Mingyu
author_facet Jin, Yue
Xu, Yibin
Yang, Chengyuan
Wang, Han
Huang, Tianyi
Lu, Tianyue
Chen, Mingyu
contents In the existing software development ecosystem, security issues introduced by third-party code cannot be overlooked. Among these security concerns, memory access vulnerabilities stand out prominently, leading to risks such as the theft or tampering of sensitive data. To address this issue, software-based defense mechanisms have been established at the programming language, compiler, and operating system levels. However, as a trade-off, these mechanisms significantly reduce software execution efficiency. Hardware-software co-design approaches have sought to either construct entirely isolated trusted execution environments or attempt to partition security domains within the same address space. While such approaches enhance efficiency compared to pure software methods, they also encounter challenges related to granularity of protection, performance overhead, and portability. In response to these challenges, we present the DASICS (Dynamic in-Address-Space Isolation by Code Segments) secure processor design, which offers dynamic and flexible security protection across multiple privilege levels, addressing data flow protection, control flow protection, and secure system calls. We have implemented hardware FPGA prototypes and software QEMU simulator prototypes based on DASICS, along with necessary modifications to system software for adaptability. We illustrate the protective mechanisms and effectiveness of DASICS with two practical examples and provide potential real-world use cases where DASICS could be applied.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2310_06435
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle DASICS White Paper: Enhancing Memory Protection with Dynamic Compartmentalization
Jin, Yue
Xu, Yibin
Yang, Chengyuan
Wang, Han
Huang, Tianyi
Lu, Tianyue
Chen, Mingyu
Cryptography and Security
Hardware Architecture
In the existing software development ecosystem, security issues introduced by third-party code cannot be overlooked. Among these security concerns, memory access vulnerabilities stand out prominently, leading to risks such as the theft or tampering of sensitive data. To address this issue, software-based defense mechanisms have been established at the programming language, compiler, and operating system levels. However, as a trade-off, these mechanisms significantly reduce software execution efficiency. Hardware-software co-design approaches have sought to either construct entirely isolated trusted execution environments or attempt to partition security domains within the same address space. While such approaches enhance efficiency compared to pure software methods, they also encounter challenges related to granularity of protection, performance overhead, and portability. In response to these challenges, we present the DASICS (Dynamic in-Address-Space Isolation by Code Segments) secure processor design, which offers dynamic and flexible security protection across multiple privilege levels, addressing data flow protection, control flow protection, and secure system calls. We have implemented hardware FPGA prototypes and software QEMU simulator prototypes based on DASICS, along with necessary modifications to system software for adaptability. We illustrate the protective mechanisms and effectiveness of DASICS with two practical examples and provide potential real-world use cases where DASICS could be applied.
title DASICS White Paper: Enhancing Memory Protection with Dynamic Compartmentalization
topic Cryptography and Security
Hardware Architecture
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.06435