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US 10,503,662 B2Granted
Systems, apparatuses, and methods for implementing temporary escalated privilege
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorsMartin G. Dixon, Gilbert Neiger, Robert S. Chappell, Scott D. Rodgers, Barry E. Huntley
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Abstract
Embodiments of systems, apparatuses, and methods for temporarily allowing access to a lower privilege level from a higher privilege level.
Claims12
A processor comprising:
- execution circuitry to execute one or more instructions of a program, wherein the program is to operate at different privilege levels including a most privileged level and a lower privilege level;
- storage for an indication of, when the program is operating at the most privileged level, whether or not the program is temporarily allowed to access data associated with the lower privilege level without changing privilege levels, wherein the storage for an indication of when the program is operating at the most privileged level whether or not the execution circuitry is allowed to access data associated with the lower privilege level is an EFLAGS register and the indication is bit 18.
A method of using temporary privilege while executing a program in a processor comprising:
- entering a higher privilege level;
- and
- when in the higher privilege level,
- requesting access of data associated with a lower privilege level when in the higher privilege level,
- determining if the access request for data associated with a lower privilege level is allowed based upon an indicator set in bit 18 of an EFLAGS register of the processor,
- denying the access request when the indicator does not indicate that such a request should be granted, and
- allowing the access request when the indicator does indicate that such a request should be granted.
4 more elements
A non-transitory tangible machine-readable storage medium including instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising:
- entering a higher privileged level;
- and
- when in the higher privilege level,
- requesting access of data associated with a lower privilege level when in the higher privilege level,
- determining if the access request for data associated with a lower privilege level is allowed based upon an indicator set in bit 18 of an EFLAGS register of the processor,
- denying the access request when the indicator does not indicate that such a request should be granted, and
- allowing the access request when the indicator does indicate that such a request should be granted.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.