Apparatus for forwarding a mediated request to processing circuitry in response to a configuration request

An apparatus comprising:

• processing circuitry configured to execute software including first software and second software, in which the second software has a higher privilege level than the first software;
• and
• hardware-implemented interface configured to receive, from the processing circuitry, a configuration request from the first software requesting configuration of a hardware accelerator or input/output device;
• in which:
• the hardware-implemented interface is responsive to receiving the configuration request from the first software to forward a mediated request to the processing circuitry for consideration by the second software, the mediated request being sent to the second software by the hardware-implemented interface, rather than being sent by the first software;
• the mediated request comprises a request that the second software having the higher privilege level than the first software determines a mediated response indicating to the hardware-implemented interface whether the hardware-implemented interface should allow or reject the configuration of the hardware accelerator or the input/output device according to the configuration request received by the hardware-implemented interface from the first software;
• and
• the hardware-implemented interface is configured to receive the mediated response from the processing circuitry in response to sending the mediated request.