Secure machine platform that interfaces to operating systems and customized control programs
First Claim
1. A combined-hardware-and-software secure-platform interface, the hardware providing a number of privilege levels, non-privileged instructions, non-privileged registers, privileged instructions, and privileged registers, the combined-hardware-and-software secure-platform interface comprising:
- non-privileged instructions and non-privileged registers provided by the hardware instruction-set architecture; and
a set of callable software services that, when invoked, can execute at a privilege level that is more privileged than the privilege levels of calling programs, and that provide for operational control of hardware resources without exposing privileged instructions and privileged registers of the hardware and without simulating privileged instructions and privileged registers.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A combined-hardware-and-software secure-platform interface to which operating systems and customized control programs interface within a computer system. The combined-hardware-and-software secure-platform interface employs a hardware platform that provides at least four privilege levels, non-privileged instructions, non-privileged registers, privileged instructions, privileged registers, and firmware interfaces. The combined-hardware-and-software secure-platform interface conceals all privileged instructions, privileged registers, and firmware interfaces and privileged registers from direct access by operating systems and custom control programs, providing to the operating systems and custom control programs the non-privileged instructions and non-privileged registers provided by the hardware platform as well as a set of callable software services. The callable services provide a set of secure-platform management services for operational control of hardware resources that neither exposes privileged instructions, privileged registers, nor firmware interfaces of the hardware nor simulates privileged instructions and privileged registers. The callable services also provide a set of security-management services that employ internally generated secret data, each compartmentalized security-management service managing internal secret data without exposing the internal secret data to computational entities other than the security-management service itself.
170 Citations
42 Claims
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1. A combined-hardware-and-software secure-platform interface, the hardware providing a number of privilege levels, non-privileged instructions, non-privileged registers, privileged instructions, and privileged registers, the combined-hardware-and-software secure-platform interface comprising:
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non-privileged instructions and non-privileged registers provided by the hardware instruction-set architecture; and a set of callable software services that, when invoked, can execute at a privilege level that is more privileged than the privilege levels of calling programs, and that provide for operational control of hardware resources without exposing privileged instructions and privileged registers of the hardware and without simulating privileged instructions and privileged registers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A computer system that hosts a control program, the control program one of an operating system or customized control program, the computer system comprising:
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a hardware platform providing a number of execution privilege levels, non-privileged instructions and non-privileged registers, and privileged instructions and privileged registers; a set of software services callable by the control program for performing operations requiring one or both of the privileged instructions and privileged registers and that, when invoked, can execute at a privilege level that is more privileged than a privilege level at which the control program executes, the calling programs neither simulating privileged instructions and privileged registers nor exposing privileged instructions and privileged registers to the control program; and a secure platform kernel that executes at a most privileged level. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for securing a computer system, the method comprising:
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providing a hardware platform with a number of privilege levels, memory compartmentalization facilities that control access by an entity to a unit of memory, and memory partitioning facilities that partition memory into sets of regions, each region comprising a number of memory units; providing a set of callable software services that, when invoked, can execute at a privilege level that is more privileged than the privilege levels of calling programs, that provide for operational control of hardware resources without exposing privileged instructions and privileged registers of the hardware and without simulating privileged instructions and privileged registers, and that, together with the hardware platform, comprise a combined-hardware-and-software secure platform; providing a combined-hardware-and-software secure-platform interface that exposes non-privileged instructions and non-privileged registers to operating systems and custom control programs, that provides interfaces to the callable software routines, and that conceals the privileged instructions and privileged registers; and launching an operating system or control program that interfaces to the combined-hardware-and-software secure-platform interface. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method for securing a computer system that includes a hardware platform with a number of privilege levels, privileged instructions and privileged registers, non-privileged instructions and non-privileged registers, memory compartmentalization facilities that control access by an entity to a unit of memory, and memory partitioning facilities that partition memory into sets of regions, each region comprising a number of memory units, the method comprising:
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providing a software layer that includes a set of secure-platform management services for operational control of hardware resources that do not expose privileged instructions and registers of the hardware and that do not simulate privileged instructions and privileged registers, and a set of security-management services that employ internally generated secret data, each security-management service managing internal secret data without exposing the internal secret data to computational entities other than the security-management service; and providing a combined-hardware-and-software secure-platform interface that exposes non-privileged instructions and non-privileged registers to operating systems and custom control programs, that provides interfaces to the callable software routines, and that conceals the privileged instructions and privileged registers. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A combined-hardware-and-software secure platform comprising:
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a hardware layer providing a means for executing a process or routine at one of a number of privilege levels, privileged instructions and privileged registers, non-privileged instructions and non-privileged registers, a means for compartmentalizing memory to control access by a process or routine to a unit of memory, and a means for partitioning memory into sets of regions, each region comprising a number of memory units; a means for providingsecure-platform management services for operational control of hardware resources that do not expose privileged instructions and privileged registers of the hardware and that do not simulate privileged instructions and privileged registers and security-management services that employ internally generated secret data, each security-management service managing internal secret data without exposing the internal secret data to computational entities other than the security-management service; and an interface means that conceals the privileged instructions and privileged registers while providing, to calling operating-system or customized-control-access routines, access to the non-privileged instructions and non-privileged registers provided by the hardware instruction-set architecture and to the secure-platform management services and security-management services.
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Specification