Trusted Boot of a Virtual Machine

• US 20140013327A1
• Filed: 06/27/2013
• Published: 01/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Sherwood, David, Walker, James W., Walton, Travis
• Granted Patent: US 9,721,103 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1484 involving virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45575 Starting, stopping, suspending or resuming virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45591 Monitoring or debugging support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/52 during program execution, e.g. stack integrity ; Preventing unwanted data erasure; Buffer overflow
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/575 Secure boot
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4401 Bootstrapping security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects

Abstract

A method, system and program product for performing a trusted boot of a virtual machine comprises the steps of executing, in turn, a series of components of the trusted boot, performing a function on each component prior to the execution of the respective component, storing the output of the functions in a virtual trusted platform module, detecting that the virtual trusted platform module has not responded to the storing of the output of a function in the virtual trusted platform module, and generating a request that the virtual trusted platform module be disabled.

Claims

1. A method of performing a trusted boot of a virtual machine, the method comprising the steps of:

executing, in turn, a series of components of the trusted boot;

performing a function on each respective component of the series of components prior to the execution of the respective component;

storing an output of the functions in a virtual trusted platform module;

detecting that the virtual trusted platform module has not responded to the storing of the output of a function in the virtual trusted platform module; and

generating a request that the virtual trusted platform module be disabled.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of detecting that the virtual trusted platform module has not responded to the storing of the output of a function in the virtual trusted platform module comprises waiting for a predetermined time period.

3. A method according to claim 1, and further comprising transmitting the generated request to a hypervisor and disabling the virtual trusted platform module using a command from the hypervisor.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of performing a function on each component prior to the execution of the respective component comprises performing a predefined hashing function on the respective component.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of performing a function on each component prior to the execution of the respective component is performed by the previously loaded component.

6. A system for performing a trusted boot of a virtual machine, the system comprising a server arranged to:

execute, in turn, a series of components of the trusted boot;

perform a function on each respective component of the series of components prior to the execution of the respective component;

store the output of the functions in a virtual trusted platform module;

detect that the virtual trusted platform module has not responded to the storing of the output of a function in the virtual trusted platform module; and

generate a request that the virtual trusted platform module be disabled.

7. A system according to claim 6, wherein the system is arranged, when detecting that the virtual trusted platform module has not responded to the storing of the output of a function in the virtual trusted platform module, to wait for a predetermined time period.

8. A system according to claim 6, wherein the system is further arranged to transmit the generated request to a hypervisor and disable the virtual trusted platform module using a command from the hypervisor.

9. A system according to claim 6, wherein the system is arranged, when performing a function on each component prior to the execution of the respective component, to perform a predefined hashing function on the respective component.

10. A system according to claim 6, wherein the system is arranged, when performing a function on each component prior to the execution of the respective component, to perform the function by the previously loaded component.

11. A computer program product comprising instructions stored on a computer readable storage device that are operable for performing a trusted boot of a virtual machine, wherein the instructions are operable when executed by a processor for:

executing, in turn, a series of components of the trusted boot;

performing a function on each respective component of the series of components prior to the execution of the respective component;

storing the output of the functions in a virtual trusted platform module;

detecting that the virtual trusted platform module has not responded to the storing of the output of a function in the virtual trusted platform module; and

generating a request that the virtual trusted platform module be disabled.

12. A computer program product according to claim 11, wherein the instructions for detecting that the virtual trusted platform module has not responded to the storing of the output of a function in the virtual trusted platform module comprise instructions for waiting for a predetermined time period.

13. A computer program product according to claim 11, and further comprising instructions for transmitting the generated request to a hypervisor and disabling the virtual trusted platform module using a command from the hypervisor.

14. A computer program product according to claim 11, wherein the instructions for performing a function on each component prior to the execution of the respective component comprise instructions for performing a predefined hashing function on the respective component.

15. A computer program product according to claim 11, wherein the instructions for performing a function on each component prior to the execution of the respective component is performed by the previously loaded component.