Management of supervisor mode execution protection (SMEP) by a hypervisor
US9292328B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 24, 2013 |
| Grant date | Mar 22, 2016 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 11, 2033 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F9/45545
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Approaches for enabling Supervisor Mode Execution Protection (SMEP) for a guest operating system which does not support SMEP. A guest operating system (OS), which does not support SMEP, is executed within a virtual machine. A hypervisor instructs hardware to enable SMEP for the virtual machine executing the guest operating system. When the hypervisor is notified that the hardware has detected the guest operating system instructing a central processing unit (CPU) to execute code stored in virtual memory accessible by user space while the CPU is in supervisor mode, the hypervisor may consult a policy to identify what, if any, responsive action the hypervisor should perform.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.