Patent · US Active

Executing system calls in isolated address space in operating system kernel

US11194639B2 · kind B2 · utility

0Cited by
6References
12Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 19, 2019
Grant dateDec 7, 2021
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 24, 2040

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F2212/1052
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Embodiments of the present systems and methods may provide additional security mechanisms inside an operating system kernel itself by executing system calls in a dedicated address space to reduce the amount of shared resources that are visible to and thus exploitable by a malicious application. For example, in an embodiment, a method implemented in a computer may comprise a processor, memory accessible by the processor, and computer program instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor, the method may comprise: when a user process makes a system call, switching to kernel mode and using a system call page table for the user process to execute a system call handler, when the system call handler attempts to access unmapped kernel space memory, generating a page fault, and handling the page fault by determining whether the attempted access to unmapped kernel space memory is allowed.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.