Method and system for enforcing trusted computing policies in a hypervisor security module architecture

• US 20090125974A1
• Filed: 11/13/2007
• Published: 05/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Seifert, Jean-Pierre, Zhang, Xinwen
• Granted Patent: US 8,220,029 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/53 by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/575 Secure boot
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/604 Tools and structures for managing or administering access control systems

Abstract

A method and system for enforcing trusted computing (TC) policies in a security module architecture for a hypervisor. Upon receiving a request from a subject for access to an object, TC-related attribute values are obtained for the subject and the object based on a virtualized trusted platform module (vTPM). Access control decisions are the made based at least on the TC-related attribute values and TC-related policies.

Claims

1. A method for enforcing trusted computing (TC) policies in a security module architecture for a hypervisor, comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from a subject for access to an object;

obtaining TC-related attribute values for the subject and the object based on a virtualized trusted platform module (vTPM); and

making access control decisions based at least on the TC-related attribute values and TC-related policies.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the hypervisor provides virtualized resources for virtual machines (VMs); and

the subject comprises a process in a subject VM requesting access to an object comprising a software resource.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the hypervisor provides virtualized resources for virtual machines (VMs); and

the subject comprises a process in a subject VM requesting access to an object comprising a hardware resource object.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the hypervisor provides virtualized resources for virtual machines (VMs); and

the subject comprises a process in a subject VM requesting access to an object comprising a process in an object VM.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the hypervisor comprises a Xen hypervisor.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the security module architecture comprises a Xen Security Module (XSM).

7. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining TC-related attribute values includes obtaining integrity values for the TC-related attributes of the subject and the object.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of making access control decisions includes making access control decisions based at least on said integrity values and the TC-related policies.

9. An apparatus comprising:

a machine accessible medium; and

instructions encoded in the machine accessible medium, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to enforce trusted computing (TC) policies for a hypervisor providing virtualized resources for virtual machines (VMs), the processing system obtaining TC-related attribute values for the subject and the object based on a virtualized trusted platform module (vTPM), and making access control decisions based at least on the TC-related attribute values and TC-related policies.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the hypervisor comprises a Xen hypervisor.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed, perform further operations comprising:

enforce trusted computing (TC) policies in a security module architecture for a hypervisor providing virtualized resources for virtual machines.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the security module architecture comprises a Xen Security Module (XSM).

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed, perform further operations comprising:

obtaining TC-related attribute values includes obtaining integrity values for the TC-related attributes of the subject and the object.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed, perform further operations comprising:

making access control decisions based at least on said integrity values and the TC-related policies.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the subject comprises a process in a subject VM requesting access to an object comprising a software resource.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the subject comprises a process in a subject VM requesting access to an object comprising a hardware resource object.

17. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the subject comprises a process in a subject VM requesting access to an object comprising a process in an object VM.

18. A system for enforcing trusted computing (TC) policies in a security module architecture for a hypervisor providing virtualized resources for virtual machines (VMs), comprising:

an interface function configured for receiving a request from a subject for access to an object;

a manager configured for obtaining TC-related attribute values for the subject and the object based on a virtualized trusted platform module (vTPM); and

a security module configured for making access control decisions based at least on the obtained TC-related attribute values and TC-related policies.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the subject comprises a process in a subject VM requesting access to an object comprising a software resource.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the subject comprises a process in a subject VM requesting access to an object comprising a hardware resource object.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the subject comprises a process in a subject VM requesting access to an object comprising a process in an object VM.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the hypervisor comprises a Xen hypervisor.

23. The system of claim 18 further comprising a TC policy module including TC-related access policies, wherein the security module comprises a Xen Security Module (XSM) configured for making access control decisions based at least on the obtained TC-related attribute values and the TC-related access policies.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the manager is further configured for obtaining integrity values for the TC-related attributes of the subject and the object.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the security module is further configured for making access control decisions based on said obtained integrity values and the TC-related policies.

26. The system of claim 18 further including a vTPM configured for maintaining TC-related attribute values for computing resources.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the computing resources include software resources in a computing system.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the computing resources include hardware resources in a computing system.

29. A program product stored on a computer useable medium for enforcing trusted computing (TC) policies in a security module architecture for a hypervisor, the program product comprising program code for causing a computer system to perform the following steps:

receiving a request from a subject for access to an object;

obtaining TC-related attribute values for the subject and the object based on a virtualized trusted platform module (vTPM); and

making access control decisions based at least on the TC-related attribute values and TC-related policies.

30. A computer-implemented method for enforcing trusted computing (TC) policies in a security module architecture for a hypervisor, comprising:

receiving a request from a subject for access to an object;

obtaining TC-related attribute values for the subject and the object based on a virtualized trusted platform module (vTPM); and

making access control decisions based at least on the TC-related attribute values and TC-related policies.